Close to 100 Juniper Home Care customers have expressed interest for a community project working to enable their functional ability and prevent the risk of falls at home.
After teaming up with University of Western Australia (UWA) researchers to develop the partnership project, Juniper staff started rolling out the program to its first group of customers in June.
The HCF Research Foundation-funded project makes use of a “train the trainer” model designed and delivered by the university research team, supported by two dedicated Juniper Falls Champions, to sustainably share training with Home Care staff.
Trained Juniper Therapy Assistants and Community Support Workers then deliver the novel falls prevention program to customers.
So far, 37 customers have enrolled in the project and the university research team, together with Juniper’s Falls Champions, have gone on to train 13 Juniper Physiotherapists to provide assessments and tailored programs for individual customer needs. To date, physiotherapists have completed more than 30 face-to-face assessments and 16 customers have started their programs.
Fourteen Juniper Therapy Assistants and five Community Support Workers are at the ready to carry out the tailored programs with customers during weekly 30-minute intervention sessions. The sessions include tailored falls education using video and written materials and an evidence-based strength and balance exercise program. In addition, all customers receive a home exercise component that supports customers in completing exercises between sessions for maximum benefit.
The project research team is led by Dr Jacqueline Francis-Coad from UWA. Juniper’s Falls Champions, Physiotherapy Lead Bernie Wong, Occupational Therapy Lead Kesha Logan and Physiotherapist Nick Archibald, who are working closely with UWA project manager Vanessa Jessup to make the project a reality.
Bernie said the training was well received by all staff members, particularly the Therapy Assistants and Community Support Workers, and it had proved a great “think outside the box” method to reduce a customer’s fall risk.
“Training community therapy assistants and support workers to deliver these programs could allow them to be included as part of regular home visits,” Bernie said.
Ultimately, the research team will measure the effectiveness of implementing the program through customer and staff satisfaction surveys, changes in customers’ strength and balance, falls and injurious falls rates, together with an economic evaluation.
Should the program prove successful, it could be rolled out on a wider scale, providing significant benefits for Juniper’s community customers when it comes to reducing the risk of falls and enhancing functional ability at home.
The project is one of six Australian studies to receive funding from the HCF Foundation’s 2023 Translational Research Grants, which focus on crucial health and wellbeing concerns among older people.
Enquire
1300 313 000