4 Ways To Keep Your Aging Loved Ones Safe

As your loved ones age, their bodies will become weak and require many different things. More often than not, seniors no longer have the vigor and mobility to move around with ease or the best eyesight to see clearly. These changes should prompt you to take extra measures to ensure that your aging loved ones remain safe all the time.  

Keeping your aging loved ones safe should be a priority regardless of their living arrangements. Seniors will have physical and mental limitations because of their old age, and not looking after their safety can only worsen or trigger health problems.  

To ensure that your aging loved ones continue to have a good life, implement the following tips to ensure that they remain safe: 

1. Prevent Falls 

According to statistics, an older adult (aged 65+) dies from a fall every 19 minutes. Falls are one of the leading causes of fatal injuries among seniors, which is why you should exert a lot of effort in preventing falls in your home.  

Contrary to popular belief, preventing falls at home doesn’t have to be expensive or taxing. Making small changes around the house and having everyone in the family follow it can do wonders for the safety of your aging loved ones.  

You can easily and effectively prevent falls at home by: 

• Remove trip hazards: Any electrical cords, area rugs, and ottomans should be removed from areas where seniors often walk and pass through. If you’re living with kids at home, instruct them to keep their toys after use. 
  
• Improve the bathroom: The bathroom can be dangerous for seniors, which is why it’s essential that you make changes. To keep your aging loved ones safe, install grabs on your bathroom and use non-slip strips. Adding bath seating and a toilet seat riser can also help.
   
• Pay attention to lighting: Check the light bulbs in your home and replace ones that are worn out or broken. Add more lights to ensure that your aging loved ones can easily see the hallways, especially at night.  

If you’re going to send your aging loved ones to a nursing home, check the facility and assess if they’re following the same precautions when it comes to fall prevention. Nursing homes should prioritize the safety of their patients, or else you might have to work with a nursing home abuse attorney in the future.  

2. Avoid Accidental Poisoning 

Your aging loved ones are prone to accidental poisoning because they’re usually left alone at home for long periods of time and aren’t provided with constant observation. Some seniors also experience accidental poisoning as an adverse reaction to taking several medications simultaneously.  

Aside from making sure that someone is looking after your aging loved ones at home, these tips can also come in handy to prevent poisoning: 

• Install detectors: Carbon monoxide is a deadly gas that one can’t smell and can cause severe symptoms, such as dull headaches, blurred vision, and loss of consciousness. 
  
  Keep your aging loved ones safe from carbon monoxide poisoning by installing detectors at home. These are great investments because it immediately sounds an alarm the moment it detects high levels of carbon monoxide indoors. 
  
• Organize medications: It’s important to organize your aging loved one’s medication to prevent confusion. To do this, keep all medications in their original containers to avoid mix-ups, and ask your pharmacist to place large labels on the medication bottles to make it easier for seniors to read. 
  
• Be careful in handling cleaning products: Avoid mixing ammonia, bleach, and other cleaning products as these can create deadly gases. Exposure to these gases can cause wheezing, pneumonia, and fluid in the lungs.

3. Maximize Technology 

Keeping your aging loved ones safe can pose a challenge, but there are now devices and tools that can help you accomplish this responsibility. By investing in the devices, you won’t have any problems keeping your aging loved ones safe while giving them the freedom to live their preferred lifestyle.  

Listed below are some of the most helpful devices that can keep your aging loved ones safe at home: 

• First alert motion-sensing lights: Seniors will walk around your home during different times of the day. For instance, seniors with weak or overactive bladder muscles will usually use the bathroom even during the wee hours of the morning. 
  
  To keep them safe whenever they roam indoors, install first alert motion-sensing lights. These devices work by providing illumination once it detects movement from any direction. Using these devices at home will give you peace of mind knowing that your aging loved ones can easily make their way around the house.
  
• Home security systems: If you have a full-time job and plan on hiring a caregiver to look after your aging loved ones, using home security systems can be very beneficial. This device provides real-time HD videos of your aging loved ones at home. Some models of home security systems also come with night vision, 30-day cloud storage, and temperature monitoring. 
  
• Medication managers: With the number of medications seniors have to take regularly, keeping track of their schedule can be challenging. This usually happens to seniors who suffer from dementia and memory loss. 
  
  Fortunately, forgetting to take medications will be a thing of the past because there are now medication managers. These devices are connected to smartwatches and send notifications when it’s time for seniors to take their medications. 

4. Keep Emergency Numbers Nearby 

As a concerned family member, you can only do so much in taking care of your aging loved ones. There will be instances when it’s best to ask for help from professionals rather than attempting to solve problems concerning seniors on your own.  

Another way to keep your aging loved ones safe is to ensure that you always keep emergency numbers nearby. These numbers should be printed in large fonts and pasted on accessible locations (preferably near the telephone), so you can easily determine who to call during emergencies. 

Make sure to list numbers of 911, poison control (number may vary depending on the state or country you’re in), healthcare provider’s office, and another friend or family member who can help you with emergencies.  

Focus On Benefits 

Any home is adaptable to elderly safety; you just have to understand what your aging loved ones require and invest in tools or items that support those needs. This will entail costs but if it’s meant to prevent accidents and keep your aging loved ones safe, it’s an investment worth making!