‘Matter of Balance’ to be offered in Warrensburg

Preventing falls and diminishing the fear of falling are two goals of a free four-week class for older adults coming soon to the Warrensburg Senior Housing.
As people grow older, their likelihood of taking a tumble grows as well. Three in 10 older adults fall each year, and about 20 percent of those are injured. Falls are a leading cause of injury and death among older people. Falls – many of them preventable – often happen at home.
Care Connection for Aging Services will offer an eight-session course called “Matter of Balance” from 10 a.m. to noon Mondays and Wednesdays beginning Feb. 3 at the Warrensburg Senior Housing, 451 Northern Hills Road, in Warrensburg.
To register, call 1-800-748-7826. The course is being offered free to participants.
Pat Simon, a retired registered nurse from Concordia, took the class recently at the Higginsville Senior Center and recommends it to others.
“I thought it was very good. The lecture part was very interesting and informative. We always had a good opportunity to ask questions,” Simon said.
The class was developed in accordance with research conducted by Boston University and has been proven to work. One goal is to increase activity among older adults.
The participants will learn to set goals for increasing activity; to view falls and the fear of falling as controllable; to exercise to create strength and balance; and to reduce risk factors for falls.
Class participants can expect discussion, problem solving, skill building, assertiveness training, exercises and videos.
Most beneficial, Simon said, are the exercises that are offered in the class. Simon said that even though she considers herself physically fit, she does sometimes have a problem with balance as a result of a health problem she suffered four years ago.
Nine of 10 participants in the nationally recognized Matter of Balance program said they are more comfortable talking about the fear of falling, planned to increase exercise, and would recommend the program to others.
Since the class, Simon said she has used lessons she learned in Matter of Balance when she found herself in the predicament of “squatting so far down that I could not get up. I had learned that I could fall backwards and then get myself back up.”
Regardless of whether older adults consider themselves challenged by balance, “I certainly would recommend this class,” Simon said.
Care Connection offers the program as part of its mission to provide opportunities to create positive aging experiences. Care Connection for Aging Services, a non-profit area agency on aging, serves 13 West Central Missouri counties, including Johnson.