A free seven-week Stepping On Falls Prevention Workshop is coming to Hazen this spring! This workshop will give you the tools to reduce your risk of falling, stay independent, and keep doing the things you love.
Stepping into a safer lifestyle: ‘Stepping On’ program assists with reducing falls
By: Daniel Arens, Hazen Star Editor
Falls are a leading cause of death in older adults in North Dakota and around the nation, but there are simple, yet effective steps you can take to protect yourself and your family from dangerous falls.
In Mercer County, Sakakawea Medical Center, Coal Country Community Health Center, Knife River Care Center, Mercer County Extension and Home Instead have partnered with community organizations, churches and facilities to offer a program that provides simple exercises and useful tidbits to make your body stronger, your homes safer and the chances for a dangerous fall considerably lower.
Stepping On is a researched and tested behavior change program that has been proven to reduce falls by 31 percent, according to the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging. It is specifically designed for older adults who live independently, with a goal of preventing falls. The program, available in multiple states, is licensed through NDSU Extension in North Dakota. A free class for people to take, it is funded by the Older Americans Act.
In Mercer County, two Stepping On sessions are held each year, one in the fall and one in the spring. Sakakawea Medical Center Occupational Therapist Kayla Allmendinger, Home Instead Client Care Coordinator Dannette Huber and Mercer County Extension Family and Community Wellness Agent Metta Pfliger lead these sessions, consisting of seven two-hour classes with an eighth booster class after three months. The latter is a kind of refresher course where instructors check in on how attendees from the previous seminar are doing.
“It really has been quite a collaboration in our county,” Pfliger said, noting that besides the different instructors being from different community organizations, there is also a wide range of places that have hosted Stepping On classes over the years or supported the program in other ways.
Classes include both helpful information from instructors and visiting specialists and simple exercises that are quick and easy to do from your home, but effective in helping people prevent dangerous falls.
This week, attendees of the fall 2025 session held their booster class at the Energy Wellness Center in Beulah. The next session is the spring 2026 session, which starts with the first class April 22 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Hazen Senior Center. Classes are once a week for two hours each.
“One thing that is just really amazing is we have both occupational and physical therapists that are teaching these exercises, and it is required that we bring in these guest experts,” Pfliger said. And it is not just therapists: other guest speakers with important knowledge and practical tips range from pharmacists talking about medication impacts on fall risks to optometrists and speakers from the North Dakota School for the Blind talking about the role of vision in falls with things like lighting and depth perception.
“The exercises focus on improving strength and balance for people to decrease the risk of falling,” Huber said. “The program is very evidence-based.”
The session instructors said falls are common but preventable. Most falls happen at home, while the fear of falling can lead to reduced activity and isolation, in turn creating an increased risk for falls. Older adult falls cost more than $50 billion every year in medical costs, according to the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging.
“I think worrying about falling was why I signed up,” Lesley Phillips, an attendee from the fall 2025 session, said during the booster class on Monday. “It wasn’t that I had fallen, but one time when I was coming down the steps with a load in my arms, I missed the last step and ran into the wall to catch myself. But you look at the different things that can happen, and you realize you’re not the only one facing these issues.”
“I’d heard good rumors about the class and the fact that it is very important to learn how to gain strength to prevent falls,” another attendee, Carole Bjerke, added. “The exercises are easy, but important. They are very specific exercises that really help you not to fall. And it’s a very friendly, enjoyable and fun class.”
Even after the class ends, the simple exercises continue, building better strength and balance in people. Bjerke said balance exercises are done every day and strength exercises for leg muscles are every other day, with Phillips adding that leg muscles need to rest as well.
“I would say the exercise piece is the most important part,” Huber said. “There are things you can do to improve the environment at home, things to avoid when you’re out in the community. There are real steps you can take to prevent a fall.”
The workshop topics during sessions include the balance and strength exercises, vision, medication management, home modification, bone health, safe footwear, community safety, vitamin D and calcium, sleep and pets. The program is shown to reduce falls by 31 percent, help people maintain confidence in more mobile activities of daily living and use more productive behaviors that help keep older adults strong and independent.
Huber said people are able to go through the Stepping On program again if they have done it before, although she said people should wait a little before coming back, as there is usually a waiting list for the program.
Bjerke said one takeaway she has from the class is being more aware of looking ahead of you and around you, knowing the speed you are walking at and what possible hazards might be in front of you. Even the kind of shoes or footwear you have on can make a big difference.
Both Bjerke and Phillips said going through the session has been very beneficial practically for them. “I think I’ve noticed going to games that my balance is better going into and out of the bleachers, and I think it has to do with doing those exercises every day,” Phillips said. “I see those positives.”
Bjerke said she learned important information about managing the inside of her home, like being aware of where cords are at and removing items that might become tripping hazards.
“I feel stronger and more confident,” she said. “That is what I take away from it.”
“You can improve your balance and your strength at any age,” Phillips said. “You’re never too old to do these things.”
“One of the big things from this is that we want to give people that independence and also that personal confidence, so they get out more,” Pfliger said.
Stepping On began in Mercer County in 2012. Allmendinger, SMC Physical Therapist Mary Jo Larson and Pfliger’s predecessor Dena Kemmet with Extension were trained in Bismarck by a group from the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging, which was training the first group of Stepping On facilitators in the state of North Dakota. With the exception of a two-year period during the pandemic, the Mercer County Stepping On program has continued once or twice a year ever since.
The next free Stepping On workshop is being offered at the Hazen Senior Center on Wednesdays from April 22 to June 3, 2026, with each class from 1 to 3 p.m. CT. The workshop is for older adults who live independently, do not use a walker indoors or need a wheelchair, have not been diagnosed with cognitive impairment, have fallen less than six times in the past year, have a fear of falling and are able to commit to the seven-week program.
To register for Stepping On, you can call Allmendinger at (701) 748-7276.
