Aging brings many changes. It can also bring new concerns and challenges for you and your loved ones. You may notice daily activities are getting more difficult and that there are new safety risks. As a result, you may have growing concerns about yourself or your loved one living alone. When it comes to safety, many concerns can be easily addressed – especially home safety concerns.
Home Safety Concerns
Home safety is often a growing concern as you and your parents age. As we age, our mobility, physical ability, mental sharpness, and need for assistance can change. Fall risks, emergency preparedness, mobility, medication management, bathroom and kitchen safety, and home security all contribute to safety concerns at home, especially as you age.
Tips to Address 7 Common Home Safety Concerns for Seniors
While aging brings new home safety concerns, it doesn’t mean living alone or staying in your home is no longer safe. That is sometimes the case, but often home safety concerns can be addressed. As technology continues to evolve, there are frequently new ways to address safety for seniors. These are tips for how you can improve home safety for the 7 most common safety concerns.
Fall Risks
When you think about your concerns for safety at home, falling is probably one of the first things that comes to mind. Simple changes around your house can reduce your fall risk and improve your home safety.
Trip Hazards
Start by looking around your, or your parents’, home. Specifically looking at the floor and walking paths, look for anything that could be a trip hazard. Common concerns are rugs, cords, and generally cluttered walkways.
Lighting
When you can’t see where you’re going, or possible obstacles, it’s much easier to fall. Make sure your whole home is well lit. Lighting is especially a concern at night. You or your parents should avoid walking around in the dark. At a minimum, place nightlights in key areas, such as bathrooms, kitchens, and hallways.
Fall Response
While it is important to minimize your fall risk, it’s also important to have a plan for what will happen if you do fall. Many people consider emergency response pendants so first responders or a family member can be contacted at the push of a button. With new technology, many smart watches have built in or app-based fall detection features.
Emergency Preparedness
Similar to having a plan for what to do if you fall, you and your parents should have plans for how to respond in an emergency. As we age, there are additional considerations that are important for emergency preparedness.
Fire
Basic fire safety measures are always recommended and still apply to seniors. You should have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors throughout your house and regularly test them. If you are worried about the safety of your parents, check their smoke detectors for them. It’s also a good idea to have a fire extinguisher. You may want to consider a more accessible option for you or your parents, such as an adaptive extinguisher or an aerosol fire spray.
Natural Disaster
In general, everyone is encouraged to have emergency preparedness plans in place for natural disasters. This is no different as you age, but there may be additional things you want to consider for yourself or your parents. You should always know your evacuation and shelter plans, but consider changes that may need made due to mobility. For example, it is sometimes recommended to shelter in a bathtub during a tornado. If this is your safest place to shelter, make sure you know how you will safely get in – and back out – in an emergency. The same is true if your safest shelter is in the basement. It’s also important to have flashlights that can be easily accessed if the power goes out. Lastly, you and your parents or children should discuss how you will communicate after the storm, especially if phone signal is interrupted.
Mobility
One of the most common home safety concerns is mobility. Often, this is also one of the easiest to address. Many mobility challenges can be resolved with a cane or walker. They decrease ‘furniture walking’ and fall risks, making it easier and safer to get around the house alone. Another easy solution for some mobility challenges is a reach extender or grabber tool. They are often inexpensive and easy to find and make it easier to pick things up from the floor and/or reach things that would be out of reach otherwise.
Medication Management
Challenges with medication management are a concern, but they can also be easily addressed. Many seniors choose to use a pill minder. At any age, it makes it easier to make sure you always take the right medications at the right time. Organizing your medications once, at the beginning of the week, takes the guess work out of daily medication management. Setting alarms is also a helpful way to remember to take medications at the right time and can likely be done with tools you already have.
Bathroom and Kitchen Safety
Often some of the most important places to think about home safety are the kitchen and bathroom. The combination of slick surfaces and water can make them especially dangerous. Thankfully, some of the most common assistive devices are designed with bathroom and kitchen accessibility and safety in mind.
Bathroom Safety for Seniors
It’s helpful to think about bathroom safety in relation to using the toilet and taking a shower or bath.
