Falls can be a leading cause of injury deaths for the elderly.
Brain injuries are usually incurred during falls.
Some are linked to other causes like cancer, strokes, infections and chronic illnesses, which are worsened by injuries sustained during a fall.

Falls are quite inevitable among the aging population.
They occur more often because the risk factors are often associated with health and aging conditions.

Which is why what we fear most when we are out at work, is our elderly loved one falling.

Good thing Aunt Lucy was around when granny fell.
We were all at Kris & Meng's housewarming when it happened.
If only granny came along with us...

It was granny's second fall.
She tripped over a broken tile when she was in Vietnam last week.
Mt. Alvernia discharged her after the x-rays showed no signs of injury.

Granny went down to buy some groceries and took the lift up to her apartment.
Came out of the lift and must have slipped off the slope covered with smooth tiles.
Aunt Lucy went upstairs to check on granny and discovered her sitting beside a pool of blood.
She called a couple of times before she got hold of Uncle Jerome.
She was so terrified that Uncle Jerome had to call for an ambulance.

A few of the aunties & uncles sent the kids home and grabbed granny's daily necessities.
The rest of us headed straight to NUH (nearest hospital)
Aunt Lucy went pale and appeared to be in a state of shock when she arrived at the hospital.
It was really traumatising especially after what happened to Uncle Larry two National Days ago.
A series of unfortunate events within 2 years...
Same period...

The receptionists were idling until Aunt Marge passed some sarcastic remarks.
We were made to wait for 3 freaking hours before granny was pushed into her ward.

Then a nurse came to tell us we had to wait for another hour for the doc to come.
Aunt Marge: "We've already waited for 3 hours, what's another hour..."

Docs and nurses came in to ask about granny's fall.
Shouldn't they have already knew from the report we gave earlier?
The reception in the ward did not have granny's A&E records.
Who ate them?

We were under the impression that granny's head was bleeding when she fell, because we were told by the nurses/ docs that the stitching had been done.
It was only when granny's right ear started bleeding that we realised where the pool of blood actually came from.
The doc who checked on her explained that the ear is an organ of balance and granny's ear probably suffered from a trauma, which may have caused her dizziness.
Thus, causing her to fall backwards.
And so...
Her head never bled and we checked for stitches but there was none!
What stitches were the staff of NUH talking about then????

No one could tell us what was granny's diagnosis, the results tests, what they were going to do next.
We had to wait for the ENT to check on granny's ear.
Had to wait again for an answer why the records from A&E were not in, and what they are intending to do about granny's condition.

The nurse quietly left a couple of tablets on the desk.
No instructions given and we did not notice them.
So what are we supposed to do with them?

How are we supposed to trust NUH fully to take care of granny?
NUH's vision: Adding years of healthy life...
More like 'Adding worries & fear' under their care.
Quality policy to patients 'Quality Care & Service'.
We received none of it.