New Orleans Senior AdvisorWhat should I do after an older parent falls?
Get a medical evaluation even if your parent seems fine, because head injuries, fractures and medication causes can be missed, and ask the doctor for a falls assessment covering medications, vision, blood pressure, strength and balance.
If your parent was on the floor for a long time or cannot remember the fall, treat it as urgent. Afterward, ask whether physical therapy or Medicare home health makes sense; therapy aimed at strength and balance reduces repeat falls.
How can we make the home safer?
Remove trip hazards, add grab bars and lighting, raise toilet seats, move daily items within reach, and consider a personal emergency response system so your parent can call for help.
The Community Choices Waiver can pay for environmental accessibility adaptations such as ramps, widened doorways, grab bars and roll-in showers, and for a personal emergency response system, for people who qualify. Many older New Orleans houses are raised with steep front steps, which makes ramps and rails especially important.
Does a fall mean a parent needs assisted living?
Not necessarily: one fall with a clear cause can be addressed at home, but repeated falls, falls at night, or a parent who cannot get up alone suggest a need for help on site around the clock, which every Louisiana ARCP must provide with an awake staff member at all times.
ARCPs must assess fall risk in the pre-residency screening. Ask a prospective provider how it responds to falls, how quickly staff answer a call at night, and how families are notified.
What if a parent falls in an ARCP or nursing home?
Ask for the incident report, which Louisiana requires ARCPs to keep, and a meeting to review the care plan, and if you believe the fall resulted from neglect, you can complain to LDH's Health Standards Section at 1-888-810-1819.
Falls in facilities are common and not always preventable. The useful question is what changed afterward: medication review, more frequent checks, a lower bed, or physical therapy.
Who pays for therapy after a fall?
Medicare pays for medically necessary physical and occupational therapy, at home through a home health agency if your parent is homebound, in outpatient clinics, or in a skilled nursing facility after a qualifying hospital stay.
LDH's October 2026 report lists 32 licensed home health agencies, 22 hospices and 10 adult day health care centers with addresses in the six parishes; agencies routinely serve clients beyond their office parish. For ongoing help with daily activities after the therapy ends, see LT-PCS and private home care.
Sources include LAC 48:I.Chapter 68 (adult residential care providers), the Louisiana Department of Health's Health Standards Section and Office of Aging and Adult Services pages, the Governor's Office of Elderly Affairs, CareScout and VA rate tables as cited above; see our editorial standards.
