September 22–25, Vivalon is bringing the community together for a week of free programs, expert conversations, classes, assessments, and resources designed to help older adults move with confidence and stay engaged in the lives they love.
A fall can happen in an instant, but preventing one often starts much earlier—with building strength, improving balance, understanding your individual risks, and knowing what to do when something doesn’t feel quite right. That’s why this September, Vivalon is recognizing Falls Prevention Awareness Week with several days of special programming at the Vivalon Healthy Aging Campus. Whether you want to learn more about your own fall risk, discover new ways to stay active, support someone you love, or hear what local experts are learning about falls in Marin County, there are opportunities throughout the week to learn, move, and connect.
What Are We Learning About Falls in Marin?
The week begins Tuesday, September 22, with Knowledge is Balance: A Community Conversation on Fall Risks, Recovery, and Prevention.
For three years, Bria Larson, MPH, Epidemiologist with the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services, has led a research and analysis project in partnership with the county’s emergency medical services department to better understand falls across Marin. At Vivalon, she’ll share findings from that work and what the data tells us about where falls are happening and who is most affected.
San Rafael Battalion Chief Jason Hatfield will then bring the first-responder perspective, exploring what happens when a fall leads to a 911 call and firefighters arrive to help.
Jessica Lacanlale, MSN, RN, PHN, of MarinHealth will complete the picture with a hospital and trauma perspective, sharing what MarinHealth sees when falls result in injuries requiring hospital care.
Together, their perspectives take us from countywide trends to the moment help arrives to what happens when someone reaches the hospital and what we can learn at every stage to help prevent falls.
Four Medical Perspectives, One Important Conversation
On Wednesday evening, Falls From the Front Line: Four Perspectives will bring together four local medical experts who encounter fall risk from very different perspectives.
Moderated by Kris Rebillot, Director of Communications at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, the conversation will feature geriatrician Dr. Catherine (Carie) Chin of Kaiser Permanente; Arlene Johnstone, PharmD, Director of Pharmacy at MarinHealth; Dr. Yessika Woo-Lee, Podiatrist at MarinHealth; and Kyle Hoppes, PT, DPT, MHA, Director of Rehabilitation Services at MarinHealth.
Together, they’ll explore how medications, foot health, chronic conditions, rehabilitation, balance, and whole-person health can affect fall risk and what older adults can do before and after a fall.
More Ways to Move, Learn and Build Confidence
The week isn’t just about listening. It’s also about doing.
Participants can try Vivalon classes designed to support balance, strength, and mobility; learn practical techniques for safely getting up after a fall during our “Oops, to Up!” Fall Recovery Session; and sign up for a fall risk assessment and gait testing with a neurologic physical therapist.
We’ll also explore new tools and innovations in fall prevention and partner with the Marin YMCA for Try the Y for a Day, giving Vivalon members another opportunity to discover ways to keep moving and stay active.
Every Step Matters
Vivalon instructor Leela Satyendra sees what can happen when people have the opportunity to practice movement in a welcoming environment.
Through Tai Chi and Qi Gong, she has watched participants become steadier, stand taller, gain confidence in their movements, and form new friendships. One participant who initially needed to sit throughout class can now stand for an entire Tai Chi class. That kind of progress is what Falls Prevention Awareness Week is all about.
Fall prevention isn’t simply about avoiding a fall. It’s about having the confidence to keep moving, participating, trying new things, and living life on your own terms.
We hope you’ll join us.
Falls Prevention Awareness Week
September 22–25, 2026
Vivalon Healthy Aging Campus
999 Third Street, San Rafael
All programs are free and open to the public. Registration requirements vary by event.
