Tag: bathroom safety supplies

Categories
Health

4 Home Safety Tips Every Senior Should Know

Whether you’re a senior or a caregiver living with a senior, the safety of your home is paramount to your health, happiness, and everyday life. That’s why many of us take measures to keep our homes safe, like installing security systems and automatic timed lights to prevent break-ins and robberies. While these actions do make a difference, they don’t address what research tells us is the most dangerous factor of all: your home itself. Because of this, it’s important that you consider these home safety tips to protect yourself or your loved ones.

 

The Statistics

For seniors, the risk of being faced with a break-in is much less than the risk of a slip, fall, or accident in the home. Nearly all seniors over the age of 65 who live at home fall at least once a year; 47 percent of people who fall aren’t able to get up unassisted. Nearly 18,000 Americans die as a result of home falls or injuries every single year. Luckily, these home safety tips can help to protect you from such injuries and harm.

According to home security service ShieldMySenior, “1.4 million seniors, age 65 or older, are treated in emergency rooms for injuries related to consumer products each year.” This includes accidental poisonings, chemical burns, slips, falls, fires, and other issues that step from a low-accessibility home environment. When seniors experience falls or accidents, they are highly likely to suffer greater injury or even death compared to younger, healthier individuals.

Unfortunately, these statistics often lead caregivers (or even seniors themselves) to believe they aren’t capable of staying in the home. Worse yet, some seniors may simply stop engaging in important daily care routines, like bathing or showering, out of fear. Loved ones perceive this  as a lack of being able to care for themselves, when sometimes, it’s only proof the home needs to be adjusted to better meet the senior’s needs.

In the rest of this blog, you’ll find helpful home safety tips to aid you in making your home safer, more accessible, and more friendly to the senior living lifestyle. From preventing slippery floors to creating comfort, your local pharmacy can help you implement these solutions and find the right tools for independent living.

 

 

Bathroom Safety

The first of home safety tips is to consider bathroom safety. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) both report that the bathroom is the most dangerous room in the home, especially for seniors. Because floors tend to be smooth and occasionally wet, the risk for slips and falls is much higher. Slippery surfaces, low toilets, and difficult-to-climb-over bathtub walls can also pose serious risks.

To ameliorate some of these concerns, focus on each problem individually. There are many different bath safety supplies to aid you creating a safe home and bathroom. Use waterproof textured bath mats on the floors to provide more traction. Install a walk-in bathtub and/or shower, or at least use a textured liner mat inside to reduce slips.

If you or your loved one has difficulty climbing over the side of the bathtub, and you can’t install a walk-in tub, try a bath transfer seat or a bath lift. These devices allow you to sit before you get in and slowly transfer yourself over the bathtub wall. Once inside, the bather can remain seated securely.

If the issue is stability or mobility, handheld shower heads may help. These allow seniors to shower without standing, cutting the risk of dizziness or falls. If arm strength is an issue, the device can be anchored lower on the wall to accommodate a bath seat instead.

For issues with sitting comfortably on toilets, a toilet riser eliminates concerns without demanding a new toilet installation. It sits comfortably on the current seat, where it reduces the amount of space as the senior sits down.

 

Kitchen Safety

The kitchen is the second-most common place for injuries in the home. It’s important to understand these home safety tips for the kitchen as well. Knives, home cooking tools, and spills can create risks for cuts, bruises, and even slips or falls. Burns and chemical cleaner injuries may also be a concern for some seniors.

Many of the same strategies used in the bathroom can aid you or your senior loved one to stay safe in the kitchen. Use textured, machine-washable floor mats along areas where slippery home floors or spills may happen. Keep a pair of indoor shoes on throughout the day to stabilize footing while cooking.

For cleaners, keep them in easy-use, disability-friendly spray bottles or containers with clearly marked, large-print labels. Never put cleaners in old food containers or unmarked packages someone may mistake the cleaning solution for something else.

If cleaning is an issue due to arthritis or other concerns, use disability-friendly cleaning products like extra-long mops, brooms, and lightweight vacuums. Seniors who can quickly clean up a spill without getting down on their hands and knees are less likely to experience a fall.

 

Cuts & Bruises

The risk of cuts and bruises is much higher if seniors have issues with upper or lower arm stability and strength. Automatic choppers, mobility-friendly food choppers and graters, and automatic can openers will make cooking safer. Slip-resistant cups, plates, and cutlery (rubberized handles help) are also a wise choice.

Don’t forget the risk of falls and injuries from stretching, reaching, or attempting to bend down to access cupboards. Keep the most commonly-used items at arm’s reach; utilize close closets or upright stand-alone cupboards for other items. Use a sturdy step stool for anything up high.

