Queensland Stay On Your Feet® Toolkit - Falls prevention in action

Queensland Stay On Your Feet Wide Bay/Burnett trial project

As a result of the Queensland Stay On Your Feet Wide Bay/Burnett trial project, fitness leaders were trained to continue running Nordic Pole walking, Life Ball and Tai Chi for Arthritis following the project’s completion. The project also influenced the inclusion of falls prevention strategies into five local government plans for the first time. Other sustainable outcomes included:

• the development and ongoing operation of the Wide Bay Physical Activity Taskforce and the North Burnett Sport and Recreation Council
• local retail shops influenced to stock shoes with a safer design
• development and implementation of sport and recreational plans and trained health service providers incorporating falls prevention training into their practice
• the Department of Local Government Planning Sport and Recreation including physical activity options for older people into their existing regional sports tour.

Stay On Your Feet project, Northern NSW

Five years after the Stay on Your Feet project in Northern NSW, 80% of the 117 general practitioners surveyed were aware of the project ^[96]. 74% of the general practitioners surveyed (who had heard of the project) thought that it had influenced their practice ^[96] and 75% said the most common activity undertaken was "checking the potential for medications to contribute to falls risk in older patients" [96:pp 284].