In recent years, Nacka municipality has been working intensively to strengthen the safety and security of the municipality for the elderly. Safety and security are key components for quality of life and wellbeing for the elderly. OPEN primarily focus on fall injury prevention, but our belief is that the actions, which has a broad character, will have a positive impact on other health risks and social togetherness.
Some actions have good evidence as to the possibility of reducing the risk of falls and fractures:
- Exercise interventions - individualized and group
- Nutritional interventions
- Social togetherness
On the first visit to OPEN, there´ll be a consultationabout physical abilities, wellbeing, social relationships and health status. Also, a screening is done of balance and muscle strength. If the assessment shows risk of falling the customer will be offered to come and train for 20 weeks in a group of six people. The physio therapist will be in charge of the group training which is specifically designed for these clients and is adapted to the individual. After the 20 weeks a similar assessment is done to show the development of the client. They can then continue on their own and also volunteer to be in charge of the “after training” training.
OPEN use specific equipment with pneumatic resistance for reduced risk of injury. They are adapted to the elderly and persons with disabilities. They´re also Smartcard controlled. This means that the machines are synchronized with a computer program. Training programs are saved to the SmartCard. When you then insert the card into the machine, it sets resistance and reps automatically. This also saves personnel and more clients can train simultaneously. The system also provides documentation of the clients performance.
Within the concept of OPEN a nutritional course has just started. It focuses on what is good food, what to think of in terms of nutrients and how food is handled, simple recipes and simple cooking, which is good to apply even if the desire and energy is low. Equally important is that it´ll be a nice way to hang out and have fun during the cooking of the food.
Contact:
Kerstin Seipel