Falls continue to be a national public health concern. That's why we're encouraging you to remind older adults to learn about their falls risk during Falls Prevention Awareness Week. Join us September 20-24, 2021, to help older adults live without fear of falling.

During Falls Prevention Awareness Week, we encourage you to share NCOA's Falls Free CheckUp (English and Spanish versions), a digital tool that provides a personalized overview of falls risk factors and ways to address them. Explore falls prevention strategies and encourage older adults to be falls free and independent by amplifying NCOA's Falls Prevention Awareness Week Promotion Toolkit below.  Our toolkit (download all the campaign assets, ZIP file) offers digital and printable assets you can use to generate engagement, including encouraging friends and family to make falls prevention a team effort. 

Logos and Campaign Banners

NCOA's 2021 Falls Prevention Awareness Week campaign features a new Falls Free CheckUp, a digital screener where older adults can answer 12 simple questions to get their falls risk score and steps to reduce their risk.

Download NCOA's logos and campaign banners in English and Spanish to promote the tool:

Each of the following campaign banners has been formatted for the social media platform you plan on using to promote Falls Free CheckUp. These banners are intended to serve as a cover photo during Falls Prevention Awareness Week. You can find our additional social media assets below within the Social Media Toolkit section.

Social Media Toolkit

These sample social media posts can be adapted and used to promote Falls Prevention Awareness Week during the week of September 20-24, 2021. Accompany your posts with the following digital assets that can be used across your organization's Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages.

Download NCOA's Social Media Toolkit

Download NCOA's four (4) social media assets to share with the sample social media posts in our toolkit:

As you're sharing information about how to prevent falls in older adults, take a look at our YouTube playlist and leverage these videos in your posts.

Get everything you need to help spread the word about preventing falls, including a planning calendar; a sample calendar announcement, advisory, and press release; and tips and sample scripts to pitch reporters.

Download NCOA's Public Relations/Media Toolkit

Educate your elected officials about how public dollars support evidence-based falls prevention programs for older adults, caregivers, family members, and the community at large. Aging services professionals are well-positioned to explain how limited public investment, along with growing demand, is having a domino effect on programs and services that help older adults remain healthy and independent in their own homes and communities. It’s important that Congress understand how older adults and caregivers are being affected by funding and policy decisions.

Below are links to help guide your falls prevention advocacy efforts:

• Governor's Proclamation (Template): Edit the downloadable template and yellow highlights as needed for your state. National numbers in the proclamation template are cited. States can add citations for their state-specific data.
• Senate Hearing (Video, October 2019): Falls Prevention: National, State, and Local Solutions to Better Support Seniors
• Senate Hearing (Report, October 2019): Falls Prevention: National, State, and Local Solutions to Better Support Seniors
• FY22 Falls Prevention Funding (House Letter, April 2021): A signed letter to Chair Rosa DeLauro, House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, requesting strong support for protecting the health, safety, and independence of our nation's older adults with FY22 investments in falls prevention and home modifications.
• FY22 Falls Prevention Funding (Group Letter, March 2021): A signed group letter to Chair Rosa DeLauro, House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, requesting a minimum of $10 million for the Administration for Community Living engagement of the aging services network to implement and sustain evidence-based falls prevention programs and $4 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and Control programming and research to prevent older adult falls.
• NCOA Issue Brief (April 2021): Addressing a Significant Public Health Issue: Funding for Falls Prevention Programs 
• NCOA Fact Sheet (July 2021): Get the Facts on Falls Prevention

There are numerous ways to work together with your local fire/emergency medical services (EMS) to provide a comprehensive and coordinated approach to education, prevention information, and intervention to reduce falls in your community.

Below are links to help guide you when engaging your local fire/EMS providers:

• Partnering with Fire and Emergency Medical Services to Prevent Falls (Article): First responders often see older adults in their homes, they can provide their partners with valuable information regarding common causes of falls, emerging trends, and insights into the social and behavioral aspects of the community.
• Fire Department’s Role in Falls Prevention: A Guide for Older Adults (Infographic): Share this infographic that provides five tips to help older adults understand a fire department’s role in falls prevention.
• How Your Local Fire Department Can Help with Falls Prevention (Article): Same information as the infographic link above, only in link-sharing form.
• Strengthening Falls Prevention Efforts with the Help of First Responders (Article): As a trusted source of information, local emergency medical services (EMS) and fire departments can have a key role in falls prevention efforts. Find out how partnerships with first responders can address fall rates and provide prevention strategies specific to the community.
• Fire and Falls Webinar Series: Engaging Firefighters and EMS for Falls Prevention: Join us this September for four webinars hosted by NCOA and the Administration for Community Living, featuring organizations who have successfully partnered with their local EMS and fire department to address falls prevention.

Falls Prevention Awareness Week is made possible in part by a grant from the U.S. Administration for Community Living.