If your mom is living alone at home, one of the risks to her safety is falling. Falling at home injures millions of seniors every year. Often, seniors have to spend months recovering from a fall. And, once your mom falls at home, she has an even greater risk of falling again. You may not be able to prevent your mom from falling, but there are things that you and in-home care providers can do to lower the risk of falls and help protect her.
The best things that you or in-home care professionals can do to help your senior mom avoid falls at home are:
Get In-Home Care
In-home care helps seniors who are living alone at home with a variety of tasks so that seniors are safe and comfortable at home. With an in-home care provider to help her with household chores, getting around the house, and cooking meals, your mom is much less likely to fall at home.
In-home care includes light housekeeping, running errands, transportation, shopping, and tidying up the house so that there is a much lower chance your mom will fall as she’s moving about the house. It’s strongly recommended that seniors who live alone have regular in-home care.
Use Non-Slip Mats and Rugs
Loose rugs and area rugs that slip around on the floor can cause seniors to slip and fall. Remove any area rugs in your mom’s home that aren’t secured strongly to the floor. Place non-slip mats in the bathroom and kitchen where floors can get wet. Use double-sided tape or non-slip backing for area rugs to prevent them from sliding.
Having wall-to-wall carpeting is best for seniors, but if your mom’s home doesn’t have wall-to-wall carpeting, you can purchase remnants of wall-to-wall carpeting cut in larger sizes than area rugs. They’re a great alternative to area rugs that can be hard to secure to the floor, so they’re safe for seniors.
Check Her Medications
Side effects from medications may make your mom dizzy or affect her balance, which can cause her to fall. If your mom is having balance issues, talk to her doctor about her medications to see if one of them could be causing a bad reaction. Adjusting her medications or substituting one medication for another could help her be steadier on her feet so she doesn’t fall.
Schedule Regular Vision Screenings
When was the last time your mom had her eyes checked? Poor vision or poor depth perception can cause seniors to fall at home, especially if your mom’s house has stairs. Schedule an eye exam and have her vision checked. If she wears glasses make sure her prescription is still up to date. Get her a new pair of glasses if she has a new prescription. Ideally your mom should be getting her vision checked at least once a year.
Mark The Walls
As seniors age, they may struggle with depth perception because everything starts to look the same. This can be a big problem when the walls and hallways are all the same color. Your mom may think she’s already in the hall and take a step, but step into the fall and knock herself down instead.
Handrails in the hallways can help, but so can simply changing the wall colors or putting wallpapers, decals, or other identifying markings on the walls. Painting walls with contrasting colors, hanging more artwork or family photos, or putting decals on walls can provide the contrast your mom needs to see the walls more clearly.
If you or an aging loved one are considering In-Home Care in Cary, NC, please contact the caring staff at Affordable Family Care.
Serving Raleigh, Greensboro, and the surrounding areas in North Carolina. Call today at (919) 676-1070
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