As we grow older, improving the safety in our surroundings becomes a necessity. You might consider your home one of the safest spaces you spend most of your time in, but you could be surrounded by potential household dangers. If you are majorly concerned about this, companies like Care For Family offer care services to those in need. You must make modifications and adjustments to your home to prevent accidents or make it easier to receive help. Residents of a senior living campus have certain fixtures and methods that make living easier and safer for them.
1. Install Slip-Resistant Flooring
Choosing the best floor to help seniors traverse safely in the house can be challenging, especially across multiple rooms. The budget for installing different floors for all rooms may be high, but safety is the top priority since a fall may cost you much more.
As a general rule, if your floor is made of natural stone, ceramic, or porcelain tile, and polished stone floors, it’s time to replace them. These floor materials can work for you; rubber, cork, and vinyl. Rubber floors are highly recommended since they’re slip-resistant, easy to maintain, and have incredible cushioning, making them an all-around solution for your home.
2. Make Bathroom Upgrades
Beyond changing the flooring, the bathroom can still be one of the most dangerous rooms in a senior’s home. To make it safer, do the following things:
- Raise the toilet seats
- Have a shower bench to reduce slipping risks while taking a shower
- Transform your bathtub into a walk-in tub or a curbless shower for safety and convenience when they need to bathe.
- Add grab bars for support
- Add non-slip mats
3. Upgrade Existing Lights
Since seniors are at a greater risk of falling, their homes must be well-lit to see potential hazards and avoid injury. Install motion sensor lighting for your staircase and your home’s exterior. Add additional overhead lighting to improve your home’s general lighting. Get an electrician to handle the installation and cover extension cords that may cause serious fall hazards.
4. Install a Permanent Exterior Ramp
What does your home’s entrance look like? Most homes have stairs, stoops, or porches that lead to the door. Anyone using a wheelchair or walker will have difficulties getting inside the house, making ramps the best solution to avoid tripping hazards. Ensure that the person setting it up doesn’t raise it too high since it will defeat the purpose of the ramp.
5. Widen the Entryways
If you’re using a wheelchair, you may need to widen all your entryways, mostly the doors and hallways. A space of about 36 inches may be necessary to traverse gently without difficulties across all rooms. If your home has small space, consider replacing the regular doors with pocket doors since they disappear entirely into the wall when opened. These are much safer, and you also reduce the chances of the door catching the wheelchair.
6. Install Smart Home Devices
Technology has helped a great deal in simplifying many things in daily living. Luckily, most of these devices can seamlessly connect to your phone so that you can make your personalized settings. There are many ways technology can help you to age in place in the comfort of your home:
- Sounding alarms in case of an emergency
- Automated lighting
- Automated doorbell for enhanced security
- Ordering household items from the comfort of your home
- Health-related functions like reminders for doctor appointments, sleep, activity level, water intake, etc.
These products make your life easier and, more so, useful to ensure your loved ones have peace wherever they are since they can easily monitor you from wherever they are.
With these modifications, you can live in your home safely and independently. Even as you seek extra care from a retirement community, ensure that your home also meets the safety standards needed to carry on with your activities with ease.
About the Author
Jenn Walker is a freelance writer, blogger, dog-enthusiast, and avid beachgoer operating out of Southern New Jersey.
Disclosure: collaborative post
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