How to Make Your Home Safer as a Senior Citizen
As you get older, the concept of living at room requires a great deal of consideration and planning. Learning how you can enhance the level of safety that your home provides, is key to maintaining your independence as a senior citizen. Statistics indicate that more and more seniors are choosing to age-in-place as opposed to going to a facility. When you look at data which suggest that aging in place provides seniors with disinvite benefits such as increased life satisfaction and longevity, this comes as no surprise. In today’s post we take a look at some tips to consider when it comes to making your home safer as a senior citizen.
General Safety
One of the most important things you can do is to create an essential; safety product checklist. This checklist should consist of essential products that you need to ensure that your home continues to function. Each product on this checklist should be checked on a regular basis to ensure that they are in good working order. Some of the things that should be included on this checklist are:
Stair Lifts
A critical aspect of improving the safety of your home as a senior is fall prevention. According to data that was gathered by the CDC, fall-related accidents is the leading cause of injuries and death amongst seniors who age in place. In fact, fall related injuries account for $50 billion in medical expenses on a yearly basis. By working with a contractor, they can install stair lifts that can significantly reduce your chances of falling in your home when you move from one floor to the next.
Safety Rails
Statistics that were gathered by the National Institute of Aging, proclaimed that 1 in 3 seniors over 60 years old, suffer from a fall every year. Data also shows that 80% of senior citizen related falls occur in the bathroom. Therefore, it’s highly recommended that you add toilet safety rails to assist you when it comes to safely using the bathroom.
Based on the fact that fall related accidents is the leading cause of injury to seniors who age in place, by implementing fall prevention safety measures, you can significantly reduce your chances of getting injured in the first place. Safety rails are ideal when it comes to walking over slippery surfaces and stair lifts are essential if you live in a multi-floor home. And, in today’s world smart devices such as smart smoke detectors provide a higher level of convenience and eliminate the need to continuously prompt yourself up to check each detector.