Fall prevention a big focus for Springdale in 2008: Imamovic
Tuesday January 8, 2008 -- Deron Hamel
Even on her holidays, Maureen Imamovic had best practices on her mind.

The administrator and director of care at Springdale Country Manor was at a party over the Christmas break when, by chance, she met a nurse from Durham Region who had developed and implemented a falls prevention best practices for regional health-care providers.

During the course of their conversation, the nurse offered to share her know-how with staff members at the Peterborough long-term care home to help continue to reduce the number of falls suffered by residents.

Imamovic plans on meeting with the nurse again in the near future to go over the best practices she has developed. Imamovic notes that the nurse is willing to provide her with PowerPoint presentations for frontline and registered staff, as well as policies surrounding best practices in fall prevention.

“She would be very proud and happy to hand it to me, and that’s the premise of a best practice — to rob and duplicate,” says Imamovic. 

When Imamovic returned to work following the holidays, she was pleased to see that supportive measures specialist Scott Ladoucier had created a list that included common causes for falls in homes, as well as suggestions for how staff members can help mitigate the incidence of falls.

Over the past two years, OMNI’s 16 long-term care homes have paid close attention to reducing the number of falls in the home. In 2006, OMNI began collecting information on falls using board meeting templates. In 2007, best-practice teams were formed to address the issue of falls.

Reducing the occurrence of falls in the home is going to be a top priority at Springdale in 2008, says Imamovic.

“Now we have to kick it up a notch, and falls and fall prevention is great because it’s something that the frontline staff can impact,” she says. “We want to embrace the best practices in falls and fall prevention. . . . That’s where I really think we could make our difference. I’ve made a contact, she has done the work and we have gathered all the information.”

Related Article:
Springdale aims to reduce falls in 2008