Lakes Entrance resident Barbara Bulmer, 84, has lived in her Roadknight Street home for 66 years.

Built by her late husband, the home regularly hosts her extended family which includes nine grandchildren – soon to grow to 11.

For the last eight months, Barbara has been adapting to life on her own.

With confidence gained through regular exercise classes with exercise physiologists, her confidence around balance and strength is growing.

Barbara completed an eight-week Better Balance program with funding through a home care package provided by Gippsland Lakes Complete Health (GLCH).

“It gave me a lot of confidence; I could get up and walk a lot better and it taught me to be careful. Don’t rush, just take your time and your balance is a much better,” she said.

“I haven’t had a fall, but I have had a couple of trips. That’s just carelessness – hurrying – I don’t do that anymore. I’m very careful with how I get out of chairs and out of cars.”

Home care packages are a Federal Government-funded support mechanism to help people stay living in their own home.

Barbara receives support with cleaning her gutters, home cleaning and lawn mowing, as well as access to allied health services like the Better Balance program.

This month is April Falls Month, an annual campaign to raise awareness of the impact of falls and to promote the latest practice in fall prevention.

GLCH exercise physiologist Nara Venkatesan said the Better Balance program aimed to help people feel more confident, improve balance and reduce falls risk.

“Research has shown that one in three people aged 65 years and over fall each year, and that exercise of any type can reduce the risk of falling by 23 per cent,” he said.

“We can prevent falls, and we want people to be aware of that.

“People who do falls prevention and balance programs can further reduce their risk of falling by as much as 40 per cent. In fact, if you continue doing exercises after the program you can reduce your risk even further.

“It is very nasty getting an injury, so prevention is much better than a cure.”

Nara said to sign up for the Better Balance program or to find out what other support GLCH could offer to help your strength and balance, you could call 5155 8370.

There are currently no wait times to see a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist, plus you don’t need a referral.

Barbara said her clear message was to sign up.

“I’ve already told a few of my friends and my sister is doing the program now. I tell them all to go straight away to book in,” she said.