Improving Home Safety and Accessibility on Your Parent’s Stairs
Homecare in Falls Church VA: Safety Tips For Your Senior’s Stairs
It is an unfortunate reality that many elderly adults struggle with mobility and balance issues that make it difficult for them to utilize stairways safely and effectively. This can result in them not being able to access the entirety of their home. As a family caregiver, it is important that you are ready to help your senior address their challenges in ways that are supportive of a lifestyle that is active, engaged, and fulfilling as they age in place. This not only protects their physical health and safety but their mental and emotional well-being as well.
Use these tips to help improve home safety and accessibility of your parent’s stairs:
• Check the handrails or banister to ensure that it is properly installed, secure, and rated to withstand use for stability and balance.
• Consider installation of a chairlift to allow your parent to sit and ride the lift up and down the stairs rather than walking up or down them.
• Ensure that there are light switches for the stairway light at both ends so that they do not walk up or down the stairs in darkness. If this is not available in their home, invest in a handheld light panel. This allows your parent to turn on the light in their hand and carry it up or down to provide essential illumination.
• Remove any decorations or other items from stairs so that they do not pose a tripping or falling hazard.
• Install non-slip coverings to stairs that are not carpeted to provide traction and reduce the chances that your senior will slip and fall while on the stairs.
• Ensure that any carpeting that is on steps is in good condition and does not feature any looseness or wear patterns that could cause tripping.
• Remove rugs or carpets that have busy patterns that could confuse the eye and make it more difficult for your parent to identify where each of the steps starts and ends.
• Add tape or paint in contrasting colors to the fronts of steps to make them more easily identifiable so that they can walk up and down more easily.
If your aging parent’s needs and challenges have increased to the point that you are no longer able to handle them effectively, or your own schedule or limitations have changed and reduced your ability to give your senior the care that they need, now may be the ideal time for you to consider starting home care for them. An in-home care services provider can be an exceptional benefit both to your senior and to you. By filling care gaps that might exist in the efforts that you offer them and creating a set of highly personalized services, this care provider can ensure that your senior gets everything that they need to stay safe, healthy, and comfortable both when you are able to be with them and when you are not. This allows your parent to pursue a lifestyle that is active, independent, and fulfilling and eases your stress, supporting a better quality of life for both of you.
Are you or a loved-one considering homecare in Falls Church, VA? Please call the caring staff at Medical Professionals On Call today.
Contact: 703-273-8818
Medical Professionals On Call has such a caring, professional staff who are available to step in with whatever level of care necessary for loved ones and to relieve you of that stress.
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