New grants to help prevent falls

The ACT government has recently announced grants totalling over $144k to help prevent falls, a major cause of serious injury in older people and people with a disability. I know because my Nanna was in robust good health until at the age of 96 she fell and broke her hip. Infection set in and unfortunately she never recovered.

The one that caught my eye was the Tai Chi program at the YMCA. Weight-bearing exercise can help prevent osteoporosis and Tai Chi helps maintain flexibility and balance. The ability to maintain core strength as people get older is really important and its great to see focused funding to help provide access to programs such as these.

According the ACT Health site, the grants are broken up as follows:

	Project	Amount Funded 09/10
Arthritis ACT	More Ways to help our members stay on their feet	$26,478
Morshead Home	Blood Pressure and Staff Work Practices in Falls Prevention	$30,000
National Brain Injury Foundation	Restoring and Maintaining Balance while living with a disability/brain injury	$21,980
Therapy ACT	Falls Prevention Program for Aging Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in ACT	$46,508
YMCA Of Canberra	Tai Chi for Falls Prevention Training and Programs- Extension	$19,600
	Total Funded 2009/10	$144,566