Whether you have an elderly relative that is living with you (or coming to live with you) or you’re simply looking at the home that they’re living in, some of them can experience changes in their physical ability and their ability to get along independently than can make their home less accessible and less safe. Our needs can change as we get older and a little investment might be necessary to make sure that the home still speaks to our needs as they are. As such, here are a few changes that you might want to consider making for an elderly loved one in the home.
Thinking about access to the home
The first thing you should think about is how your loved one can both get in and out of the home. A lot of older people can end up living in isolation as a result of feeling unsafe even leaving their home, not because of what might be outside of it, but simply because they don’t feel they can cross the threshold safely. To that end, you can look at handrails or even ramps that could make the incline or decline to the door safer. Some exterior lighting by the door can increase visibility so that it’s also easier to get in and out of the home when it’s dark.
Getting around the home
Of course, getting in and out of the house is only one aspect of how one gets around. There is also the question of how they get around, how they move from room to room. Slips, trips, and falls become both more of a common threat and more severe in their potential consequences as we get older. To that end, you should look at the possibility of installing motion-sensing lights that can provide the visibility that they need. If your loved one uses a wheelchair, you may also want to look at the possibility of having door frames through the home widened.
Using the stairs
One experience that older people start to have almost universally is a lack of confidence when using the stairs. Again, the potential risks of falling become much greater when we are older and our body isn’t able to take shocks quite as well as it once could. For a lot of people, a step as simple as adding an extra stair rail so that they can stabilize themselves might be all that they need. Otherwise, you might need to look at more costly investments, such as stairlifts that take them up and down the stairs. However, many elderly people might even want to go further, such as looking at the potential of moving into a home that has no stairs so the threat is gone entirely from their minds.
Answering the door
Older people might take a little more time to answer the door. What’s more, you want to make sure they can do it securely and confidently. As such, you might want to look at the potential of installing a door-entry intercom, placing the receiver where they spend most of their time so that they are able to find out who is there and to answer when the doorbell rings, making sure they can tell them to wait while they come to the door. There are video entry versions that allow your loved one to see for themselves who is at the door so they can be a little more sure of when they can open it.
Adapting the bathroom
Your loved one’s idea of a dream bathroom may differ a lot from your idea of a dream bathroom. For one, you need to think about the question of safety in that bathroom, such as safe when using the toilet or the shower. Installing a rail by the toilet can help them sit and stand more safely, while a shower seat can offer them somewhere to wash themselves with less risk of slipping or of getting tired by standing for too long. If you have a bath in the bathroom, you might want to look at changing it for one with a side opening or even swapping it for a standalone shower to make it more accessible.
Adapting the kitchen
There are similar considerations to be made for the kitchen. While it might not involve quite as many level changes or slip, trip, and fall risks as the bathroom, there are still some health risks that you might want to mitigate. For instance, you might want to consider getting a perching stool so that your loved one can prepare food and drinks more comfortably if they are starting to get tired after periods of standing up. There are also a host of more accessible kitchen utensils and tools, such as kettle tippers to use the kettle more safely, high-rimmed plates and wide-handled cutlery for easier handling, and assistive tin and jar openers to make it easier for them to access their foods independently.
Ensuring their good health
Your older loved one might also have some health issues that need to be monitored or could put them at a greater risk of experiencing a health emergency or crisis at some point. If that is the case, you may want to consider what you can do to ensure that they are safe when they are alone and that they are able to get help when they need it. To that end, you may want to look at some of the telehealth options out there, such as a personal alarm, whether it’s an alarm pendant or alarm bracelet, that can sense a fall. When they happen, these can alert someone, such as yourself, and you can check in on your loved one and call for the help they need.
Addressing sight issues
Of course, any changes that you make to the home have to be suited to the changing needs of your loved ones. We’ve looked over many that can applicable to just about anyone who experiences the diminishing mobility that can come with growing older. But there are other disabilities that might need to be factored in alongside them. The most common of these are changes to one’s eyesight. If your loved one is starting to experience changes to their eyesight, then you might want to look at things you can do to make the home more navigable, such as using coloured tape to make things like stairs, door frames, and counters more visible, not to mention the things you might need to tidy away to make them less of a health risk.
Addressing hearing issues
If your loved one’s hearing is starting to change as they get older, another common concern, then you need to look at, first and foremost, what you can do to make sure they are safe and aware of what is happening in the home. For instance, there are wireless smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms that can connect to vibrating pads that can alert your loved one to danger in the home even if they aren’t able to hear it. Similarly, there are lights that can flash or display when there is someone at the door so that they can know when someone is there even if they’re not able to hear it.
Addressing memory issues
If you have a loved one with any form of dementia, you might think that you have to move them from their home, but if they have someone to support them, that isn’t necessarily true. There are a lot of ways to adapt the home for dementia. Some of them include labels and other ways to make it easier for them to find things that they need that they might otherwise forget the place of. However, there are also certain patterns and other visual cues that can be distressing to people with dementia that you might want to get out of the home. You should look more closely at the changes that you can make as there is an entire guide’s worth.
How to talk about these changes
A lot of the changes mentioned above do a lot to help and assist people in how they live. However, the decision as to whether or not to make changes to the home and which changes to make should be guided in part by your loved one. They shouldn’t be changes that are made on their behalf without their input. You might be concerned about their independence, but that doesn’t mean you should take the choice of their hands. Honest and understanding conversations about the changes to one’s level of ability to operate independently are important to make sure that you can talk about health openly and without any fear of shame. Make sure they’re always involved in the decision-making process.
Hopefully, the tips above give you some idea of the changes that you could make to help your elderly loved one. Make sure you have a good understanding of their needs and abilities and make the changes that suit them individually.
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