For kitchen garbage and compost, keep a small trolley close to the kitchen. The senior can handle daily tasks like taking out the garbage much more safely if they don’t need to carry it personally.

 

 

Bedroom Safety

The bedroom is your senior’s sanctuary. It’s where they sleep, relax, and can feel comfortable in their own skin. Because of this, it’s incredibly important that it’s always safe and comfortable. While bedrooms are generally lower risk than other rooms, there are still important concerns to address, like slippery hardwood floors, too-high or too-low beds, and poor lighting when waking up at night.

Address slippery hardwood floors with rubber-backed mats. Run them along the usual path the senior would take when getting out of bed to exit the room. This may include along the bed, towards the door, and into the hall slightly. If you use carpet or floor mats, be sure they’re secured down well with no bubbling or lifting.

Adjustable beds can be a real boon for seniors who struggle with getting in and out of bed due to mobility issues. While they are more expensive than standard mattresses, the convenience and safety measures they provide cannot be overstated. They also make sleeping more comfortable for seniors with chronic pain, arthritis, and other uncomfortable conditions. Support rails are another option to keep your loved ones safe in the bedroom. These rails help to prevent accidental falls.

Lighting should produce a cozy ambiance, but must be bright enough to prevent accidents from walking into furniture or tripping over items and pets. A bright lamp placed on a nightstand beside the bed is a good start, but don’t forget about the rest of the room.

 

Whole Home Safety Tips

For the rest of your home, focus on these overall home safety tips. Keep floors even and entryways free from risers or sections that may cause trips and falls. Install guard rails where necessary to provide security, especially if the senior has fallen once already.

Lighting is also critical to safety in every room and every hall. Clapper devices and remote lighting will allow the senior to turn the lights on and off from anywhere in the room. Likewise, using remote controls for other electronics lends the same benefit.

Seniors who use mobility aids have special safety concerns in the home. Entryways, carpets, mats, and textured floors can all increase the risk for slips and falls. High surfaces and wide counters or tables lead to reaching from the chair or walker, which may increase the risk for a fall. Use these home safety tips to evaluate your entire home with the senior’s input and feedback to make these areas easier to use and enjoy.

Categories
Medical Equipment

4 Promising Benefits of Shower Chairs for Elderly

Most of us think of our home as our sanctuary – a place to relax and simply be yourself. It’s where we feel safe, recognized, relaxed, and supported. Unfortunately, the home can also be a significant source of danger, especially for seniors who may struggle with the same daily tasks they once took for granted, such as visiting the restroom. Because of this increased danger, there are ways to reduce fall risks. This includes walking aids, lift chairs, bath safety supplies, and shower chairs for elderly.

For seniors who do remain at home, they face the most potential danger when they’re doing something many of us take for granted: visiting the bathroom. Wet floors, slippery surfaces, difficult-to-climb tubs, and low toilets all present a fall risk for the elderly.

Worse yet, when the bathroom does cause a fall, confined space increases the chance that the senior falling will strike their body off of the surfaces around them. This increases the risk of concussions, broken bones, and even fatalities.

The CDC estimates that around 232,000 Americans suffer from injuries in the bathroom every single year. We also know that number rises sharply after the age of 85, when nearly all seniors begin to experience at least some mobility struggles.

We know that keeping seniors safe at home often requires a change in how we approach everyday tasks. Often, the right support and safety devices can eliminate most (if not all) of the added risks seniors face. This is especially true for the bathtub, which presents the biggest bathroom risk of all. Due to this high risk, many opt for shower chairs for elderly as part of their bathroom safety plan.

 

The Bathtub: a Central Risk Factor

The bathtub represents one of the biggest risks for seniors simply because of the way it is designed. High sides, slippery ceramic surfaces, streaming water, faucets that jut out from the wall – all of these present a unique challenge to the elderly.

Picture a senior who struggles with arthritis of the hip or bursitis of the knee. First, they must climb over the side, potentially balancing on one leg. Then, they need to remain upright without slipping. When you add water into the mix, it becomes extremely difficult to remain upright and steady without significant strength and balance.

Falls in the shower or tub don’t always have to be an eventuality. For seniors with mild to moderate struggles, shower chairs are often enough to make entering the bathtub and staying under the water safe, comfortable, and even relaxing! Best of all, they benefit seniors in many other ways.

 

 

Other Benefits of Shower Chairs for Elderly

The main benefit of shower chairs is the fact that they improve safety. You can rest more assured, and worry less, that an accident will occur in the bathtub. Shower chairs for elderly make the bathing process much easier, and safer. However, there are other benefits to the elderly of incorporating shower chairs:

  • Their hygiene improves
  • They have more independence
  • The shower can be incorporated into treatment plans easier
  • Chairs are portable and easily usable in everyday life

Each of these benefits helps the senior, as well as family members who are concerned about bathroom safety.

