Sen. Mikulski Wins Again in Fight Against Senior
Falls: Senate Adopts Awareness Day
National Falls Prevention Awareness Day was approved
by Senate for September 22
Sept.
23, 2008 Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md) won another victory yesterday
in her on-going battle to prevent falls among senior citizens the
leading cause of injury deaths among Americans age 65 and older. The
U.S. Senate unanimously passed her resolution to designate September 22,
2008 as National Falls Prevention Awareness Day.
This was the latest victory in her effort to
promote public awareness about how toprevent and reduce falls
among older Americans. Last April, President Bush signed her legislation
to prevent falls among senior citizens into law. The Safety of Seniors
Act of 2007 (S. 845) authorized new programs to help prevent falls among
older adults through public education, research and demonstration
projects.
Senator Mikulski, Chairwoman of the Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Retirement and
Aging, worked for more than six years for this bills passage.
Traumatic brain injuries due to falls caused nearly
8,000 deaths and 56,000 hospitalizations in 2005 among Americas senior
citizens, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention released in the June issue of the Journal of Safety
Research.
Falls dont discriminate. This is a serious public
health problem that directly affects our seniors and their family
members, said Senator Mikulski, about here falls prevention bill. This
legislation provides a framework to reduce and prevent elder falls
through public education campaigns and important research.
In 2005, in her home state of Maryland, falls
resulted in roughly 340 deaths,23,000 falls-related emergency
room visits and 13,000 hospitalizations.
Sen. Mikulski
Dean of Senate Women
Her
first election was a successful run for Baltimore City Council
in 1971, where she served for five years. In 1976, she ran for
Congress and won, representing Maryland's 3rd district for 10
years.
In 1986, she ran for Senate and won,
becoming the first Democratic woman Senator elected in her own
right. She was re-elected with large majorities in 1992, 1998
and 2004.
A leader in the Senate, Mikulski is the
Dean of the Women - serving as a mentor to other women Senators
when they first take office.
As the dean, she builds coalitions -
proving that the Senate women are not solo acts, but work
together to get things done.
Mikulski's experiences as a social worker
and activist provided valuable lessons that she draws on as a
United States Senator.
She believes her constituents have a
right to know, a right to be heard and a right to be
represented. She listens to her constituents and makes the
personal, political.
Fall-related injuries for seniors cost over $19
billion annually.If the current rate of falls among the elderly
is not reduced, fall-relatedtreatment costs will reach $43.8
billion annually by 2020, according toestimates by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
Senator Mikulski is an original co-sponsor of
Safety of Seniors Act of2007 (S. 845). The original sponsor was
Senator Michael
B. Enzi
(R-WY) and the other co-sponsors of the final bill were Sen Orrin G.
Hatch (R-UT), Sen Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), and Sen Herb Kohl (D-WI).
This legislationprovides a framework to
reduce and prevent elder falls through publiceducation campaigns
and important research.
The bill focuses on four areas of fall prevention
among older adults:
Public education campaigns: Establishes public
education campaigns for older adults, family members and health care
providers to reduce falls and prevent repeat falls.
Research initiative legislation: Supports
research that identifies older adults who have a high risk of falling,
by designing, implementing and evaluating the most effective ways to
prevent falls, improving the treatment and rehabilitation of older
adults who have fallen, and examining barriers to adopt proven fall
prevention strategies.
Demonstration projects: Authorizes federal
demonstration programs that will examine fall prevention strategies such
as physical activity, medication assessment and home modification, as
well as developing technology to prevent falls.
Study on effects of falls on health care costs:
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to evaluate the
effect of falls on health care costs, the potential for reducing falls,
and the most effective strategies for reducing health care costs
associated with falls.
Sept.
23, 2008 Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md) won another victory yesterday
in her on-going battle to prevent falls among senior citizens the
leading cause of injury deaths among Americans age 65 and older. The
U.S. Senate unanimously passed her resolution to designate September 22,
2008 as National Falls Prevention Awareness Day.
