Last updated 17-Jul-2026 · Sources cited below
Researchers call it the “long lie”: falling, and then being unable to get up or call for help — sometimes for hours. The fall itself often isn’t the dangerous part. The time on the floor is. This is the single best-documented reason medical alert systems exist, so here is the evidence, calmly.
How common are falls among Canadian seniors?
Common enough to plan for. The Public Health Agency of Canada reports that 20 to 30 per cent of Canadian seniors fall each year, and falls are the leading cause of injury hospitalizations among older adults (Seniors’ Falls in Canada, PHAC). Most falls happen at home during ordinary activities — not on ice, not doing anything foolish.
What happens during a long lie?
The foundational research is a British Medical Journal study of older people who fell at home (Wild, Nayak & Isaacs, BMJ, 1981). It found that people who lay on the floor for an hour or more after falling had markedly worse outcomes than those helped quickly — including higher mortality in the following months — even when the fall caused no serious injury. Time on the floor brings its own harms: pressure injuries, dehydration, hypothermia on cold floors, muscle breakdown, and a lasting fear of falling that shrinks a person’s life.
Later research confirms the pattern and adds a hard truth: many people who fall cannot get up without help even when uninjured. Lying unfound is not rare — it’s the predictable result of living alone with no way to call out.
Why doesn’t a phone solve this?
Because the phone is on the counter, and you are on the bathroom floor. After a real fall you may be dazed, in pain, or unable to crawl. A worn button — pendant, bracelet or watch — removes the distance problem entirely, and automatic fall detection covers the falls that leave you unable to press anything.
What actually shortens the time on the floor?
- A way to call for help from the floor — a monitored button worn at all times, including in the shower
- Automatic fall detection for the falls that knock you out or pin an arm — as backup, not replacement
- A response plan — a neighbour with a key or a lockbox, so help gets in fast
- Prevention — strength and balance exercise, medication reviews, grab bars and lighting; PHAC’s report covers what works
The point, without fear
None of this is a reason to live smaller. It’s the opposite: seniors who know help is one press away garden, travel and live alone with more confidence, not less. The goal isn’t to prevent every fall — nobody can promise that. It’s to make sure a fall costs you twenty minutes, not a night on the floor and everything that follows. See how the systems work, or talk it through with a person: 1-800-000-0000.
Sources: Public Health Agency of Canada, “Seniors’ Falls in Canada: Second Report”; Wild D., Nayak U.S., Isaacs B., “How dangerous are falls in old people at home?”, British Medical Journal, 1981. Health claims on this page are capability-framed: a medical alert system shortens time-to-help; it does not prevent falls or guarantee outcomes.