Inside the Falls Free Dane (FFD) Coalition: How We’re Preventing Falls in Dane County and Beyond

When the Falls Free Dane coalition (at the time, the Dane County Falls Prevention Task Force) was created in 2007, the goal was to bring practitioners and community members together to address the high rate of falls among older adults in Madison and Dane County. The approach was multi-faceted. How can we promote collaboration at the systems level so people don’t fall through the cracks and so we can connect people to much-needed resources? At the same time, how do we make programming and services accessible to people in the communities where they live?

2008

The following year, in 2008, the coalition hosted its first “Only Leaves Should Fall” event in September (National Falls Prevention Awareness Month!). This event was, and continues to be, a collaboration between the coalition, Madison College, and UW Madison. It’s truly a thing of beauty! The event rotates locations each year in hopes of increasing accessibility to older adults across our community.

2009

In 2009, Safe Communities began coordinating and implementing Stepping On (the evidence-based falls prevention program) in Dane County. Currently, we reach well over 100 older adults each year through Stepping On, which has been proven to reduce falls among program completers by 31%. We couldn’t do this without our coalition members and our amazing host partners in the community – focal centers (senior centers), senior housing, community centers, public libraries, etc!

2014

Stepping On continued to grow and members of the Falls Free Dane coalition began to wonder, “How do we help participants keep their momentum after completing Stepping On?” This led to the creation of the Balance Keys Committee in 2014 – a small group of dedicated physical and occupational therapists and nurses who embarked on a project that is now expanding across the state of Wisconsin. The Committee used peer reviewed research to develop criteria for what any sort of community class needs to include in order to improve balance. Then they started going out into the community to evaluate fun classes like ping pong, dance, and Aikido. Once classes are evaluated and receive the “Balance Stamp of Approval” (BSOA), the classes are promoted as improving balance and they go up on the Safe Communities website for all to see. You might see the BSOA logo in newsletters, on email signatures, and on class websites.

2016

In 2016, United Way of Dane County began funding us to expand Stepping On and we also established an Events Committee since “Only Leaves Should Fall” continued to be a hit and more requests started coming in for community presentations.

2020

In 2020, Covid 19 really put a damper on pretty much everything. The momentum of the past several years stalled as extra precautions were taken to keep older adults safe during what was a very unsettling time. All in-person programming stopped and we pivoted to mailing information about how to increase strength and prevent falls to focal points and older adults. We even piloted virtual programming, as did other members of our coalition who were offering community-based classes. Post Covid, we took baby steps with smaller sized events in the communities where people live. Then we realized that this was a really great idea, so we started offering lunch & learn events – meeting people where they are! (Thanks, Covid? I guess?)

2022

In 2022, we changed the coalition name to Falls Free Dane to align with the statewide coalition – Falls Free Wisconsin. (It was also much easier to say!)

2023

In 2023, we decided that all the work at the system and grassroot levels was great, but we were missing a coordinated communication piece of the puzzle. So we established a Falls Free Dane communications committee which then led to a mission and vision statement. Mission Statement: The Falls Free Dane coalition builds partnerships with people and organizations, collaborating to reduce older adult injury and complications from falls. Vision Statement: The Falls Free Dane coalition is a catalyst to reduce older adult falls and increase preparedness and resiliency by building and sharing policy, research, effective tools, and best practices.

2024

A report was released in 2024 by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services about the high number of calls (statewide) to 911 for falls. After digging a bit deeper, we found that those numbers were similar in Dane County. We received some funding from Dane County Emergency Management to deepen our collaboration with EMS and to coordinate efforts to help provide education about falls. This partnership between EMS (thanks to our great partners at Fitch-Rona EMS!), AgeBetter’s Safe at Home program, and Safe Communities has grown and we’ve offered numerous lunch & learn events the past couple of years –again, meeting people where they are. In 2024, we also went through a re-brand and have a new logo for both Falls Free Dane and the Balance Stamp of Approval.

2025

As urgency around calls to 911 for falls increased and the realization that we are not going to reach everyone via Stepping On became even more clear, we started focusing on evidence-informed programming through lunch & learn events and community presentations. United Way of Dane County increased our funding in 2025 supporting this evidence-informed work to help us do even more to reach communities of color and to expand our partnerships within Falls Free Dane for community events. All this time, our Balance Keys Committee has continued to evaluate classes in an effort to shed light on the valuable classes that are available in Dane County. Other coalitions in WI began hearing about this work and in conjunction with the increased emphasis on evidence-informed programming, interest grew. We received a grant from WIHA’s Falls Free WI Center in 2025 to develop a toolkit for the BSOA process so that other communities in WI and beyond could do the same! One of the aspects of being part of the Falls Free Dane coalition and this community work to reduce falls that I value most is the lack of competition. Everyone at the table is at the table because of their passion and dedication to ensuring all older adults (meaning all of us who are fortunate enough to age) stay independent, safe, and healthy. This is how change happens – when we leverage all of our strengths for a common goal. I’m grateful to be a part of it. And I look forward to continue adding to this Falls Free Dane timeline!   Blog post written by Ashley Hillman, Director of Program Partnerships