Not everyone needs to move into senior housing and many want to maintain their independence for as long as possible. If your elder is one of those people (who isn’t), then you should take advantage of our free senior living assessment to help prevent falls and other household hazards for seniors.
In this case, when we refer to senior living, we don’t mean a housing community for elders, but rather a walkthrough of their current home. And yes, while we may be a senior housing referral agency, our job (first and foremost) is senior safety, not senior housing. Therefore, when we do a walkthrough, you don’t need to worry about biases and you don’t need to be afraid that it will develop into a slippery slope that will put your elder in a home. When we perform these senior living assessments, what we’re looking for is how to maximize the senior’s space at home, so that they don’t fall victim to the common hazards of our elders.
Free Senior Living Assessments Prevent Falls
“Falls” are the buzz word for seniors. Every 18 seconds, the emergency department receives a phone call for a fall-related injury.
On numerous occasions, we’ve expressed the severity of falls and how you don’t need to be frail or have bad knees to experience one. Even though getting older doesn’t necessarily mean you’re weaker – see the elders that bike 80 miles a day – but your bones lose density, that’s just a fact. Because of this, many seniors will inadvertently fall in their home because their legs give out, even if it’s only for a moment. This can result in a hip or leg fracture easily since the bones are so vulnerable.
Fortunately, there are numerous locations within the house where changes can be made to prevent falls. The places a senior is most likely to experience a fall is in the bathroom, kitchen or staircase.
Obviously, the bathroom is a fairly precarious space since it’s a slippery area. In the bathroom, you can easily install (or have someone else install) a grab bar to make it easy to steady oneself. This is also considered Durable Medical Equipment (DME) which is usually covered in part by Medicare.
In the kitchen, the main reason people fall is because their dishes are placed too high and therefore out of reach. In our senior living assessments, we walk through and make sure that elders can get everything they need for cooking safely and efficiently. This may just be a matter of putting clean dishes in a lower cupboard, but it is absolutely critical since a fall could be disastrous.
On stairways, you want to make sure your hand rail is firmly mounted in place. Over the years – especially if children have lived in the home – these can loosen, so we look over these in our senior living assessments to make sure your elder can scale them easily. If they can’t, don’t panic, it may just be a matter of moving even their bed downstairs so that they don’t need to go upstairs often.
In addition to these areas, our free senior living assessments can be used to ensure safe passage from room to room, dissuading any potential fire hazards, and general ease of mobility.
If you or your loved one would like our assistance, we’re here for you.
