Aging Parent Care: Home Safety Tips for Disabled or Elderly

As people age, or become disabled due to accident or injury, they need to safeguard themselves with simple at home injury prevention.

If you are having your parents come to visit, take a look around your home to make sure that is is safe to navigate for someone who doesn't see well, or who has balance challenges. 

As people age, their mobility decreases. Even if aging parents aren't using a walker or wheelchair, they move more slowly, have less strength, reduced stamina, vision is weaker, sense of smell is reduced and hearing is not as sharp They may have trouble reaching up into cabinets to retrieve dishes. Take all these factors into consideration when rearranging a home to make it more safe for seniors.

There are many ways to make the home safer for seniors. In addition to the following suggestion, ask parents for their input. They likely have special needs that you can help them with.

The home can be made more safe with simple, easy to implement steps. Following are tips to make the home safe for seniors. Whether your concern is making their home safer, or making your home safer for a visit, these steps are fairly easy to implement.

1. Remove scatter rugs.Remove all rugs that are not attached. Loose rugs are easy to snag a toe in and are the cause of many falls.

2. Use non-skid wax and floor cleaners. Wax can make a floor slippery and can cause falls for people with poor balance.

3. Brighten lighting. Vision dims as we age. Good lighting is important so that parents can see their way around the home. Bright lighting in kitchen work areas reduces the risk of cuts and burns. Use at least 100 watt bulbs for readings. Use at least 60 watt bulbs in most other rooms. Place night lights in the pathways of the home, especially the route to the bathroom.

4. Stairs. Make sure the stairway is clutter free and brightly lit. If the stairs are difficult to see, the edge of each step can be marked with brightly lit electrical tape.