When elderly loved ones start getting to an age where taking care of themselves is a challenge it is important to make sure that they are set up to do so. There are a lot of hurdles that make it harder than it should be. For instance, when they get hard of hearing you need to look into the different hearing aid brands and models to remove the hurdle of hearing problems.
Another big hurdle is the house where they live so modifications are necessary. By making modifications, the house can actually help them stay there since it allows them to take better care of themselves. In this article, we will go over several of the modifications that should be done.
1 – Change The Furniture
Falls are very common in the elderly so getting up out of a chair or bed is risky. It takes a lot of force to get to a standing position and they can often lose their balance. Having a chair that lifts the person sitting in it to an almost standing position is going to reduce the risk of falling or straining their back when getting up.
The same thing goes for their bed. Having a hospital-style adjustable bed will go a long way to reducing injuries and even falls. Since they can come to a sitting position without any effort, they only need to swing their legs over the side of the bed to stand up.
Since it is common for seniors to lose their balance these tools will help them to lower that risk.
2 – Turn It Into A Smart Home
A smart home is an ideal situation for a senior since it takes a lot of the guesswork and attention out of maintaining many aspects of the home.
The most obvious place to start is home security. Seniors are often targets for thieves and scammers and a smart home security system will make it easy for them and their loved ones to make sure they stay safe. A doorbell camera is a great start since it will detect motion and turn on automatically. An alert is then sent to the smartphone of the person plus anybody else that is attached to the account.
A smart lock is also great so a caretaker can be allowed in without having to get up and open the door and it will lock itself automatically after.
3 – Make The Bathroom Safer
The bathroom is often the most dangerous place in the house for a senior. This is why hygiene is problematic since they avoid using the shower and tub for fear of a fall. Replacing the tub with one that has a door so they can walk into it and sit to clean themselves will reduce the risk of a fall.
Then add a bidet seat for elderly people so they can wash after using the toilet without having to reach with toilet paper. This means they face less chance of falling since they don’t have to contort themselves to clean up.
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