Easy Home Adjustments to Prevent Falls for Seniors
The risk of falling increases as a person ages for several reasons. Weakened core strength, reduced eyesight, and slower reflexes can all take a simple stumble or trip and cause an elderly individual to have a serious fall where injury can occur. If your elderly loved one is still living in her home, one of your primary concerns may be that she’ll take a stumble while you’re not around and fall and seriously hurt herself. Many seniors not only fear the pain and injury that could come from a fall but also fear that it may lead to an inability to be independent and continue to live in their homes. With 24-hour home care services, someone is always there so no matter when your loved one needs a little assistance with getting around, they can lend an arm to lean on for support.
Prevent Falls by Cleaning Up
While there will be many steps you can take to prevent your loved one from falling at home, one of the quickest and easiest ways to eliminate some risks around the home revolves around cleaning up.
Let’s look at four key clutter areas that may need some decluttering in your loved one’s home.
Entryway. In many homes, the entryway becomes the area where everyone kicks off shoes, boots, and sometimes socks. They sit piled up in a heap until someone tries to step over them and trips. Help your loved one by finding homes for all of those shoes and whatever else is cluttering up that area where she enters and exits the home.
Laundry room. The laundry area is another place that often seems to get cluttered with items. Some people choose to store items in this area, and instead of finding good places for these out-of-place items, they just keep getting set on the floor, eliminating any clear place to safely walk. The laundry room may also have wet floors from rinsing items in the sink and those slick areas can easily cause the feet to slip out from under your loved one.
Stairs. It seemed like a good idea to set the clean laundry on the stairs until the next trip up to the top is taken, but those items tucked on the stairs can easily provide a trip hazard as they build up, especially if the stairs are not well lit. Instead of placing items on the stairs to be brought upstairs, set a table near the bottom where they can be placed until it’s time to bring them upstairs.
Garages. Garages just often tend to get messy, and the floors can often be wet from snow dripping off of tires or even oil leaks. Keep the garage floor as clean as the floors inside the home for safety purposes.
24-Hour Home Care Can Help Prevent Falls
If your loved one struggles with keeping her house decluttered, having a 24-hour home care team to help her navigate around the home and help keep her living areas neat and clean can be a great way to keep her safe in her own home. A 24-hour home care provider will also help her manage the messes that seem to reappear daily, so her home stays decluttered and there are fewer trip hazards around.
If you or a senior family member are considering hiring 24-Hour Home Care Services in Fair Lawn NJ, please get in touch with the caring staff at Caring Solutions Home Care LLC.
Providing in-home senior care, servicing Bergen & Passaic Counties. Call today at (973) 427-3553.
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