Greetings APTA Geriatrics BF SIG Members and Happy New Year! 

It’s been a whirlwind of a year for us in the BF SIG and we wanted to provide an update as to what 2023 has in store for the BF SIG as a whole! Check out the links to our annual call meeting minutes and recordings. 

• CSM ANNOUNCEMENTS: The BF SIG is co-sponsoring two sessions at CSM. 
  • Friday, February 24, 8-10 am: Solving the Balance Problem in Medically Complex Patients Across the Life Span
    • Heidi Moyer, PT, DPT (APTA Geriatrics BF SIG Chair)
    • Rachel Hac, PT, DPT (APTA Oncology BF SIG Chair)
    • Debbie Espy, PT, PhD (ANPT BF SIG Chair)
  • Saturday, February 25, 11 am-1 pm: Joining the Fight for Parkinson’s 
    • Haim Nesser, PT, DPT (Vice-Chair)
    • Heather Timothy, PT, MSPT (Clinical Liaison)
    • Heidi Moyer, PT, DPT (Chair) 
  • We will not be hosting an in person meeting at CSM, but we have been invited to attend the APTA Oncology BF SIG meeting at CSM on Friday from 1-2pm in the Hilton Bayfront Indigo DH (Level 2) room. Our GeriSIG leaders will be present, so feel free to come and mingle with us at this meeting! Thank you to Rachel for opening this opportunity up for our members! 
  • STUDENT OPPORTUNITY ALERT: Our Student Liaison, Sarah Roberts, along with the APTA Geriatrics Student taskforce, will be hosting an informal student meet-up on Thursday, February 23rd at 6pm outside of the Sapphire Ballroom AB just prior to the APTA Geriatrics Business Meeting! 
• National Falls Prevention Awareness Week (September 18-22) 2023 planning is in full swing! 
  • We are in the process of creating a new multi-specialty toolkit to promote balance and falls screening in ALL settings, which will be launched in June. Thanks to Tammy (Community Outreach Liaison) for chairing this effort! 
  • The Kick-Off call for this will occur in June, date TBA later! 
  • The BF SIG hosted journal club will be Tuesday, September 19th! 
• Our Knowledge Translation Liaison Deborah Constantine will be working with the KT Taskforce this year to bring tangible resources from the Falls CPG being published this year! 
• Neuro Toolkit Update: Our Early-Career Professional Liaisons, Holly and Kimma, and hard at work in the next phase of the Balance and Falls Toolkit for Older Adults with Neurologic Diagnoses. We will be moving into expert reviewer stages in March April with a hopeful delivery date of the product by July 2023. 
• Monthly Challenge: Our amazing Clinical Liaison Team (Stef, Heather, and Anne) have a fabulous line-up of content for the new year including two guest writer slots from the Cognitive and Mental Health SIG as well as the Bone Health SIG! 
• Ask the Research Liaison is live and active! Do you have a question about Balance and Falls, but no time to do the research? Ask our Research Liaison Jen Gindoff by emailing us at agptbalanceandfallssig@gmail.com. 
• GeriNotes: The BF SIG continues to provide a consistent presence in GeriNotes thanks to collaboration with editor Michele Stanley. 
• Volunteer Opportunities: 
  • PTA Liaison position is currently open! Please reach out to us to learn more about joining our team. 
  • As we draw two of our major projects to a close in June of this year, we are open to new idea and opportunities! Let us know what you want to see next! 

Thanks again for another exciting year of providing you with the content that you need to provide the utmost service to your patients! Reach out to us at agptbalanceandfallssig@gmail.com! 

The Balance and Falls SIG Team