In New York State, Nassau County has the highest rate of hospitalizations due to fall-related injuries each year. According to Dr. Lawrence Eisenstein, deputy commissioner for the Department of Health, Nassau County ranks 20 percent higher in falls than the rest of the state. The Department of Health has teamed up with the county's six hospitals to make fall prevention a top priority in the community this year. (Video by Jacquelyn DeSisto)

Before December, Vanessa Lind, 20, of Massapequa, N.Y., would have described her grandfather as "super-human," and a "man of perfect health." Now she says "he looks like a question mark." Lind's grandfather fell down his basement stairs on his way to get the laundry, fracturing his skull and breaking his hip. He's not alone. Nassau County has the highest rate of hospitalizations due to falls resulting in injuries in New York.   

SInce his fall in December, Lind's grandfather's health has continued to deteriorate. "He had lost 15 pounds in the hospital. He kind of looks like a question mark now and he continues to lose weight which is really scary," says Lind. 

"Somebody falls, slips, and breaks a hip and it's a 50-percent chance they're dead within a year. So preventing these falls is really key to keeping these people alive," says Dr. Lawrence Eisenstein, deputy commissioner for the Nassau County Department of Health. 

To combat this issue, the Department of Health has teamed up with the Long Island Geriatric Education Center, along with the county's six hospitals, to bring falls prevention awareness to Nassau County. "We have a falls prevention objective, and as part of that, we have different things that we're doing. One is that we're participating with the Long Island Geriatric Education Center to do a conference in the fall, Fall for Falls," says Eisenstein. The conference will bring together health-care providers and people who take care of the elderly to offer tips on how to prevent falls, along with home contractors in order to discuss what can be done to make homes safe, according to Eisenstein.

Dr. Eisenstein says that Nassau County is an older community, with many of the buildings and homes built back in the 1940s and '50s. "We're looking at factors such as the way homes were constructed with steep stairwells. There's a lot of homes without handrails, which is a huge factor."  

 This slideshow features two graphs showcasing the data found to support this story. It also helps to visually explain some of the contributing factors to falls in Nassau County. Many houses are without handrails on the outdoor steps, or the walkways are made out of accident prone material. (Slideshow by Jacquelyn DeSisto)

Senior citizens have the highest risk of fall-related injuries, according to the Department of Health, and more seniors live in Nassau County than anywhere else in New York. "In Nassau, 15 percent of our population is over 65. In New York state combined, it's around 12 percent, so we have 3 percent, on average, more seniors living here, and that equates to thousands of people," says Eisenstein.

Nassau County also does not offer many options for senior housing. "A lot of the seniors that I am describing are living in homes with stairs that are not laid out well, particularly in regards to fall prevention," says Dr. Eisenstein. 

Lind says her grandfather's stairs are made of concrete, and that "there are no handrails, nothing to hold on to."

The Department of Health is working with the area's hospitals to sponsor educational programs throughout the year for falls prevention. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention also offers tips for falls.

Dr. Eisenstein says that this project is still in its planning stages, but the community can expect to see changes in the future. "Falls prevention is a very important topic, specifically in Nassau where we have a high rate of injuries and were working on a lot of projects. It is one of our key agendas for the year," he says.

This is the individual final project for Prof. Mo Krochmal's JRNL 80 (Online Journalism) class for Spring 2010.