What to do when your parent falls.
6 min
The first minutes, the first hours, and the 48 hours after: what matters, what can wait, and what to write down.
First: don't rush the getting up
If you're there, resist the instinct to pull your parent straight up. Take thirty seconds. Ask where it hurts before anything moves. If there's hip or head pain, severe pain anywhere, or anything looks wrong, call 911 and keep them comfortable where they are. A broken hip made worse by a hurried lift is the outcome you're preventing.
If nothing seems injured, help them roll to their side, then to hands and knees, then up using sturdy furniture, slowly, with you steadying rather than lifting.
Call 911 if any of these are true
- 1.They hit their head, especially on a blood thinner like Eliquis or warfarin. A head injury plus a blood thinner means an ER visit, even if they feel fine.
- 2.Hip, thigh, or groin pain, or they can't bear weight.
- 3.Confusion that wasn't there before the fall.
- 4.They were on the floor a long time and are weak, cold, or disoriented.
Kinbase
You can log this fall by voice in about thirty seconds, right where you are standing. The date and the details land in one record your whole family can read, and on the emergency sheet, there if it is ever needed.
The next 48 hours
Falls tend to announce themselves twice: once when they happen, and once in the days after. Watch for new confusion, a headache that builds, bruising that spreads, or reluctance to walk. Any of these is worth a call to the doctor.
Write down what happened while it's fresh
Where, when, what they were doing, whether they hit their head, how they seemed afterward. It feels unnecessary in the moment. It is also the single most useful thing you can hand a doctor months from now, when someone asks whether there have been any falls. And it lets you notice a pattern if this turns out to be the second or the third.
When a second fall follows the first
A second fall within a few months usually means something changed: medication side effects, blood pressure, vision, footwear, a loose rug. Bring the log to the doctor and ask for a falls assessment. This is one of the more treatable risks in aging, and it tends to go best when you arrive with dates instead of guesses.
Common questions
Should I call 911 if my mom falls but says she is fine?
Call 911 if she hit her head, has pain in the hip, thigh, or groin, cannot bear weight, or seems confused in a way that is new. If none of that is true and she gets up comfortably, you can watch her at home and call her doctor in the morning. When you are unsure, the nurse line on the back of her insurance card can talk it through with you.
What are the signs of a concussion in an elderly person after a fall?
Watch for a headache that builds, vomiting, new confusion, slurred speech, unequal pupils, or unusual drowsiness in the hours and days after. Any of these means call the doctor or go to the ER, and go straight away if your parent is on a blood thinner. Older adults can bleed slowly inside the skull, so symptoms sometimes show up a day or two later, not right away.
How can I stop my parent from falling again at home?
Start with the ordinary hazards: loose rugs, poor lighting, no grab bars, and shoes without backs. Ask the doctor to review her medications and blood pressure, since both are common and fixable causes. A physical therapist can check her balance and strength. Prevention works best when you treat a fall as information about what changed, rather than as bad luck.
My parent refuses to see a doctor after a fall. What do I do?
You cannot force a competent adult to go, so start by naming one specific worry instead of arguing. Saying you want the doctor to rule out a small fracture is easier to accept than "you need to get checked." If there are red flags like a head injury on a blood thinner, hip pain, or new confusion, that is an emergency, and calling 911 is the right call even over an objection.
Where Kinbase fits
Kinbase families log a fall by voice in about thirty seconds, and the record keeps it for you. Every fall, with its date, sits ready on the emergency sheet if the day ever comes when someone needs it.
Start your family’s record.
Name the book, invite the people who help, and the record starts keeping itself. Most families are set up inside ten minutes.
Free for families to start. Everyone you invite joins from a link or by scanning a code, and nobody has to install anything to read or write.