Aging in Our Community A Message from W. Mark Clark, President and CEO
Take a stand to prevent falls
steps to mitigate those risks benefits each and every one of us. I’m grateful that the greatest casualty of my fall was my tie, and for the opportunity to view the event as a cautionary tale I can share with you, rather than suffering a serious and potentially life-changing injury. I walk a little more slowly now, and look a bit more carefully at the terrain ahead. I’m also going to check out some of the free falls prevention events and activities taking place across our community in September, October and November, and hope you will, too. See Falls Prevention free events on pages 28 & 29.
hundred or so guests. There was much discussion with my colleagues planning the event about how best to allow me to save face. In the end, we didn’t use heavy makeup, or adjust the lighting on the stage, or find a replacement to step into my role at the Gala. Instead, I got a haircut, put on my tux, took the stage and declared into the microphone, “I stand before you a poster child for the importance of PCOA’s falls prevention work.” You see, the greatest disservice we can do to a critical topic like falls prevention is to sweep it under the rug from a place of embarrassment (rugs can also present a falls hazard, by the way). It is easy for us to imagine that such things only happen to others, but the reality is that every person is at risk for falls, the risk of injury increases with age and loss of strength, and taking
Here we are again in September, which includes the observance of the annual Falls Prevention Awareness Day on the 23rd of the month. This year, I am more acutely aware than ever before of the importance of falls prevention, having personally taken a fall just a few months ago. Leaving a community event in April, I came out of the building into the dark evening, crossed an unlit parking lot and thought to step onto a curb, which I missed. The toe of my shoe caught on the edge and I went down like a rock. Luckily, I didn’t break anything, but did scratch up parts of my face rather badly and was shocked and disoriented in the moment. I’m also sad to report the loss of my favorite tie, from which I was unable to remove the bloodstains. Most damaged of all, perhaps, was my dignity, as I suffered the embarrassment of having to retell the tale again and again in response to concerned inquiries, which were appreciated nonetheless. As it happened, my tumble occurred just a few days prior to PCOA’s Gala, where I was scheduled to stand on stage in my tuxedo and address five
It’s Never Too Late For a New Look Welcome to Never Too Late ’s new look! We’ve added a new cover, incorporated PCOA’s new branding, added color and changed our paper to a brighter white. We have retained our popular pull-out sections for Community Calendar and Health, Aging & Wellness, but now all sections are color-keyed for even easier identification. Plus we have added a four-page Spanish language section called Nunca Es Demasiado Tarde . And our original cover art by Sara Heitshu, a Drawing Studio artist, continues a creative partnership that will present original cover artwork from The Drawing Studio in each edition of the paper.
September 2019, Never Too Late | Page 3
Pima Council on Aging
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