Nine Fall Prevention Strategies Families Need to Adopt for Seniors
Home Care in Monroe NJ
Seniors are at a greater risk of falling, which can lead to injuries that can have a surprising long-term impact on quality of life. They might be at higher risk of falling for a variety of reasons including poor health, bad mobility, decreased vision, medication side effects, and so much more. What helps is for families to be more proactive about fall prevention, which is a lot easier with the help of home care experts.
Get Some Extra Help
Often seniors and family caregivers want to wait to get help. They figure that they can still handle all of the senior’s needs between them and they don’t need help. But the reality is that the sooner families get help, the easier life is and the safer seniors are as they age in place. Elder care providers help families to spot issues before they become a problem.
Keep Necessary Items Easy to Access
Over-reaching and having to get into uncomfortable or unsafe positions to get items that they use frequently can be a big source of injuries and falls for seniors. It’s much better to rearrange those necessary items so that they’re easier to access. This might even mean decluttering some items that seniors don’t use or need.
Fix Tripping Hazards
Anything that could cause a senior to trip and fall is something that needs to be fixed. This could involve removing furniture that isn’t truly necessary, removing throw rugs that make the area hazardous, and putting electrical cords out of the path of travel. Doing periodic safety checks can help family caregivers stay on top of tripping hazards.
Clear Pathways
Sometimes the problem is not that the object is a tripping hazard, but that it creates a bottleneck or reduces the space in which seniors can safely maneuver. Rearranging furniture and removing clutter as much as possible helps to free up space that seniors may need in order to safely travel through their homes. This might be something that has to happen over time gradually to allow seniors to declutter.
Address Bathroom Safety
Safety in the bathroom is especially important. Seniors may need to add grab bars in the shower or around the toilet. Or they might need to raise the toilet seat to make it easier to use. Home care providers can be a huge help in spotting the changes that would make the bathroom safer.
Check Lighting
Lighting that worked well for seniors in the past may not feel adequate anymore. As seniors experience decreased vision, cataracts, and other vision issues, better and brighter lighting is more important. Adding new lighting fixtures in the form of lamps could help, but it also helps to use brighter light bulbs if the existing fixtures support that.
Encourage Seniors to Wear Shoes
When seniors get older, they may find that they’re not as stable on their feet, particularly when they’re not wearing shoes. Wearing the right shoes offers stability that supports the feet and therefore the senior’s entire body. Non-skid soles help seniors to avoid slipping as much as they might if they were wearing just socks or nothing at all on their feet.
Review Medications
Some medications have side effects that can make them more prone to fall. Remembering to review the medications that seniors take and how they impact their daily life can be an important tool in reducing fall risk. Setting up an appointment with healthcare providers specifically to look at medications might be a good idea.
Encourage Seniors to Set a Safe Pace
It isn’t easy to accept the need to slow down, especially for seniors who are trying to be more active. But often that is exactly what seniors need to do. Setting a pace that helps them to prioritize safety when walking helps them to avoid problems more readily. It’s also important for seniors to avoid getting up too quickly from a seated or prone position and wait to be steady before doing anything else.
Home care providers can help family caregivers to stay on top of all of these ideas and more. Each senior’s situation is different, which means that they may need to focus on different issues as they age in place.
Reference
https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/advocacy/info-2019/tips-preventing-falls.html
If you or an aging loved one is considering home care in Monroe, NJ, please contact the caring staff at Care Street Home Care today. Call (732) 607-8870.
The Care Street mission is straightforward and compelling: to provide a comprehensive range of the highest quality home health services in a professional and efficient manner that will enhance our clients' quality of life and empower families to keep their loved one at home.
Care Street has earned a reputation of excellence among hundreds of families, and is recommended by medical professionals and hospital discharge planners throughout the State.
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