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Autumn 2026·7 min read·Bruce Tollefson

How to prevent falls in a parent's home

What to change in the house, what to ask the doctor, and where Minnesota families can get help at no cost.

Why this article exists

Most families start thinking about falls right after one. Someone goes down on the way to the bathroom at two in the morning, and the next week disappears into phone calls and waiting rooms. If a fall is what brought you here, you did not miss an obvious warning. The changes that prevent falls are small ones, and nobody brings them up at Thanksgiving dinner.

Very little of this costs money, and none of it has to happen this week. Most of it is an afternoon of walking through a house with your eyes down, plus one uncomfortable conversation with your father about the slippers he has worn since 2009.

A note on what this is. This article is general information from a care provider. It is not legal, financial, or medical advice. Talk with your parent's physician about anything clinical, and with a qualified advisor about money, insurance, or legal questions.

Where Minnesota stands

The Minnesota Department of Health reports that Minnesota has the second highest rate of deaths from falls among older adults in the country, behind Wisconsin. In 2023, falls killed roughly 1,350 Minnesotans aged 65 and over. The state's own mortality report says plainly that it is not clear why our rate is nearly double the national one.

Nationally, more than one in four older adults falls in a given year, and fewer than half of them mention it to a doctor. Your mother may have already fallen without saying anything, and asking her directly may not turn it up. A fall she got up from on her own still counts, because falling once doubles the odds of falling again. About 37 percent of people who fall report an injury that required medical treatment or kept them off their feet for at least a day.

Asking your parent straight out whether they have fallen is the natural question, and it is also the one most likely to get a no. Ask instead whether they have had any slips, trips, or near misses since last winter, and whether they find themselves putting a hand on the furniture to cross a room. People tend to answer those questions honestly.

Start with the medicine cabinet

A good deal of fall prevention happens at a pharmacy counter, before anyone buys any equipment.

The CDC advises asking a doctor or pharmacist to review a person's medicines and flag any that raise the risk of falling. Bring every bottle to the appointment, including the ones that came from a different prescriber and the over-the-counter sleep aids, which families almost always forget to mention. Blood pressure medication that was correct three years ago can be too strong for a lighter, less active body today.

Vision belongs in the same conversation. The CDC recommends an eye exam at least once a year with lenses updated as needed. Bifocals deserve a specific question, because looking down through the reading portion changes how the edge of a step appears.

Most clinics will fold the medication review into a regular appointment if you say that is what you want when you book it.

Walk through the house and look down

Take one slow lap through your parent's home, on your own, with your eyes on the floor. The CDC's guidance for older adults comes down to four things: get rid of trip hazards, keep floors clear, add grab bars in the bathroom, and install handrails and lights on every staircase.

In the bathroom, put a grab bar beside the toilet and one inside the tub or shower. A towel bar will pull out of the wall under a person's full weight, so the bar needs to be anchored into studs or into blocking behind the tile. A shower chair and a handheld sprayer mean nobody has to stand on a wet surface or reach up with soap in their eyes.

On the stairs, run a handrail the full length, on both sides if the stairwell allows it, and make sure the top and bottom steps are lit. Outside steps matter more here than in most states, from November through March.

On the floors, the hallway throw rug is usually the first thing to go. It is also the thing families argue about, because it was a gift or it has been there thirty years. Tape down what stays, move extension cords out of walking paths, and clear the route between the bed and the bathroom so it can be walked in the dark. A plug-in night light for that hallway costs about four dollars at any hardware store.

The hours when falls happen

Falls cluster at certain times of day, and the hours that matter are the same whether the person covering them is paid or not. A sibling or a neighbor can cover an hour as well as anyone.

Most falls happen on the trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night, in the first few minutes after getting out of bed in the morning, and in the late afternoon and evening, when a person is tired and the light is poor. Our note on the hours at home works through how to match coverage to those windows.

Three situations raise risk sharply for a while: the first weeks after a hospital or rehab stay, the first two weeks on a new medication, and the period after any illness that kept someone in bed. Strength drops faster during a hospital stay than most families expect, and rebuilding it can take weeks. Our guide to returning home after a hospital stay covers what those first two weeks ask of a family.

Strength and balance classes

Clearing the house helps, and so does strength and balance work, which is what lets a person catch a stumble before it becomes a fall. It is also the part that gets put off, usually because it asks a good deal more of everyone than moving a rug does.

