HOLYOKE – A new walking path around the grounds of the Holyoke Soldiers Home is part of an on-going program to increase mobility for the 262 veterans who live there and decrease the number of falls.

Area elected officials joined the Secretary of Elder Affairs, Alice Bonner, Department of Veteran Services, Secretary Francisco Ureña, as well as Soldiers Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh in officially opening the walk on Sept. 14.

Construction on the path started in 2016 and the path has been in use by veterans and caregivers since last month, Walsh said. Secretary of Health & Human Services, Marylou Sudders was instrumental in the supporting the walk and making it possible.

Bonner noted that September is Falls Prevention Month and that falls are the leading cause of injuries for people more than 65 years of age.

She noted that the Soldiers Home, through its falls reduction program, have cut the incidence of falls in half.

“One fall is a fall too many,” Bonner said.

Bonner also reported the Home’s emphasis on increasing mobility has results in one of three vets are now actively mobile.

“That’s a big change,” she said.

Fifteen veterans are in the Home’s exercise program and 17 of them walks laps.

Donna Archambeault, whose uncle resides at the Home, noted that rehabilitation after a fall he took allowed him after just two months to be mobile with the help of a walker instead of being in a wheelchair.