Saint John hospital giving seniors grit bags to prevent falls

Bags of tiny grit rocks are being handed out to seniors at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Saint John with the hopes that it will help to reduce the number of slip-and-fall injuries in the city this winter.

READ MORE: NB doctors say the number of seniors injured by falls has increased

“They are more at risk to break bones and that causes loss of independence, can cause longer hospital stays and also can actually cause them to end up going to long term care” said Sherry Gionet, a charge nurse in the hospital’s geriatric unit.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They are more at risk to break bones and that causes loss of independence, can cause longer hospital stays and also can actually cause them to end up going to long term care" said Sherry Gionet, a charge nurse in the hospital's geriatric unit.

She said seniors who receive the bags are being asked to put the grit in their pockets or purses and, when they come across a slippery spot, pour out the contents of the bag to prevent a fall. The grit rocks can provide added traction to where it is poured.

The program has been in place at the hospital for eight years.

Last year, 1,537 patients over the age of 65 were treated for fall-related injuries across New Brunswick and according to the Horizon Health Network, the number of patients being treated for slip-and-fall injuries in the province has increased in recent weeks due to winter weather fluctuations.

READ MORE: Seniors in long-term care homes have high risk of head injury from falls: study

According to the Canadian Fall Prevention curriculum taught in the province’s health care system, 40 per cent of the elderly who are injured in a fall require nursing home care.

Gionet said many slip-and-fall patients end up spending many months in hospital, with other complications brought on by their fall, while they wait for a bed in a seniors home. She said it’s a costly expense for the province that these grit bags may help reduce.

Edna Allan, 79, of Saint John is volunteering to fill the bags to help her fellow seniors stay on their feet in slippery conditions. She said she suffered a nasty fall in late 2016.

“Five weeks, actually eight weeks altogether in the hospital, and that’s a lot of money when you come to think of it being spent on health care,” said Allan. “I think this program is a wonderful program for seniors.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Five weeks, actually eight weeks altogether in the hospital, and that's a lot of money when you come to think of it being spent on health care," said Allan. "I think this program is a wonderful program for seniors."

Having now recovered from the fall, Allan has helped fill about 300 of 400 grit bags the hospital has already handed out to seniors so far this year.

While Gionet isn’t sure how many falls the program has helped to prevent since it started, she hopes the idea will spread across the country to help other cities save on health care costs and prevent seniors from injuring themselves in a fall.