Minnesota happens to have a good option for this. Juniper is a statewide network of healthcare organizations and community partners, operated by Innovations for Aging, that runs evidence-based classes to build strength, mobility, and balance. The Minnesota Department of Health points families to Juniper for free and low-cost classes aimed at reducing fall risk, including A Matter of Balance, which is built for people who have grown afraid of falling and have started doing less because of it. Classes run in community centers, clinics, and senior centers across the metro, and you can search by location at yourjuniper.org.

Walking counts too. MDH promotes a program called Walk with Ease for people who would rather not sit in a class at all.

If your father will not go to a class, ask his own doctor about a physical therapy referral instead, which gets at the same thing one person at a time.

What a caregiver changes

If you are weighing paid help, what it changes are the few moments in a day when a person is least steady.

That means standby assistance during a shower, a hand on the transfer from bed to chair, someone in the house during the evening hours, and eyes on the hallway on a night that has everyone uneasy. That is what Abloom Senior Living's personal care visits are for, including transfers that need two people. Dementia care is a separate service, used when a parent's judgment is the problem. Overnight need is staffed as awake shifts, and Abloom Senior Living does not place caregivers to sleep in a client's home. If you want to see what an ordinary visit contains before you decide anything, what a visit looks like walks through one.

The in-home line is private pay, and we do not take Minnesota waivers or Medical Assistance for it. If your parent qualifies for waiver-funded care at home, you will hear that on the first call, and we will give you the names of agencies that do take it.

When the house stops being the answer

Sometimes you walk the whole house and it still cannot be made safe enough. The stairs and the upstairs bathroom are the problem, and you did not build them. Some situations are past what hourly help can cover: a bedroom and bathroom on the second floor of a 1962 split-level, a parent who now needs two people to stand, falls happening at night more than once. If you are weighing that, when to consider a move lays out the signs, and can my parent stay at home with help works through the same question from the other direction.

None of that has to be decided this month. Looking at one option costs you an afternoon and commits you to nothing.

What to do this week

There are three things to do, in order, and none of them take a whole weekend. Book the medication review and the eye exam. Walk the house once and fix the free items the same day: the hallway rug, the cords, the night light, the clear path to the bathroom. Then look up a Juniper class near Woodbury or wherever your parent lives and see what the schedule looks like.

Minnesota Aging Pathways, formerly the Senior LinkAge Line, will talk any of this through with you at no cost. It is a free service of the Minnesota Board on Aging and the area agencies on aging, reachable at 800-333-2433, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nobody there is selling anything.

If you would like our read on a particular house, tell us about your parent's week and we will read it before we reply. You are welcome to have us come out and walk the house with you, or to come see the home in Woodbury and ask whatever you like across the kitchen table. We will send you a written rate card if that is what you need to plan. If Abloom Senior Living is not the right fit for your family, we will say so and point you toward someone who is.

Frequently asked questions

What should I change first to prevent falls at home? Start with a medication review by a doctor or pharmacist and an eye exam, because both are quick, inexpensive, and address risks no amount of equipment will fix. Then remove trip hazards, keep floors clear, add grab bars in the bathroom, and make sure every staircase has handrails and lighting. The route from the bed to the bathroom deserves particular attention, since it is walked at night and often in the dark.

How common are falls among older adults in Minnesota? Minnesota has the second highest rate of deaths from falls among older adults in the country, after Wisconsin, and falls caused approximately 1,350 deaths among Minnesotans aged 65 and older in 2023. Nationally, more than one in four older adults falls each year and fewer than half tell a doctor about it.

Are there free fall prevention classes in Minnesota? Yes. Juniper, a statewide network operated by Innovations for Aging, offers evidence-based classes that build strength, mobility, and balance, and the Minnesota Department of Health describes them as free and low-cost. A Matter of Balance is designed for people whose fear of falling has caused them to cut back on activity. Classes are searchable by location at yourjuniper.org.

Can medications increase the risk of falling? Yes, and the CDC advises asking a doctor or pharmacist to review all medicines to identify any that raise fall risk. Bring every bottle to the appointment, including prescriptions from other providers and over-the-counter sleep aids, since these are the ones most often left out of the conversation.

Does in-home care help prevent falls? It helps with the specific moments when a person is least steady: standby assistance in the shower, help with transfers, presence during the evening, and coverage on nights a family is worried about. How much it helps depends on whether the hours land on the times of day your parent is least steady, so work out which hours those are first.

Sources

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