A Guide to Help Cope With a Life-Altering Parkinson's Diagnosis

For Parkinson’s patients, a spill or tumble is an inevitable occurrence of the symptoms of the disease. Some live in fear of it as it’s not quite so simple as it is for everyone else. You can’t ever really adequately prepare for a fall, you can know that it’s eventually going to come, but unless it happens in your home or another environment that you have control over, all you can do is hope that it isn’t a truly bad spill. In your home there are things that can be done to prepare and also prepare for the aftermath.

Having an emergency plan is the first step in preparation. For those without an in home caregiver, the first step would be to enlist a family member, neighbor, or close friend that is reliable and easily available who is aware of the condition and can arrive quickly on scene when the tumble happens. Barring that an emergency medical communications device preferably one that can be worn on the body, can alert emergency personnel as well as the police should be the second step in preparation.