Since january 1st of this year, people over 65 years old had a fall in Europe, sometimes with serious consequences.
Since january 1st of this year, people over 65 years old had a fall in Europe, sometimes with serious consequences.
Geneviève Laroque is President of the French National Foundation for Gerontology (Fondation Nationale de Gérontologie), a national level resource center on questions relating to aging, that was founded in 1967 by her cousin, Pierre Laroque, the founding father of France's Social Security system in 1945.
Knowledge is power
When persons of advancing years are asked what they fear for their future, they always mention their health and more especially, those effects on their health that restrict their independence and the autonomy of their life. These issues relate to two fundamental and yet complementing themes: one the one hand the worry born of no longer being free to make choices, to be able to decide, due to a more or less serious deterioration of the mental faculties as well as the fear of no longer being able to execute, to be able to do what one has chosen or decided to do
And high among those risks that may reduce life's autonomy, and especially the capacity to "do" what we have "chosen" or "decided" to do, the consequences of falls occupy a significant place. All sorts of reasons cause falls, some relate to one's health, vigilance, while others relate more to the material environment. In all cases, there are means of prevention that apply to the person and their environment which can reduce the risk of falling, without necessarily always eliminating it: vigilance always remains a must. After an accident, readaptive care for the person and measures to rearrange their environment may help to forestall a recurrence.
For some years now, three formulas have found favor and it should be possible to develop them. The authorities encourage everything that can be done, whether individually or in the way society is organized, so as to contribute to ensuring that everyone is able to AGE WELL. An association restates this and broadcasts the idea that AGING IS LIVING. The National Foundation for Gerontology that I am honored to preside, proclaims that GROWING UP IS AGING AND AGING IS GROWING UP, for the project of a lifetime, the enriching of life, the ongoing dialectic between profit and loss, risk and opportunities is one that runs on throughout our entire existence.
To keep our chances on our side while living old, to age better, to continue to grow while aging, it is also better to avoid falling, not because of some fallback on timid immobility but rather through a better knowledge of oneself, the ability to maintain, to train one's own capacities, a better knowledge of one's environment and the improvements one can often make to it. Let us never forget that knowledge is power.
Geneviève Laroque, May 2008
