3 Ways To Make Your Senior Parent's Home Safer To Live In

Many seniors feel more comfortable and content when they are able to stay living at home, but this can cause worries for their children. If your aging parent is still living at home and you feel worried about this, here are three things you can do that may help you feel better about this situation. Each of these is designed to help your parent stay safe while living at home alone.

Arrange for Home Care Services

To ensure that your parent is safe, it may require daily visits to see him or her. While it can be hard to find time each day for this, there are alternatives. You can hire a senior home care service company to come in and do this for you. When you hire a company, you can decide:

• How often the visits are
• How long each visit should be
• The services that should be completed at the visits

This is a great way to alleviate some of the stress that may be inadvertently placed on you during this time. As you choose a company, make sure you find one that you feel good about. Look for a reputable business that your parent can afford, and that will provide excellent care for your parent.

By having someone come to the home each day, you can feel better about your parent living alone at home. You will know that your parent will have assistance when needed, and these visits may help relieve some of the loneliness he or she is experiencing.

Make Necessary Changes in the Home

Even with the help of a senior care company, your parent may still be alone a good portion of the time. To make sure that he or she is safe, you may have to make some changes to the home. Some of these include:

• Taping down rugs – if there are loose rugs in the house, these can cause accidents to an elderly person. Tape them down from underneath, or place floor runners under them to hold them in place.
• Install more lights – elderly people are prone to falling while at home, and one reason this happens is because there is not enough light. Check the lamps and bulbs in light fixtures each week to make sure that there is enough light. If necessary, add more lights to the home, and place night lights around the house.
• Make the bathroom safer – if your parent can still bathe without help, you should install rails or bars to make this easier. You can also place a bathmat inside the shower to help prevent slips. If necessary, replace the tub with a senior shower system.
• Check smoke detectors – even if a senior's hearing is impaired, a smoke detector can still save a life. Replace batteries in each detector regularly, and install more detectors around the house.
• Clear away clutter – keeping your parent's home clean and free of clutter is also important. Clutter can pose risks to seniors, and you should remove clutter weekly to help your parent stay safe.

There are numerous other steps you can take to make your parent's home safer, and you should keep up with these tasks weekly or monthly.

Prepare an Emergency Kit

Finally, you should prepare an emergency kit that can be used if needed. This kit should be easy to find and access, and it is designed for emergency workers that are called to the home. The kit should contain:

• Your parent's name, birth date, Social Security number, and health insurance cards
• The names of your parent's doctors
• A list of medications he or she is currently taking
• Your name and contact information

If an ambulance is called to the home, this kit will give the workers the information they need to provide care for your parent.

These three steps may help prevent accidents and problems for your parent, and completing them may make you feel better about this situation. There are many other things you can also do to reduce the worries you have, and visiting your parent several times a week is a great way to stay involved.

To learn more about how to care for your aging parent, visit http://comforcare.com.