She has a walker. Won't wear her helmet. She lives in a nursing home and doesn't like anyone telling her what she can and cannot do. Just this week she has fallen twice. Ended up in ER where they stitched one of the cuts on her forehead. She fell this morning and has a cut above her eye.
Eventually my Dad became what I called a "tumbler". He would be sitting in his recliner bend down to tie his shoe, roll out of the recliner. He would be out in the yard pulling weeds, sure enough he would tumble over. He use to joke that he had shrunk so much over the years that he was now lower to the ground so he wouldn't get hurt :)
True, Dad never got hurt, but he also couldn't get up from that tumble. But he had his share of major calls that required 911. My Mom couldn't hear any more or see very well, so it would be an hour or so before she noticed my Dad was laying on the carpet or out in the yard.... [sigh]. Yep, they refused caregivers.
Thus there isn't a whole lot that we can do. As we age we just tend to lose our balance, or think we are still in our 30's and can do everything we did back then. I had a major fall myself a couple years ago.
Is she in the beginning stage of dementia?
How about a conference with her seeking her ideas about how she can prevent falls and trips to the ER? If she decided on it herself, would she be more apt to use the walker? Probably not if it is truly a matter of forgetting. Might be worth a try, though.
She can't use 4 wheel walker because she leans too heavily on the walker...uses a 2 wheeled one with the skis in the back. Is she feeling dizzy? Have they taken BP sitting and standing? Perhaps there is a drop that might be increasing the tendency to fall.
Turns out mom could not grip the brakes tight enough, so we went back to the smaller walker and put the walker glides (like little ski's) on the back two legs.
The nursing home staff will be familiar with patients doing this. It might come to a point where the nursing home will feel your Mom is too much of a fall risk and she would need to use a wheelchair. You might mention that to your Mom, maybe the thought of being in a wheelchair might help her remember to use here walker.
Hope she isn't using the falling to get attention.
My Dad wouldn't use his 2 wheel walker and he kept falling... once I bought him one of those 4 wheel walkers which has the hand brakes, basket and seat, he hasn't fallen since, and he really enjoys using the rolling walker.