A Home Safety Checklist for the Elderly

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More than any other care giver arrangement, live-in caregiving requires the most scrutiny.  Who is this person that is moving into my parent’s home? Has there been a thorough and detailed background check, a criminal history check, are they bonded and insured? Are they trustworthy? Are they caring and professional? The list goes on and on. Innovative Nurses & Sitters has over 16 years experience placing live-in caregivers with families throughout greater Houston. We can answer these and all your questions when you are ready to discuss live-in care. We are experts at “match-making”, i.e. finding the right caregiver for the right senior.

We know that finding the right person is the key to a happy, healthy caregiver arrangement.

Making your senior’s home safe is also part of the picture. Have you thought about the changes that you and your family may have to make to the family home? One of the best tools you can have for identifying the changes to consider for the safety in your home is a checklist. (Remember this list when you visit the nursing home where your parent might be, because these same points will be relevant to the question of nursing home safety as well.)  Although this is not a comprehensive list, here are a few helpful ideas that have worked for our clients:

Assisted Living Home Safety Checklist

• Elevate toilet seats.
• Convert round doorknobs to lever-action doorknobs.
• Install handrails on both sides of stairs and/or hallways.
• Install grab bars in the bathroom by the toilet, tub and shower stall.
• Equip bathtubs and shower stalls with non-skid mats.
• Lower the setting on the hot-water heater to low, or 120 degrees, to avoid burns.
• Install night lights in bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways and stairs.
• Use higher wattage bulbs in heavily trafficked areas, and lamps that turn on with a touch instead of a switch.
• Equip stairways (inside and out) with non-slip strips.
• Make sure a telephone and lamp are within easy reach of the bed.
• Remove area rugs and runners or use slip-resistant backing.
• Eliminate low furniture such as footstools or low coffee tables.
• Make sure all lamp cords, extension cords and telephone cords are out of the flow of traffic.
• Keep a flashlight near your elder’s favorite chair, beside the bed and in other convenient places.
• Post emergency phone numbers on or near the telephones.
• Mount motion-sensitive lights near all outside doors, including the garage.
• Make sure your elder’s home has working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
• Keep a small fire extinguisher and make sure your senior knows how to use it.
• Keep a container of baking soda by the stove; it makes an excellent fire extinguisher.
• Teach proper use of the microwave, it is often safer than the stove.
• Replace heavy dishes with lightweight, nonbreakable dishware.
• Check small appliances to see if they are in working order.
• Develop an emergency escape plan.
• Store flammable liquids properly.
• Get an Emergency Response System (ERS) so your elderly loved one can signal for help in an emergency.

Many of the assistive devices mentioned in the checklist above can be purchased at a medical supply house.

Elevated toilet seats, all types and sizes of grab bars, shower chairs and handrails are easily obtainable throughout our city. Larger assistive devices such as wheelchairs, scooters, oxygen tanks and respiratory care equipment are also available at medical supply businesses and can be delivered. Under physician orders, these and other products may be covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance.  Please call our office and we will direct you to some of the medical supply houses we have used successfully.

For a generation raised on the principles of independence and hard work, it can be devastating to seniors to lose the home they worked so hard to purchase. Study after study has shown that most seniors wish to remain in the comfort and safety of their own home for as long as possible. Of course there many factors to consider when deciding on live-in care in the family home. The safety of the home itself is certainly one of them.