Are Your Elderly Parents Insisting On Remaining In Their Home? How You Can Make It Safer
If you have parents that are getting on in years, you may find yourself starting to worry and stress about their physical health and well-being. While this may lead you to think about the possibility of your parents moving into a senior independent living apartment or condo community or another type of care facility, your parents may prefer to stay in their home. In fact, they might even insist upon it. When this happens, there are ways that you can help your elderly parents remain in their home and do so as safely as possible. Find out about a few of these safety measures so you can get started as soon as possible.
Consider Installing Stairlifts
Because your parents are elderly, they may have troubles with mobility, particularly with getting up and down the stairs. This can make staying in their home a challenge if there is more than one level of the home.
One of the possible solutions to this stair problem is to help your parents move all of their necessary possessions onto the main level. However, if this is not possible, you need to find a way to make those stairs safer for them. This will likely involve installing some device like a stairlift.
Stairlifts are automatic devices that help an elderly or disabled person get from one floor of a home to another without having to walk up and down the stairs. These electric devices can be installed as a chair lift so that your loved one can be seated going up and down the stairs. A secure elevated seat or ledge is also an option if your parents have trouble bending at the knees.
Make Sure Potentially Slippery Floors Have Secure Rugs
Falls are by far and away one of the biggest worries in the home for seniors. And floors that could be slick or slippery are a big fall risk. To be sure that the floors in your parents' home do not pose any unnecessary danger to your parents, you will want to make sure that every smooth floor (such as tile, hardwood, or laminate flooring) has a rug on it.
However, just any rug will not do. You want to secure those rugs down to the floor so that they do not move or slip when a person walks on them. This means securing them down with rug pads or carpet tape.
Rug pads come in different types of rubber or can be made of felt. You cut the rug pad to fit the different rugs your parents own and simply place the rugs on top of the pad. Carpet tape, on the other hand, may be more secure but could damage the floors underneath if this is a concern.
Think About Hiring a Home Caregiver
Finally, if you are still concerned about your parents' health and safety even with the modifications to their home, you may want to hire a part-time or full-time home caregiver for your parents. Home caregivers come in many varieties, from non-medical caregivers that provide companionship services as well as housekeeping and basic daily living assistance to medical caregivers that can administer medications, change IV bags, and dress wounds.
Choose a home care service that best fits the needs of your parents. These services will give you and your parents peace of mind knowing that help and support are nearby even when you cannot be there yourself.
These tips will help you to ensure that your elderly parents remain as safe as possible if they choose to remain there. To learn more, contact a facility like Mayfair Village Retirement Community.