My husband has fallen twice in the past couple of weeks, once I was in the room with him and the second time I heard something and found him on the living room floor. I started to react and then stopped myself, remembering the training I had received. Instead of running over and trying to pull him up off the floor, I walked calmly over and asked him if he was okay. I was freaking out inside but he didn’t need to know that and it certainly wouldn’t have helped the situation. He was able to assess the damages done by the fall, find a safe way to roll over and get himself up, and then I helped him by bandaging a scrape and getting him some ibuprofen. It seemed like a good time to revisit the things I have been taught about falls and PD.

The first thing I was taught was not to try and stop my husband from falling unless I am sure I can do it safely. Getting between him and the floor on his way down will usually result in me falling too. Even though it goes against my helper instincts, I need to let him fall and hope for the best.

The second thing I learned is that he will need time to gather himself once he lands. I must give him the time and space to do a mental and physical check before he tries to move. Only then, once he is somewhat aware of what hurts, should he roll over and try to get up.

The third thing is that I need to stay back and let him get himself up if at all possible. I may need to bring a chair over that he can pull himself up on or perhaps assist with rolling him over, but I shouldn’t try to pull him up, I will end up on top of him myself and could hurt both of us more. If he is not able to get himself off the floor, it is time to call 911 and get trained people over to help. If he truly can’t get up there may be more damage than we are able to see, we need EMTs.

Finally, once he’s up, we need to do another check to make sure he didn’t miss anything in his initial assessment. In my husband’s case, we found skinned knees and hands from both falls. Thankfully there were no major injuries.

We have “adult-proofed” our house by getting rid of throw rugs and doing our best to eliminate slipping or tripping hazards. My husband wears good shoes that do not stick to the floor. Unfortunately, the environment is only one factor in falls and they are going to happen. Thankfully, there are wise people out there who provide good information about what to do when it does happen. For more information check out this great video called “What to do when someone falls” provided by AARP in their Family Caregiving Series on the web. It’s never too early to be prepared because we just don’t know what is coming next with PD.