Stay Safe: Reducing Falls & injuries

Falls are a leading cause of injury, especially for older adults and people with disabilities. Practicing simple steps such as improving home safety through basic modifications, staying active, and getting regular health checkups can significantly reduce the risk and increase quality of life. This expert lecture will present fall prevention tips to utilize in all facets of your life. 

Huiting Huang (Rita), is an experienced health program coordinator with the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Community and Home Injury Prevention Program for Seniors. Rita was born in Taishan, China and speaks Cantonese, Mandarin and her hometown dialect, Toishanese. Rita earned a Bachelor of Social Work from San Francisco State University and a Health Care Interpreting Certificate from City College of San Franciso.  

Rita has twelve years of experience in community health care and non-profit community organizations. She has worked with patients and community members of all ages and demographics, with special interest in helping monolingual Chinese speaking older adults and new immigrants in San Francisco. Rita is a caring and compassionate person dedicated to providing high quality and culturally sensitive care to all San Franciscans.  

Katherinne Rodriguez is a health worker for CHIPPS, San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Community and Home Injury Prevention Program for Seniors and people with disabilities. As an immigrant to the U.S., and an indigenous person of the Muisca territory known as Bogota, Colombia, she has unique perspective on social work. She received her B.A. in Sociology from San Jose State and has worked in the community since 2013.  

Her passion is to provide client centered, trauma informed and culturally sensitive service to community members who are marginalized. She believes that being in a gate keeping position, social or health workers should strive to provide whole person care, and she has made it her goal to do so in her current position. With over 10 years of experience doing community work and 5 years serving San Francisco residents she prides herself in providing access to monolingual Spanish speakers. Katherinne seeks to build a more just world where equity is at the forefront of social and health programs.   

The Community and Home Injury Prevention Program for Seniors (CHIPPS) is an education and injury prevention program, and our aim is to reduce the risk of falls and injuries for older adults and people with disabilities in San Francisco. We provide Home Safety Assessments and Injury Prevention Education and make recommendations to create a safer home environment. We also coordinate Minor Home Safety Modifications if needed.