CHSU Students and Faculty Participate in the Senior Awareness & Fall Education (SAFE) Program to Serve Older Adults in Central Valley

October 11, 2018

 
Falls are a serious threat to the health and well-being of senior citizens. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one out of four people, age 65 and older, fall each year and may suffer devastating injuries that require hospitalization. The Senior Awareness & Fall Prevention (SAFE) – Central Valley Coalition is a research education center initiative to provide seniors with gait, balance, and mobility assessment to reduce the risks for falls. The SAFE program is a collaboration between Fresno State nursing students and CHSU pharmacy students that provides multifactorial assessment for fall risks.
Numerous medications may contribute to fall risk significantly, so a medication review is an important component for fall risk assessment. Our pharmacy students play a key role in helping seniors understand the side effects of the medications they are taking and the risks associated with medications that can make them feel dizzy or weak
On October 2nd, 2018, CHSU hosted their first SAFE screening for the 2018 fall semester. There were over 30 clients that signed up for the screening event and they were very appreciative of the service. We would like to recognize all the participating students and faculty from both CHSU and Fresno State for the great community service to our seniors in the Central Valley.
Lead Fresno State Physical Therapy Faculty:                       
Peggy R. Trueblood, PhD, PT
Leslie Zarrinkhameh, PT, DPT, GCS, DCE
Nupur Hajela, PhD
Nancy Wubenhorst, PT
Lead CHSU SAFE Faculty:
Cuihong Leung, PharmD
Stanley Snowden, PharmD
Patty Havard, PharmD
Lead CSU Fresno Nursing Faculty:                                           
Cheryl Edgar, RN
Lead CHSU SAFE Student Leader:
Wameng “Evan” Yang Yang, PharmD Candidate (COP 2020)
CHSU SAFE Student Participants on Oct 2nd, 2018 Screening:
COP 2019 (P4): Alex Pham, Chris Schene, Inga Sarkisian, Jessica Brooks, Lina Vang, Wilson Ly
COP 2020 (P3): Parvi Boyal, Rukhsar Randhawa, Renzio Apostol, Sobha Bains
COP 2021 (P2): Daniel Winn, Jacqueline Ekmalian, Judy Guan, Pa Xiong, Poonam Patel, Shivani Patel
COP 2022 (P1): Alexis Mejia, Iqra Mian, Shannon Littrell, Nandita Malhi, Mandeep Rajpal
 
Please visit the link below of an educational video about SAFE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17ziBQupB3Ok1BjvavfxtWWIz4jYh-hJw/view
For more information about the SAFE program, visit the Central Valley Coalition website: http://www.fresnostate.edu/chhs/safecvc/