When you have an elderly loved one, it’s natural to worry about them and wonder how to keep them safe, especially when they already have memory or medical problems that make them more susceptible to falls and other accidents. Fortunately, there are simple things you can do to increase the odds that your loved one will be safe day after day, and it doesn’t take a lot of time or money to get most of them done.
The bottom line is, most people cannot spend 24 hours a day with their loved ones simply because they have other responsibilities in their lives, which is why so many of them hire a caregiver to help out at least on a part-time basis. Indeed, there are lots of things that can happen to an elderly loved one when you’re not around, including falls, becoming immobile, and not being able to get enough food to sustain them.
Fortunately, there are things you can do to help protect your loved ones and keep them safe when you’re away, and most of them are neither difficult nor expensive to do. Below are five of those things.
1. Don’t Let Them Maintain the Home Themselves
Senior citizens shouldn’t have to worry about maintaining their homes because there is too much potential for injuries and accidents. Get together with other family members and get an outside company to handle things such as lawn care, house-cleaning services, and basic repairs. The less your elderly loved ones have to do to keep up their home, the less likely they’ll find themselves in a situation where harm may come to them.
2. Pay Special Attention to the Bathroom
Unfortunately, a lot of accidents happen in the bathroom, so you may want to consider installing grab bars near the toilet and in the shower, non-skid rugs, shower seats, and even a walk-in tub if you can afford it. In other words, create a bathroom where accidents and falls are much less likely to occur. It shouldn’t cost much – except for maybe the walk-in tub – but it’s all worth it in the end.
3. Utilize a Grocery Delivery Company
Many times, elderly people are unable to find groceries to cook or won’t feel like cooking and therefore, they simply skip meals. Depending on their medical conditions, this could become life-threatening for them, but it doesn’t have to be this way. There are numerous types of meal and grocery delivery companies out there, so choose one and have either their groceries or their meals delivered regularly so they get the nutrition they need.
4. Make Sure They Have Some Type of Emergency Response Tool
Most of us have seen commercials for various types of emergency response tools, especially the devices they can wear around their neck or on their wrist and call for help any time of the day or night. The assistance is available 24/7, and all they have to do if they fall or they’re in a dangerous situation is simply press a button, and the rest is simple. These systems leave family members with great peace of mind at all times, and their cost is usually very reasonable.
5. Eliminate Items That Might Make Them Fall at Some Point
When you think about it, there are items in your loved one’s home that are much more likely to cause a fall at some point. This includes clutter or debris, small pillows, toys, or even loose area rugs that might be found in the areas where the elderly person goes a lot, such as the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom. The more of these items you remove, the less likely a dangerous fall will occur. This tip is especially important if they use a cane or walker regularly.
You can also encourage your loved one to have a social network of friends who check on one another daily, install carbon monoxide and fire detectors, make sure none of the lightbulbs are out so the room can be nice and bright once they turn on the light, and make sure all of the appliances in the home are in good condition and are not safety hazards. Anything you can do to make your loved one’s home safer will be a good thing.
Conclusion
Falls are a major concern when it comes to an elderly loved one, and they need to know this as well. Fortunately, there are simple things you can do to greatly reduce the odds of them being alone and possibly injuring or harming themselves, starting with the tips mentioned earlier. Fortunately, thanks to technologically advanced tools such as the Internet and smartphones, connecting with your loved one is easier than it’s ever been.
Checking on your loved one regularly is simple, but if you take precautions ahead of time, you’ll worry a lot less in the end. In short, you should use whatever it takes to improve the safety of your loved one’s environment because for most of us, we simply cannot be around them 24/7. Hiring a part-time caregiver is a great idea, but you also need to do things to help a loved one whenever you’re away.
