Whether you’re getting older and want to stay living at home or you’re considering how to best support an older relative, working out how to stay safe at home is a must. Of course, it is impossible to consider all eventualities and avoid all accidents as get older and our bodies change, but there are most definitely things that you can put in place to keep people as safe as possible.
Adaptions To The Home
One of the most practical things you can do is consider what adaptations you can make to a home to help make them safer and more accessible. This could be something as simple as getting rid of clutter and putting a stool in the kitchen to sit down when cooking. It could also be that you want to get in touch with a company such as Handicare Stairlifts UK about their stairlift options or consider how to make getting in and out of the bath/shower more possible.
Feeling Safe
A big part of feeling safe at home is about confidence; so make sure that this is addressed. For example, a doorbell so that they don’t have to answer the door if they don’t want to, a chain across the door and plenty of porch lighting can really help. The best thing you can do is speak to the person who will be living at home about what concerns they may have and then you can look at options to help alleviate these.
Teamwork
Working together so that the burden of looking after a relative doesn’t fall on one person is a must – even if that is just relatives that can check in over the phone and ensure that everyone is okay. Living at home as you get older can be great, but also lonely if you’re not getting out and about as you once did – so making sure they have plenty of company is a must.
Education
We all know that not everyone is as nice as they could be, and teaching your older relative this is a must. So, not letting in unexpected visitors to the home and not buying things over the phone are great places to start. Educate them about spam emails and encourage them to check with one of the family before they buy anything or share bank details with anyone at all are also good pieces of advice.
If you have any tips for staying safe at home we’d love you to share them below.
*Collaborative post