Many seniors can thrive aging in place in their family home. However, it’s important for seniors and their families to recognize that aging in place requires some changes at home and some adaptations for safety. Aging comes with challenges, and even though not all seniors will have the same challenges, there are some things that all seniors should have at home to make aging in place safer. The best ways to ensure your senior’s safety are to bring in senior home care on a regular basis and by making these changes to their home:
An Alarm System With Cameras
No matter how great the neighborhood where your senior loved one lives is they need to have an alarm system with cameras and motion activated lights. The alarm system and other parts of the system are for your senior parent’s safety as much as they are for home safety. With cameras you will be able to see what is going on at the house and visually check on your senior loved one when you can’t be there.
Motion activated lights will make it safer for your loved one when they are coming in from outside or going outside on stormy days and during the winter when it gets dark early. And the alarm system is important because sometimes seniors living at home alone become targets for people who think they are easy to take advantage of.
A Landline
You’re probably thinking that no one uses a landline anymore, and for the most part you’re right. It’s not that common anymore to have a landline. But senior should still have a landline phone that they can use to call for help if they need it. Seniors may not always know where their cell phone is or keep it charged and if they need help and the power is out a VOIP phone or Internet based phone line won’t work. Landlines are still useful in some situations, and your senior parent should still have one.
Air Conditioning
In almost all parts of the country summers are getting hotter, and the heat is a very real danger for seniors. Even if your family home never needed air conditioning before it needs it now. Seniors have a hard time regulating their body temperature and the increased heat during the summer can really affect them. Central air conditioning is best, but if your senior loved one’s home doesn’t have central air window air conditioning units work fine too in most cases. Just make sure that you put them in or have them put in as soon as temperatures start to heat up.
First Floor Bedroom Suite
Your senior loved one may still be able to navigate stairs right now, but someday they won’t be able to. And if you don’t prepare in advance you could be left scrambling to set up a first floor accommodation for them after they have a fall or a medical illness. Senior home care can help your senior loved one with a lot of tasks around the house but when your senior is alone having to get up and down the stairs can be dangerous. Look at converting a first floor room to a bedroom and if necessary putting a shower in a downstairs powder room so that your senior parent has everything they need on the first floor.
If you or an aging loved one is considering senior home care in Concord, CA, please contact the caring staff at Provident Care Home Care today at (209) 578-1210.
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