My Mom has Parkinson's and falls a lot. How can we keep her safe?

To add to my post of 2 years ago above, what a different a year or two can make.

Eventually my Dad became what I called a "tumbler". He would be sitting in his recliner bend down to tie his shoe, roll out of the recliner. He would be out in the yard pulling weeds, sure enough he would tumble over. He use to joke that he had shrunk so much over the years that he was now lower to the ground so he wouldn't get hurt :)

True, Dad never got hurt, but he also couldn't get up from that tumble. But he had his share of major calls that required 911. My Mom couldn't hear any more or see very well, so it would be an hour or so before she noticed my Dad was laying on the carpet or out in the yard.... [sigh]. Yep, they refused caregivers.

Thus there isn't a whole lot that we can do. As we age we just tend to lose our balance, or think we are still in our 30's and can do everything we did back then. I had a major fall myself a couple years ago.

There is also another type of walker called a U-step walker, invented by a physician who\s mom had PD, I believe. Anyway the walker is super expensive, but is very well built and can certainly help some people. The default is that the brake is on and you squeeze the handlebars to allow it to move forward. This benefits some people who have a problem when their feet freeze and their walker & upper body continue to move forward until they fall. That is probably the source of 90% of my husbands falls. The walker also has an option of having a red laser light attached. For some people it is effective in breaking a freeze, especially with prompts to step on the red light.

Thank you everyone for your ideas and suggestions. She is starting to show signs of dementia and sometimes I think she does forget to use it. We had this problem last year as well when her mind was sharper and it was a battle. She refuses wheelchair and she's like a child rebelling. Will be talking to doctor soon.

If Mom doesn't remember to use it, it doesn't matter what kind of walker she has, or if she has a wheelchair. Ditto if she is making a point about not having people tell her what to do.

Is she in the beginning stage of dementia?

How about a conference with her seeking her ideas about how she can prevent falls and trips to the ER? If she decided on it herself, would she be more apt to use the walker? Probably not if it is truly a matter of forgetting. Might be worth a try, though.

My mom thought she could be in the kitchen without her walker...until she fell and broke her hip. walker was 10 feet away!

She can't use 4 wheel walker because she leans too heavily on the walker...uses a 2 wheeled one with the skis in the back. Is she feeling dizzy? Have they taken BP sitting and standing? Perhaps there is a drop that might be increasing the tendency to fall.

We tried the walker with hand brakes and had the PT lady check her use.
Turns out mom could not grip the brakes tight enough, so we went back to the smaller walker and put the walker glides (like little ski's) on the back two legs.

Thammer, what does your Mom say about these falls? Does she remember them? Or is she saying she just forgot to use her walker? I wonder if she might have some memory issues where she forgets she can't move about without some help.

The nursing home staff will be familiar with patients doing this. It might come to a point where the nursing home will feel your Mom is too much of a fall risk and she would need to use a wheelchair. You might mention that to your Mom, maybe the thought of being in a wheelchair might help her remember to use here walker.

Hope she isn't using the falling to get attention.

Yes, mom has a 4 wheel walker but she doesn't think she needs to use it all the time. Thank you for your reply.

Stubborn Mom have we? Is she refusing to use her walker? If yes, what type of walker is it? If it is 2 wheel walker, those aren't very easy to use... the rolling walkers are so much better.

My Dad wouldn't use his 2 wheel walker and he kept falling... once I bought him one of those 4 wheel walkers which has the hand brakes, basket and seat, he hasn't fallen since, and he really enjoys using the rolling walker.