Particularly over the past couple of years, we learnt that keeping elderly people safe at home is of paramount importance, especially when distance or work commitments prevent us from visiting them on a regular basis. That is why it is so important to take the right steps not only to put your mind at ease but also and most importantly to prevent your loved ones from sustaining any accidents. Here are some simple and easy tips to make sure that your home becomes a safer and more accessible place for your elderly loved ones to live in.
Brighter lighting and access to natural light
With age, our eyesight becomes less sharp and less focussed. Whilst this is absolutely normal, it can be rather dangerous. It is however extremely important that when this happens we make sure that our homes are flooded with natural light and that we provide easy access to brighter lighting if necessary.
As we said making our homes brighter can be as simple as adding in more lamps, or installing brighter watt bulbs, but it could also mean making sure that your elderly loved ones have window blinds installed, and with the cost of electricity on the rise it has never been so critical make the right choice!
Window blinds will help them make the best use of the natural light which is so important not only to keep them safe in their homes by minimising the risk of tripping or slipping, but also to allow them to save money on energy bills. And because they are so versatile they will also provide them with all the privacy and security during evening and night times.
Make the floors safer
Statistically, flooring is the biggest cause of slips and trips at home. This is why it is so important to make any flooring as safe as possible for our elderly loved ones. Rugs and mats can be taped down to the floor, this will prevent them from curling up and becoming a dangerous trip hazard. Installing safety lights in the vicinity of stairwells will make sure that our elderly loved ones will safely move around the house even at night time.
As well as minimising the risk of tripping and slipping it is also important to make sure that any hardwood or marble flooring is safe to walk on. Keep an eye on the amount of polish that has been used as over polished or wet flooring of this kind can become extremely slippery. If your flooring is naturally slippery the use of non-slip mats or carpets can be the solution for you.
Add fire prevention systems to the kitchen
Conditions such as Dementia, Alzheimer’s’s disease or indeed any post-viral or post-traumatic smell disorder can make our kitchens potentially very dangerous places indeed. That is why it is fundamental to ensure that the kitchens are fitted with reliable fire and smoke prevention systems.
Fires can easily start when a gas stove has been left unattended or a cloth has been left on an induction hob and forgotten about. Luckily there are several options to consider if we want to prevent a fire from starting in the kitchen. Temperature controlled cookware can significantly reduce the risk of fire and they can also make sure that your foods are cooked at the optimum temperature allowing all the nutrients and vitamins to be retained.
Other options would be to go for cookers that turn off automatically after a certain period of time or to encourage your elderly loved ones to cook their meals using the microwave or the oven rather than the hob.
These are just a few of the many simple yet effective things you can do to help your loved ones live safely in an unassisted home. Like many trips, slips and other ailments that happen in our homes, you can actively lookout for potential risks and try to prevent them from happening by making sure the right steps and preventive measures are put in place to keep your elderly loved ones as safe as possible.
