A Call to Action  -

  The Ministry of Health has identified falls prevention as a priority in The Strategic and Operational Directions (SOD) for the Health Sector in Saskatchewan and in the Saskatchewan surgical wait times reduction initiative. The SOD specifically includes a Long-Term Care (LTC) Falls Prevention and Reduction Initiative, with targets for:

·  reducing the number of LTC residents who experience a fall, and

·  increasing the number of facilities that have implemented the Safer Healthcare Now! (SHN) falls prevention program.

  Sunnyside’s percent of injuring falls is currently 25% lower than the health region’s average as we already have a good falls prevention program already in place, however, we are participating in this initiative to help achieve the target of reducing falls and injury from falls in LTC by at least 20% by March 2012.

  There has been a lot of research in falls prevention. The challenge has been to apply the research every day in the care of our patients. The Safer Healthcare Now! program for LTC is a good start. The Ministry of Health and Regional Health Authorities took the first step toward addressing falls among LTC residents by helping us implement the Safer Healthcare Now! falls prevention program.

  In 2009-10, 1,023 residents in Saskatoon Health Region Special Care Homes experienced a fall.  Reducing this number to 818 (or fewer) residents who have fallen in 2011-12 is the objective.   Residents of Saskatoon Health Region Special Care Homes will experience fewer falls and fall injuries as a result of care team members and managers who are dedicated to resident safety. 

  This beautiful bird was spotted in Saskatoon recently. It is called a Chukar and belongs to the Grey Partridge family. I went online to find out more about it and read that it is a great favourite of wild game hunters and is even introduced to certain areas of the countryside especially for the hunters to shoot. Such a beautiful creation, destined to be killed just for sport. Maybe some of us sometimes feel that we have been put on this earth for others to shoot at. There are times when life just doesn’t seem fair. Difficulty piled upon difficulty can seem to come at us from all angles. But somehow, these Chukars live, love, reproduce, fly (albeit heavily), chirrup, enjoy the sunshine, feed off God’s good earth every day, without a thought for what might happen to them; intent only on living their little lives to the fullest in spite of the threat of hunters who might end their lives at any moment. We are even more precious to God than the cute little Chukas and like these chubby little birds, we have that ol’ jealous, evil one shooting fiery darts at us simply because we are so precious to God. “Like a roaring lion your adversary, the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour” (1Peter 5:8).  But if we go one verse back, to 1Peter 5:7, we read, “Cast all your anxiety on him (God) because he cares for you. Discipline yourself. Keep alert.”  Our troubles won’t necessarily go away when we turn to God, but if we keep Him as our constant companion even in the midst of all the threats and troubles around us, we will also have the ability to claim as our right the abundant living promised in John 10:10. Let’s laugh, love, even chirrup like the Chukars if you like, but most of all, in spite of life’s troubles, claim the right to also live life to its fullest, in Christ, every day, wherever we are, all the way!