By Kelly Shue
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

According to the National Safety Council (NSC), “Fifty-four percent of all injury-related deaths happen in the home.” What’s more, the NSC reports that, “In the home there is a fatal injury every 16 minutes and a disabling injury every 4 seconds.”

Surprising Statistics
Falls are the most menacing enemy for both men and women 65 years and older, taking, on average, 13,000 lives a year. Even more startling, the NSC reports, “Of those who survive a fall, up to 30 percent will suffer debilitating injuries that affect them the rest of their lives.”

The news is worse for older Americans. According to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Among people ages 75 and older, victims of a fall are four to five times more likely to be admitted to a long-term care facility for a year or longer.”

Single Floor Solution
One of the best ways to make life easier and fight the statistics is eliminate the risks. At Riderwood, every apartment home boasts all the conveniences of single floor living. You’ll no longer have to take unwieldy baskets of laundry up and down the basement stairs, or make long trips upstairs to your master suite.

With the laundry room moving up and out of the basement and the master suite moving to the main living area, every room in your new home will be on one, convenient level, eliminating the risk of falling down the stairs by 100 percent!

And just because everything you need is on one level, doesn’t mean you have to give up on space. Sherrill Stover, who moved to Riderwood from a nineroom house in Bethesda, Md., says, “My new home at Riderwood is large enough for all my favorite furniture pieces, including a dining room table and sofa. Even my bedroom is large enough to accommodate all my bedroom furniture and a Total Gym exercise machine.”