Dr. Georgeen Polyak
Department of Public Health|
Village of Oak Park:
I am writing to you on behalf of the Wellness Committee of the Residents Council, Holley Court Terrace Retirement Community. A recent outdoor fall by one of our residents, Rose Meyer, happened to coincide with the publication of an article in the July, 2006 issue of the American Journal of Public Health (p. 1192). We strongly agree with the conclusion of the article which indicates that efforts to prevent outdoor falls is grossly underestimated as a public health problem and that “Outdoor falls … were frequently attributed to modifiable environmental factors.”
Oak Park is currently filled with new construction sites in heavily traveled areas of downtown Oak Park, which greatly adds to the normal hazards which exist for our older citizens.
We feel that not enough thought has been given to planning and prevention of falls. We have already brought this question to the village’s Transportation Committee. We would like to urge you to join with them and other appropriate village government units to plan ways to improve conditions for our community.
We would like to hear your thoughts on this matter, and we invite someone from your department to meet with our committee to discuss how we can help to tackle this public health problem in our village.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