 

Improved Hygiene

Some seniors may begin to refuse showers or baths altogether out of fear that they may fall, particularly if they’ve fallen once already in the past. If it goes on long enough, the elderly loved one’s hygiene may suffer, leading to infections and skin issues that ironically demand more time in the bathtub or shower. If left untreated, poor hygiene can even lead to serious illnesses like staphylococcus aureus infections and urinary tract infections.

Seniors who avoid the bath or shower out of fear may attempt to hide their hygiene issues from loved ones with perfume or by withdrawing from the family. Sometimes, loved ones mistake this for depression, but it can be simply a result of the senior recognizing their hygiene struggles but feeling that they can’t ask for help.

Installing a shower chair may encourage seniors to take a more active role in their own personal hygiene. They feel safer and more capable, and thus, will shower more often and reliably. Being clean and fresh improves mood, boosts confidence, and just plain feels good, too!

 

More Independence

If your senior loved one is fiercely independent, they may refuse help in the bath or shower out of embarrassment. No one likes to feel like they can’t handle even the most basic daily hygiene tasks alone, and having to feel exposed even to a family member certainly isn’t preferred.

One of the biggest benefits of shower chairs for elderly family members is the fact that they help seniors take care of their own needs without necessitating as much outside intervention from the family. Confidence increases and they are encouraged to remain independent while maintaining that precious “alone time” many of us enjoy during a good, hot bath.

Aging with confidence and maintaining as much independence as possible is really important. Studies show that the longer seniors stay independent, the happier they feel and the less likely they are to experience depression. Using a shower chair can certainly be an important part of that independence maintenance.

 

Better Access to Therapeutic Showers

One of the first recommendations many gerontologists suggest when seniors are experiencing chronic pain, swelling, or arthritis is a warm bath or shower. Warm to hot water is very soothing, and it encourages lymph drainage, swelling reduction, and better circulation, too. Unfortunately, fear of getting into the bathtub can leave seniors virtually unable to enjoy that at-home therapy benefit without significant stress.

Shower chairs encourage seniors to use the shower as an important part of an overall treatment program. On particularly bad days, when pain levels are high or circulation isn’t good, they can step into the tub and remain seated under the water without necessarily needing help. This allows the senior to make on-the-spot decisions about their health and condition that may even reduce the need for medications.

Want to make your shower especially therapeutic for your senior? Pair the shower chair with a massaging showerhead. Many of these can be adjusted to provide just the right flow and pattern to loosen tight muscles and soothe away knots.

 

Portable Bathroom Safety

Shower chairs for elderly come in many forms; some are small, some are large, some have a swivel board for getting into the tub more easily. Still others are portable enough to fold down and take with you on all of your most important adventures. These portable shower chairs are of immense benefit to the senior who travels often, be it to the Caribbean or just to visit the grandkids at Christmas time.

Most portable shower chairs fold down flat. Their small size makes them idea for stashing in a trunk, on an airplane, or even within a suitcase. Taking the chair along ensures that the senior isn’t exposed to risks just because they aren’t at home. This may also remove some of the fear associated with traveling or experiencing an injury while away.

Keeping beloved elderly family members safe, happy, healthy, and independent at home for as long as possible is vital. Shower chairs are one of the best ways to eliminate one of the biggest risks seniors face in the home every single day, but they’re just the beginning. Ask your pharmacist about other safety products to create a warm, welcoming home that supports self-sufficiency every single day.

Categories
Medical Equipment

8 Products that Improve Senior Bathroom Safety

For seniors, the bathroom is often the most dangerous room in the home. Slippery floors and surfaces greatly increase the risk for slip and fall incidents. Add to this the fact that simply climbing into and out of the bathtub can be increasingly difficult as we age and you have the perfect recipe for serious harm. Statistics reflect this risk–over 200,000 Americans wind up at the emergency room each year as a direct result of accidents in the bathroom. However, there are specific products designed to help prevent these accidents from happening. Here is a list of 8 products which are guaranteed to improve senior bathroom safety.

 

1. Non-Slip Mats

Use non-slip mats to reduce fall risks on wet or slick bathroom floors. A non-slip, rubber-backed mat in front of the sink, toilet, and bathtub is the best and easiest way to prevent slipping, but bath rugs with a rubber backing can absorb water and provide the same benefit while maintaining style, too.

For in the bathtub, a rubber textured non-slip mat alleviates slipper bathtub risks. Avoid hard plastic; this material can become slick when exposed to shampoos, soaps, and toiletries. Instead, use opaque rubber or silicone.

