Home Safety for Seniors Starts Now, Not Later
AUTHORS, Karl Edmunds, Security - Home and Personal |
Home Safety for Seniors
:: by Karl Edmunds ::
It has been stated in numerous ways that seniors must squarely face the rewards and difficulties of getting older. Like me, most in their 50s assume these so called rewards and difficulties must be for the real old people.
But I am beginning to believe. More than just the senior discounts and other rewards being offered, I am not as physically stable as I used to be. I get dizzy if I stand too fast and I find myself putting important documents where I won’t lose them and then can’t remember where I put them. And I have growing impatience with stupid people. Now isn’t that a pleasant self assessment.
Not only do I have to figure out how to protect my own aging parents, but I am confronted with how to protect myself. Unfortunately, numerous seniors are injured right in their own home simply because the old habits of doing basic things around the house are now unworkable. And we often don’t realize or admit this fact until the moment we or our spouse are injured.
If you are injured in your own home and you are alone, is your home set up properly to meet a home emergency. It could be a fall, heart attack, an intruder, reaction to medication. Do you have a plan?
More seniors are recognizing the need for a personal security alarm that is immediately accessible and will bring emergency people for virtually any circumstance that happens in or outside your home. Simply touching a bracelet, a pendant or pin relays a call for assistance. Too many seniors presume they can reach a phone and will have the coherence to see and dial the 911 emergency. This assumption may be a terrible miscalculation.
Safety starts with good prevention
Many injuries could be prevented by honestly recognizing the stage of life you are in and rearranging the basic setup of your home. But too often the heroes think they are in absolute control and refuse to even do the little things. The following are some basic changes that should be considered now rather than later after an accident fills you with regrets or perhaps guilt.
Get started by walking through your home and begin eliminating clutter or furniture that could become a health hazard. Use two sided tape to anchor rugs on the floor. Ensure walkways are clear of clutter of items that may cause a fall especially in the dark.
Secure or rearrange extension cords, cables to computers and electrical junk lying on the floors and be sure books, shoes, small boxes and other good stuff are off the floor. Keep it or get rid of it.
Make sure you have good lighting in each room and especially walk ways. Don’t settle for light switches that don’t work. Fix them and be sure they are easily reached. In dark areas with little lighting, use nightlights.
Consider installing a phone line in the bathroom that is easily within reach if an emergency arises. Some get in the tub and can’t get out. Some sit down on the toilet seat with ease and can’t get up or fall trying. Showers are problems waiting to happen especially if it is a shower-tub combination without a non-skid surface. Bathrooms are the first place to go when feeling sick so getting help quick may be the difference between life and death.
The drive to remain independent for as long as possible is important to almost every senior. Take the time to senior proof your own home now rather than later and if you are a caregiver for older parents, take action so they can enjoy life while reducing the risk of an unfortunate accident.
About the Author
For more than 20 years, Karl Edmunds has been a noted author within the business and management consulting arena. As a senior, he now engages his curiosity and observations about life to write about key issues of importance to the growing community of seniors (Boomers), and the value of living life to the fullest every single day. We welcome your comments and suggestions at <a title=”For-Seniors.org” href=”http://for-seniors.org” target=”_blank”>http://For-Seniors.org</a>
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