Safety is one of the biggest issues for seniors who are planning to age in place. Home care assistance can be a major source of support for seniors and family caregivers who want to improve safety as much as possible. Putting together a home safety checklist is a great start because it makes it easier to spot areas for improvement. The best news is that it’s easy to make a safety checklist for seniors.
Fully Assess the Home
To start, seniors and family caregivers need to do a walkthrough in the house and look for potential areas of concern. Clutter, flooring, lack of handrails, and poor lighting are just a few of the possible issues to watch for. Home care providers can help families to spot issues that they would never think could potentially be a problem so that they can get that corrected.
Make a List of Possible Modifications
Once there is a list of possible problems, it’s time to create a list of potential modifications. This can be tough to do alone, especially when families don’t have a lot of experience with these types of situations. Home care assistance can be a big help in determining what types of modifications seniors need to remain safe at home.
Prioritize the List
All home safety modifications are not the same, unfortunately. Some changes may be easy to implement, but others may require timing them properly and finding room in the budget to accommodate those changes. That means that the list needs to be prioritized so that everyone is on the same page about what needs to happen first.
Get Some Help
Often family caregivers aren’t sure when it’s really time to get the help that they need from home care providers. Home care assistance can be a huge help at every stage of this process. As seniors’ needs change, home care providers can be there to make sure families and healthcare providers are aware of the issues they’re facing.
Revisit the Safety Checklist Periodically
The important thing for family caregivers to remember is that their seniors’ needs are going to change over time. As they need more help and as they experience declining health or other challenges, the safety considerations that worked in the past are going to change. Hanging onto the checklist gives families an easy resource to make changes down the road.
Home safety is part of what helps seniors to age in place at all. If seniors are serious about the idea of remaining in their homes for as long as possible, they have to pay close attention to safety issues and correct them as soon as possible. Home care assistance ensures that seniors have someone in their corner at all times to be alert for situations that might not be as safe as possible. Having a checklist to refer to in the future helps families to stay organized and ensure that they’re not forgetting anything that their seniors need in order to stay safe at home.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring home care assistance in Greer, SC, contact Heart of the Carolinas Home Care at 864-991-3116.
Providing Home Care Services in Greenville, Simpsonville, Greer, Anderson, Spartanburg, Mauldin, Seneca, Laurens, Charleston, Columbia, and the surrounding areas.
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