Toilet
One of the most difficult parts of using the bathroom as we age is using the toilet. Swapping your standard toilet to one that is taller can make it much easier for you to safely sit down and stand back up. Without swapping the toilet, you can also add a riser to make your existing toilet taller. Another way to make using the toilet more accessible is to add grab bars. These can be strategically mounted to the walls, like what you find in public bathrooms. However, there are also options that attach directly to your toilet instead.
Bathtub or Shower
The bathtub and shower are one of the most common places for older adults to fall. To improve safety, the first thing you should do is add grips to the bottom of the tub or shower that make it less slippery. Similar to toilet safety, it’s a good idea to install grab bars in the shower. Especially if balance or stability are a concern, a shower bench or chair is an extremely easy way to make bathing more accessible and safer.
Kitchen Safety for Seniors
In general, your kitchen is likely less of a safety concern than your bathroom. However, there are devices that can easily improve kitchen safety and accessibility. Grip strength often decreases as we age, making it harder to open jars and cans. An electric jar opener and/or can opener can make it much easier to open things independently, no matter what your grip strength is. If you’re worried about yourself or your parent forgetting that they left the stove on, there are even devices that will automatically turn the stove off if it gets forgotten.
Home security
An easily overlooked aspect of home safety is home security, protecting yourself and your home from external threats. With the popularity of new home security technologies, it’s never been easier to keep your home, and yourself, secure. Cameras, doorbell cameras, and door and window sensors are common home security options. For your own accessibility, especially if you have arthritis or other difficulties with your hands, paddle-style door handles make it easier for you to open and close doors.
Home Security in an Emergency
None of us wants anything bad to happen, but it’s important that we plan for what to do in emergencies. When you think about your home security, consider how someone will gain access to your home in an emergency. It could be a family member or a first responder. If you use a smart lock on your door, you can provide your family or first responders with a code that will unlock your door. Similarly, without needing to change your lock or use a high-tech solution, you can use a Knox box. With this approach, you put a combination box on your door that holds a spare key. If a family member or first responder needs to come inside for an emergency, they can use the code to get the key from the box instead of needing to forcibly open the door.
Smart Home
One of the best new technologies of the 21st century that can be a huge benefit as we age is smart home devices. Especially voice assistants that you let you control things from anywhere in your house. While a smart home has many benefits for home safety for seniors, some of the most popular uses are:
- Controlling lights and home security devices
- Calling for help in an emergency, such as after a fall
Home Safety in Senior Living
At some point, you may find that modifications and devices aren’t enough for home safety. When this happens, senior living may be the best choice. Many senior living communities offer several types of care, including independent living, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing. Often, this means you or your parents can maintain as much independence as possible, while staying safe and getting support when it’s needed.
Home Safety at The Ohio Masonic Communities
We want you and your loved ones to live your best life and thrive. Safety at home is a crucial element of that. This is why we prioritize safety, combined with the unique mix of independence and support that you need. At every level of care, from villa homes to skilled nursing, our residents enjoy the safety of knowing there is staff on site 24/7. It provides peace of mind in case an emergency happens. Plus, our residents have emergency call pendants that alert someone on site in the event of an emergency, such as a fall.
Home Safety with The Ohio Masonic Communities Resource Center
You may need help with safety at home but aren’t ready to think about senior living. That’s where The Ohio Masonic Communities Resource Center can help. We have Community Outreach Coordinators throughout Ohio that are ready to help you, or your parents, be safe at home – whatever that looks like. We have helped clients with home safety projects including installing grab bars and ramps, finding adaptive equipment, improving home accessibility, getting an emergency call pendant ,and connecting with community resources. To find out how The Ohio Masonic Communities Resource Center can help you or your loved ones improve their safety at home, give us a call at 1 (877) 881-1623.
Home safety for you and your loved ones is important to us at The Ohio Masonic Communities. If you want to learn more about senior living or the resources we have available, we’d love to hear from you. Give us a call at 1 (877) 881-1623 or contact us here. We have three senior living communities across the state of Ohio – Browning Masonic Community in Waterville, Ohio, Springfield Masonic Community in Springfield, Ohio, and Western Reserve Masonic Community in Medina, Ohio.