Most Important Tips to Ensure Safety of Seniors at Home

Our homes fulfil many needs. One must feel safe and secure at one’s home.

A home must provide an individual with utmost comfort and state of well-being. The importance of security and safety grows manifold as one age. For seniors, a home is a like a palace filled with beautiful memories of past. It serves as a site of interaction for the family.

Ensuring safety of the seniors is one of the most important concerns for a family. A home may be equipped with tools which may look simple, but, can be dangerous for the seniors.

Thus, it becomes quite important to ensure that the seniors carefully use these tools without facing any trouble. In this regard, following safety tips to use various home tools and using various safety gadgets can help to provide security and safety to the seniors.

This article mainly focuses upon this very fact itself. In this article, we aim to provide various safety tips for various home tools and related safety gadgets.

Why are Seniors more Vulnerable to Accidents?

The physical and mental skills of a person depreciate as one attains the older age. The effect of this can be seen through the change in visual and sensing abilities.

The muscular strength and bone density reduce imparting the seniors with problems like painful fractures, disfigurement and loss of mobility.

With such kind of problems, it becomes very important for seniors to lead a life on their own. Thus, they need a set of safety tips and outside help to lead a healthy life.

Safety tips for staircases for Seniors

Stairs are the main site where seniors often get themselves injured. We provide a list of safety tips to ensure that such fatalities could be prevented at stairs.

• The condition of steps: The steps should be non-slippery and should be well constructed.
• Lighting: The lighting conditions at the stairs should be in good condition.
• Sensors: Various sensors like CO alarm can be mounted near the stairs.
• Handrails: The staircase must have handrails at both the sides.

Safety tips for bathroom for Seniors

The bathroom is another site where most of the accidents are observed. Here, we provide a list of some safety tips to be followed in the bathroom:

• Skid-proof floors: The bathroom should have skid proof floors and tubs so that the falls could be avoided.
• Bath aids: The appropriate bath aids should be installed at the walls/ shower stand and on sides of toilets.
• Lighting: There should be appropriate lighting in the bathroom. If required, lit a light on in the bathroom during the night time.
• Lock safety: The lock should be simple and effective in its operation. If required, arrange for emergency exit in the bathroom.
• Water temperature: ensure that the temperature of the water is not high enough and do not cause burns.
• Proper ventilation: The bathroom should have proper ventilation so that the situation of suffocation could be prevented. One should install a CO detection alarm inside the bathroom.

Safety tips for Bedroom for Seniors

Seniors often spend most of their time inside their bedroom. Here, we provide a set of safety tips for ensuring safe and secure bedroom.

• Nightlight: Nightlight should be used to enhance the visibility of the path leading to the bedroom.
• Spacious: The bedroom, especially, for the seniors should large and spacious enough so that their mobility is not hindered. The bedroom should not be filled with least important stuff.
• Finishing: The room should have a smooth and finishing of floors and walls. The floor should be well covered with smooth carpets.
• Location: The bedroom for seniors should be located on either ground or first floor.
• Lighting: The bedroom should have a proper lighting system. There should be table lamps near the bed. The switches should be mounted so that they could be easily reached out.
• Bed rails: The bed should not be much higher or lower in height. If required, one should install bedrails so as to ensure easy movement off the bed.

Safety tips for kitchen for Seniors

Many of the seniors love to live individually. In such cases, an improper kitchen can be a hazardous site for them. Here, we provide a set of safety tips to be followed in the kitchen so as to ensure a minimum of accidents.

• Gas connection: If the kitchen has a gas connection, one should ensure that it is equipped with pilot lights and automatically turns off in situations of flame failure. Besides, the burner should be placed near the window with cloth covering.
• Proper exhaust: Exhaust is one of the key components of the ventilation system in the kitchen. One must ensure that the exhaust works properly and discharges directly outside.
• The arrangement of materials: The heavyweight materials should be placed in lower cupboards while the light ones should be placed in the higher cupboard. Also, the height of the cupboard should be appropriate enough according to the height of the seniors.

General Safety Tips for Seniors

Here we provide a list of safety tips for the general viewpoint. These safety tips can be of paramount importance to ensure high security and safety of the seniors.

• Lighting: Some indoor and outdoor sites of the residence should be properly lit so as to ensure minimum cases of fall. Falls are one of the major reasons for accidents. Besides, proper lighting also deters away from the intruder.
• Door answering: The seniors should be careful enough while answering any call over the door. The stranger may possess possible threats. Thus, use of security gadgets and sensors should be taken into consideration while dealing with any stranger at the door.
• Medical alert: Seniors should use the medical alerts for generating a healthy habit of taking medicines at proper timings. Many companies provide the medical alert and alarm facilities. Seniors should make use of such facilities.
• Fire hazards: Fire hazards are one of the potential threats which seniors should be extra cautious of. They should regularly check the proper working of various smoke and CO detectors.
• Proper medication: Most of the seniors have to take the medicines of several diseases together. Thus, seniors should have a pill arranger to ensure that the right medicine is taken at a time.
• Walking aid: seniors should use a correctly measured walking stick so as to ensure good walking habit.
• Emergency contacts: Seniors should always have a cell phone with them. Besides, they should be readily available with the emergency contact number of security agencies and the concerned authorities such as police, doctor, and fire department.

Safety Gadgets for Seniors

Today, there are a variety of safety gadgets available which help the seniors in performing their various tasks properly.

These safety gadgets make them self-reliant and independent. The practice of using these gadgets should be sincerely encouraged among them.

Here we have tried to enlist some of the most important gadgets which are designed exclusively for the seniors.

Big button cell phone

Most of the seniors find the cellphones inconvenient to use because of the tiny number pad and complex operation. Big button cell phone is exclusively designed to help the seniors to make immediate calls. These cell phones have large number pads and sufficient brightness.

Temperature activated flow reducer

These devices are meant for reducing the excessive temperature of the water in the bathroom so that the burns could be avoided. These devices automatically check the temperature of water and accordingly lower down its temperature if required.

Automatic pill reminder

Seniors have to take more than one pill at a time as a medication. Thus, it becomes quite difficult to remember the timings of each medicine. A pill reminder reminds the senior of taking medicine at the appropriate time through the mail, phone call or pager.

Personal Emergency Response System

These medical alarms are used by the seniors to seek medical help at any point of time. These medical alarms are sensitized to send an immediate signal to the monitoring station for help. Once the signal reaches the monitoring station, an immediate attempt is made to provide medical services to the concerned senior.

Monitoring system

These devices are designed to regularly check the wellness of the seniors by their family members. Through these devices, one can have an immediate contact with the concerned senior so that their state of condition could be known.

Summary

It is the prime responsibility of the young family members to ensure the safety and security of the seniors. In this regard, the use of various safety gadgets is an excellent method for assuring the same.

Besides, the seniors need to be well aware of the various safety tips related to the use of various home equipment. A simple looking object may possess possible threats to the seniors.

Thus, the family members must ensure that the seniors are well aware of the use and safety guidelines of each and every home object.

One should always remember that the highest safety and security measures for the seniors can be assured by taking their most coveted comforts necessities into prime considerations.