Read our home safety tips for seniors to understand how you can protect your loved ones from accidents and other mishaps at home.
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The number of elderly or senior citizens keeps increasing by the second. If you have someone you love who is an older adult, it’s understandable that their safety is your foremost priority.
As a person ages and becomes a senior citizen, the chances of accidents caused by a decrease in the body’s senses and strength are very prominent. Such accidents include stumbling and falling, fainting, slipping, burns, and toilet/shower accidents.
And any such accident could prove fatal at such an age, so keep on reading to know in detail how to maintain senior safety and make sure they have an independent life.
The most obvious safety tip is-
Having Emergency Numbers Handy.
First of all, you need to ensure that they have all the necessary emergency services numbers like 911 and Poison Control.
Have all emergency medical contacts like Ambulance and a friend accomplice that lives nearby, who can help out in an emergency, and the doctor saved in their phone and, if possible, on speed-dial.
Home Modifications.
To ensure such emergencies don’t happen in the first place, you can add a few safety concerns equipment or features such as
Proper lights installation and maintenance
Eyesight gets weaker with age, so the first thing you might consider doing is to ensure that the whole house has proper lighting or even install motion-detection lights to avoid any accidents at night.
Have regular safety inspections to ensure that night lights are working and the burnt-out light bulbs are replaced. They have properly accessible light switches and flashlights that are obtainable from anywhere in the house.
Proper arrangements of electrical wires and cords
Another obvious thing in your safety checklist should be to arrange the electrical wires and cords in the house. It is a common accidental situation that an older adult’s leg might get twirled up in the electric cord lying across any room or even a corner and cause a fatal injury.
So you should arrange the electrical and telephone cords by placing them together and tying them up so that the older adult doesn’t walk through them.
You can consider installing holders in the wall to put them out in such a way they don’t get in the footway. Extension cords that stretch across the floor must be avoided at any cost.
Set up alarm devices
Even if an accident does take place, if you have set up alarms, it might be easier for them to get support faster. The alarm might notify the neighborhood of any emergency, or if it’s a smart alarm, it might send alerts to the phone of the assigned person.
Accidents such as kitchen fires or smoke poisoning due to increased carbon levels are dominant. If such accidents arise, you might want to install a smoke alarm, smoke detectors, or special alarms equipped with Carbon Monoxide detectors to avoid further hazards.
Bathroom safety measures
Toilets and showers are where most of such accidents occur. To make the toilets easier to use for the elderly, you may elevate the toilet seat or even install bars they could grab to stand up easily.
A bathtub doesn’t have many issues in safety for seniors, but to be extra cautious, you might want to consider installing a medical alert button or medical alert system beside the bathtub so they can quickly call for any medical emergency in the waters.
Showers are a preferable method of bathing for senior citizens as it consists of almost no risk, and if someone has problems standing in the shower, they can buy a step stool or shower seats to use in the shower stall.
You might also like to read: Summer Safety Tips for Seniors
Fire control measures
These include regularly checking if the kitchen equipment is leaky anywhere, checking the electrical cords for any sort-circuits or such torn in the wire, changing the battery of the Carbon Monoxide detectors, and smoke alarms. Always have the number of the fire brigade on the fridge and saved on the phone.
If possible, try installing a stairlift if any of the seniors have a problem climbing the stairs; this is the best item for them. Contact your local providers for cost and details on a stairlift or, if they can walk upstairs, install a well-supporting railing that they will need someday.
Make all the items more reachable.
Shift all the high-placed items to the lower shelves to avoid them having to reach out for these things. Having to reach high might cause major back strain. If they need to reach any item placed at a height, let them use a step stool instead of a regular stool or chair.
Remove certain items from the house.
Remove any decorative or special item near the foot’s reach to eliminate any possible chances of falling down. Tape, all the mattresses and area rugs so that they don’t slip when they walk over them.
Security measures.
Regularly check for any safety issues at the house and ensure that the lock safety assessment is working.
Older adults grow weaker and weaker, so it’s easier to rob their place. Be sure to check if all the locks in the windows and doors are working or not.
Get them informed about the scams and suspicious activities that might be tried on them and keep them alert. Report any suspicious activity to the police and get the number of police on the fridge.
If possible, hand them a normal alert device or even a medical alert wallet card that helps them call for emergency assistance as soon as possible.
Medical precautions
First of all, you need to check up on them on a regular/daily basis to make sure they have their proper medication and get periodic doctors’ appointments.
Install medical alert devices in the house in the most accessible places; hence they can seek medical help in time of any catastrophe.
Make sure that their doctor’s phone number is on their speed-dial for any case of emergency.
Mental Health
Well, talking about elders’ safety and welfare, this topic is mostly skipped. Most people consider it a “not-so-important” topic yet; it is the key to leading a safe and happy life.
A senior citizen is at the end of life and is retired. They might want happiness in their daily lives and a nice social life.
Help them get some friends in the neighborhood if they didn’t already have any. Socializing is the best way to counter people’s idleness in their retirement. Having friends removes any loneliness they might have had at any point, and the friend becomes the go-to source in case of any emergency.
Make sure to call and check one of them regularly and keep them happy to live a quality of life at the end of the line.
To Conclude
Keeping in mind everything that has been said so far, ensuring the safety of any older adult is not a difficult task. Yet, if you don’t do it timely, you run the risk of a severe accident or fall.
Every year over 7000 people who are 65 or older suffer a major accident formed by a compilation of minor accidents that were tolerable at first and piled up to create a major problem. So we must take care of them.
Did you find our article interesting? Did it answer your questions and queries about home safety? If yes, then please share this article with others who might also be looking for similar advice and tips.
And if you have further queries about some of the things that we have mentioned, do not hesitate to let us know; we will get back to you with all the answers as quickly as possible.