Whichever option you choose, proper use is vital. Bathtub mats should be sized to fill as much of the bottom of the tub as possible without running up the walls for best results.

 

2. Transfer Benches

Transfer elderly patients with mobility challenges or muscle weakness into the tub on a secure transfer bench. This senior bathroom safety device attaches to the side of most bathtubs, providing a flat, even surface on which seniors can sit.

As most transfer shower benches reach up and over the outer wall of the tub, seniors simply sit down and then slide into the bathtub across the transfer shower bench. This is ideal for patients who are recovering from stroke as well as those who are reliant on a wheelchair.

 

3. Easy-Use Faucets

Arthritis, stroke, certain autoimmune conditions, and even everyday wear and tear on the joints can make it difficult to turn taps on and off. Some elderly patients may lack the torque required to handle faucets on their own, and that can make washing up difficult or even downright dangerous. Being unable to adjust the temperature alone can increase the risk of burns, while struggling to turn taps on makes personal hygiene time cumbersome and challenging.

Easy-use faucets, as the same suggests, are easier to turn and hold for patients who struggle with a weak grip. Levers and buttons activate the stream of water instead of crank turns, working with these challenges instead of against them. Most brands operate the same as traditional faucets in every other way–they’re just easier to use.

 

4. Shower Chairs

Living with a senior who can climb into and out of the bathtub, but who also feels anxious about slippery bathtub surfaces? A shower chair may be the next best senior bathroom safety product after a shower transfer bench. With textured rubber feet and a sturdy hard plastic and rust-proof stainless steel body, shower chairs sit inside the bathtub itself to provide a comfortable place to sit.

Using a shower chair is best for patients who experience certain forms of dysautonomia, blood pressure changes, weakness, dizziness or instability upon standing. It’s an effective way to stabilize the patient while maintaining their freedom and independence.

 

5. Removable Shower Heads

For elderly patients who rely upon transfer benches or shower chairs, a regular shower head can be too high and inaccessible. Removable shower heads make it easier for patients to aim the water exactly where they want it. Patients will still need sustained grip function to use the shower head effectively, but won’t need to stand or shift around to get closer to the stream.

Most removable shower heads are permanent fixtures, so you may need a plumber to install them for you. Others simply screw onto the output tap behind your current shower head, letting you switch it out in seconds for the adjustable version. Use whichever makes the most sense for your home.

 

6. Raised Toilet Seats

Standing and sitting is challenging for elderly patients who suffer from arthritis or joint pain in the back, knees, hips, and feet. Unfortunately, that can significantly impact a senior’s ability to toilet quickly and efficiently when nature calls.

Low-profile toilets are especially problematic because the distance from standing to sitting is so far; an elderly patient may fall and come down on the toilet with force in the attempt. With enough force, that can result in hairline fractures or dislocations to the hips, tailbone, and s-vertebrae.

Raised toilet seats snap onto your existing toilet seat to provide several additional inches of height for the elderly. Size options vary, with some risers sitting at just a few inches and others sitting at 6 inches or higher. Because you can snap them on and off as needed, they’re also suitable for facilities and shared homes.

 

7. Grab Bars

Easy-to-install grab bars are one of the best ways to increase senior bathroom safety without making any major modifications. Install bars anywhere where additional stability is desired, including beside the toilet, by the bathtub, and on the inside of your shower wall itself. Most kits require just a few screws for secure installation.

A note of caution on grab bars: they may be questionably effective for patients who have poor or compromised grip. Patients who cannot firmly grasp and hold the bars may attempt to grasp the bar only to lose stability.

If the risk of a patient slipping while holding the bar is too high, you’re better off using a more robust solution like a shower chair. Bars must also be installed in a way that limits the risk of head injuries if a patient does accidentally fall.

 

8. Bedside Commodes

Living with a senior patient who’s recovering from surgery or who suffers from advanced gastrointestinal distress, paralysis, weakness, or dizziness? Bedside commodes won’t alleviate senior bathroom safety within the bathroom itself, but they do lower the need to enter the bathroom in the first place. A bedside commode can help elderly patients to maintain toileting habits alone for a longer period of time, sustaining independence well into late life.

Once it becomes necessary for a caregiver to help, the commode is already present and available. Convertible commodes take this a step further and allow caregivers to shift from bedpan mode to commode mode as needed.

 

Seniorhood should be a time of happiness, wellness, and security. That’s why medical professionals strive to ensure that they are a voice and a point of support for seniors. From taking the time to go over your prescriptions to recommending mobility aids, your care team is the best point of contact for you when you have questions about senior bathroom safety or home safety.

 

This is default text for notification bar
Learn more
This is default text for notification bar
Learn more
Exit mobile version