| Making Your Home Safe for Seniors: A Room-By-Room Assessment |
| By Anne Alexander, P.T. (article reproduced from http://oursenioryears.com/homesafety.html) |
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| Let's begin our safety discussion as we enter the home. |
| Access: Which Entry is the Most Safe? |
- What type of ground
surface leads to the entry?
- How many steps are
there?
- Is it posible to add a
ramp if necessary?
- Is there a sturdy
railing?
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| Optimal Conditions Include: |
- Smooth ground surface,
level and free of potholes or cement cracks.
- The least amount of
stairs possible.
- At least one sturdy
railing.
- Step depth as deep as
possible to be able to safely use a walker on them.
- Step height of 6 inches
or less.
- If there is a ramp, the
legal elevation is 1 foot of ramp for each 1 inch of height you have
the ramp. If you have to extend a ramp up a 2 foot height, for
instance, you will need 24 feet of ramp. This legal ramp requirement
assumes that a person will be negotiating it alone in a wheelchair.
- Make sure steps or ramp
have non-slip surface.
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| Bathroom: |
- Put non-slip strips or
rubber bath mat in the tub.
- Well-secured grab bars
help with getting in and out of the tub or shower. Grab bars need to
be secured to wall studs or anchored to the tub. There are a variety
of such devices on the market.
- I suggest use of a bath
bench or secure stool in the tub as opposed to sitting on the bottom
of the bathtub.
- Equip your bathroom with
a chair, or if not able to do so, use the toilet as a secure place to
sit when drying off and dressing to avoid falls that may occur when
trying to perform these tasks in a standing position.
- A removable showerhead
on an extension hose is fairly inexpensive and easy to have installed.
It makes showering much more easy, especially if sitting on a tub
bench.
- Floor bath mats need to
be rubber backed to prevent slips.
- Consider a soap on a
rope that is secured to something reachable, to avoid reaching and
stooping, not to mention slipping on a dropped soap.
- A raised toilet seat
with rails around the toilet or a commode around the toilet make
getting on and off of it easier.
- Store linens and towels
and other daily used supplies between waist and eye level to avoid
reaching and bending, which causes a lot of falls.
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| Kitchen: |
- Keep frequently used
dishes and pots and pans between waist and eye level to avoid reaching
and bending.
- Electric can openers are
easier on the hands and wrists than hand-turn can openers.
- Use a damp cloth or one
of the several commercially available rubbery devices to open jars.
There are devices on the market that anchor up under the cupboard that
one can put the jar lid into and turn the jar.
- There are commercially
available devices to use in the kitchen to make almost everything
easier to grip, including stove knobs.
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| Living Room, Bedroom, Hallways: |
- I strongly recommend the
removal of all scatter rugs in the home to avoid falls. If necessary
to have them, please use some rubber material that you can get at Fred
Meyer or elsewhere under each rug. Make the piece you put under the
rug big enough so the edges of the rug are not vulnerable to tripping
over.
- Be careful of low
overstuffed furniture; it is difficult to get in and out of. Low
furniture is the cause of many falls. I suggest raising the chair or
couch 4 inches. There are commercially available elevation blocks, or
just use a piece of 2 x 4 wood.
- Use chairs with arms so
a person has something to push on.
- Avoid congested rooms;
the more stuff in a room, the more likely a fall can occur.
- Raise a bed if it is too
low and hard to get in or out of. In most cases today's beds are too
high and we need to get aerobic benches to step up on to safely get
into and out of bed.
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| Footwear |
- Avoid knit socks or
slippers: walking on linoleum or hardwood floors with these cause many
falls.
- I suggest wearing good
support shoes all of the time; indoors and out, as they provide good
foot and ankle support which provides more stability and less fall
potential.
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| If a Walker is Used: |
- For easier movement,
consider 3 inch front wheels and tennis balls on the back legs,
especially if you have thick or loop carpeting.
- Put a basket on the
walker for carrying things, which keeps hands free to navigate the
walker. This avoids a common fall risk.
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Remember:
Loose rug edges, uneven walking surfaces and slippery floors are all high fall risks. |
