{"id":254975,"date":"2025-09-26T01:35:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T01:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/254975\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T01:35:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T01:35:12","slug":"arizona-doctor-loses-father-after-fall-shares-prevention-tips-to-keep-seniors-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/254975\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona doctor loses father after fall, shares prevention tips to keep seniors safe"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 Arizona is home to more than a million people ages 65 and older and falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths<\/a> for that population.<\/p>\n

Data show it\u2019s a mounting problem in our state, with an increasing amount of falls<\/a> causing hospitalizations and deaths every year.<\/p>\n

Doctors say that is likely because our population is growing and aging.<\/p>\n

There are hazards and uneven surfaces all over the place. Something as a simple as a single step or a rug can lead to a deadly fall for seniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Miss him dearly,\u201d said Dr. Tara Ostrom, senior medical director at Optum.<\/p>\n

Her father, Ronald Ostrom, enjoyed a full life.<\/p>\n

A World War II veteran, Ronald raised three children with his wife and had several careers. At one point, his job was to introduce technology into health care systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in the day when it was just paper,\u201d said Dr. Ostrom. \u201cHe was very proud that I went into the medical field.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been five years since Ronald died.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was five days after his 94th birthday,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The beginning of the end was something Dr. Ostrom saw coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a fall, which wasn\u2019t the first fall and had a traumatic brain injury,\u201d said Dr. Ostrom.<\/p>\n

She said her dad\u2019s stubborn nature is common among seniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t always like grabbing that walker, made him feel old and he didn\u2019t think he was old at 94,\u201d said Dr. Ostrom.<\/p>\n

Many of her patients share that \u201cdon\u2019t tell me what to do\u201d attitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all convinced they\u2019re not going to have a fall, but what they can resonate with is that preserve independence,\u201d said Dr. Ostrom.<\/p>\n

Every year, millions of Americans are hurt, hospitalized, or die after a fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a huge problem in Arizona,\u201d said Dr. Ostrom.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ostrom said falls are not an inevitable fate. They are preventable.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet up from the chair. Hold your walker. Hold your cane and just wait. Maybe count to ten and then wait. Give your body that time so it can adjust,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Building strength and balance can make a big difference.<\/p>\n

To reduce the risk, Optum Community Centers<\/a> across the Valley offer free classes like chair yoga, drumming, and dance.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ostrom said avoiding non-essential medications can help, too.<\/p>\n

Side effects like confusion and drowsiness often contribute to tumbles.<\/p>\n

She said grab bars are a good idea to add in the bathroom to avoid slips.<\/p>\n

As you age, she said the worst thing you can do is nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven like a fear of falls where people get so unsteady and they\u2019re fearful so they get more sedentary and then more weak and that increases the likelihood of falls,\u201d said Dr. Ostrom.<\/p>\n

If a senior does fall, smart watches can be life-saving, especially if they live alone.<\/p>\n

Fall detection technology alerts family and even emergency services right away.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here<\/a> with a brief description.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 KTVK\/KPHO. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX (AZFamily) \u2014 Arizona is home to more than a million people ages 65 and older and falls…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":254976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,7182,134487,24296,1589,7183,8152,6358,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-254975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-azfamily","tag-fall-detection","tag-falls","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-news","tag-safety","tag-seniors","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115268034558873644","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}