Avoiding Falls

According to latest figures from the CDC, approximately one million people each year experience an ice or snow related fall. And sadly, 17,000 of those end in fatality.

I'm Peter Rosenberg and this is hope for the caregiver. I want to tell you about our newest sponsor. They're called Heat Track. Now these are snow and ice melting mats that are engineered to leave out all winter long. And I first heard about these from a friend of mine down the road who has some mobility impairments. He uses crutches.

And I was looking at his setup that he had. We live in Montana. We live up in the Rockies. So we get quite a bit of snow out here. And I moved out here from Tennessee where we got quite a bit of ice. It was always a problem because Gracie has two prosthetic legs and I am back and forth all the time bringing in groceries and so forth and slipping and falling. Yeah, I've done it. I've had it and she's fallen and cleaning off the driveway and making sure there's no ice in inclement or even water in inclement conditions.

This has been a problem. And I saw this with my friend had and I watched him navigate these things and man, it was wonderful. I mean, he got to the car safely, to the garage safely.

Everything was just nice and dry and safe. And that's the whole point. So I bought a couple of these myself and I put them out right as the entrance. As you come into our home, there's the doorway. When I pull right up, I can get right out of the car and Gracie can get out and safely get into the home.

And then I put another runner there for the ramp so that when she's in the wheelchair, if she needs to be in the wheelchair, I can easily get her out. This has been my introduction to this and they do exactly what they're advertised to do. And it's real easy. It's very cost effective. I'll tell you, let me tell you how cost effective it is. It is far more affordable than your deductible or copay at the emergency room.

And that's the whole point of this. These things are energy efficient. They don't cost that much to run. You don't have to run them 24-7.

You look at the weather report and about an hour before bad weather hits, you plug them in and you've got a safe, dry surface for you and your loved one to walk on. Think about all the times that you're back and forth in the car, pulling in groceries and you're helping with all the kind of things that we do as caregivers. And you're always in a hurry. You may be on your phone like I am all the time.

And I use Bluetooth earpieces so I'm not holding the phone to my ear, but I'm still talking on it and that's distracted. And if you have slippery conditions while you're distracted, carrying groceries, whatever, it's only a matter of time. I've fallen before. Gracie's fallen. This is the part of our life. In fact, I got a chapter in my book called They're Going to Fall.

Well, guess what? We're going to fall too. And I know how to fall well. I've trained in martial arts for several years and so I could slap out of a fall and I could fall pretty well, but it still hurts. It's still uncomfortable.

And why take the chance when you could have a smooth, dry surface that is safe for you to walk on? Every caregiver needs one of these. And you could go out to heattrack.com.

H-E-A-T-T-R-A-K dot com. Put in the coupon code caregiver and get a 10% discount. They will customize this to whatever your needs are. You can call them.

There's a service representative that'll work with you. Whatever your needs are, they have all kinds of different shapes and sizes of these that can connect. Maybe you just need one. Maybe you need three.

Maybe you need a whole pathway. Whatever your needs are, they can do it. You've got 36 inch width that you could safely push a wheelchair on. You've got runners like what I have. You've got big wide mats that are 48 inches long or you can go 60 or you can get one that's 30 feet long. And if you have a setup where you can plug it into 240, they could do that.

They could customize whatever you need. When's a good time for you to take a tumble as a caregiver because of slippery conditions? When's a good time for your loved one to fall because of snow and ice? What about people coming into your business? What about people coming into your church or your synagogue? Think about all the entrances. Are they accessible? Think about your congregation.

Think about the age group or the needs of that. Are they safe getting in and out during inclement weather? Do you have to get out there and make sure you salt and squeegee and shovel and everything else? Or do you have a safe place for them to be able to walk in and out for their car and not worry about falls? And you can put it on a metal ramp. If you've got a ramp outside your business, you could put it on a ramp. It's not going to hurt anything. You could put it on concrete.

You can put it on wood. All of the above and it will keep it nice and safe for your customers, for your family, for you. By the way, if you need steps, they can help you with that as well. All types of ways that you and your loved one and your customers can stay safe. And maybe you're not a caregiver, but you know someone who is.

This is a great gift. Think about that special needs mom who is taking care of her child back and forth all the time, having to do a lot of lifting and so forth, getting in and out of the house. I have several family members with mobility impairments, special needs kids, aging parents, all of the above. Everybody needs to be able to get in safely to the house or when they walk out of the house to know that they're standing on firm, dry, solid footing. HeatTrack.com. No more back breaking, shoveling, snow. Before I got my match, we had a pretty big snowfall. We have an early snowfall out here in Montana. We had three feet of snow piled up on our deck and that was the last draw for me.

I ordered HeatTrack that week and they do exactly what they say they would do. And I don't have to shovel anymore. I don't have to salt anymore.

Even when you salt, it's still going to leave moisture on the ground and that becomes its own fall risk as well. So I want to walk out where it's nice, safe and dry. And I want to make sure I can get Gracie in and out of the car safely, whether she's in a wheelchair or whether she's using her prosthetic limbs. I want to make sure she's safe and HeatTrack helps me do that. And I know it's going to help you and your loved one as well.

There is no need for you to put yourself through any of this drama. Get HeatTrack today. HeatTrack.com. Coupon code caregiver.