As I won’t be active in the blogging world for nearly 2 weeks, I wanted to share this one today and I have one or two others scheduled while I’m away. I’m sorry if I can’t read other blogs, leave comments, reply to messages etc, but I will do my best when I get back. In the mean time – Take good care of yourselves, I’ll miss you! 🙂
I wanted to share a guest post today about preventing falls in the elderly, which is also something that’s relevant to myself at the moment, and probably many others, when considering my own parents. Age and the issues that come with it wait for no man or woman! Thank you, Chris, for sharing this with us!
You’ve brought your elderly parent home, but you are worried about how to take care of them – most importantly, how to prevent them from falling. They might have a history of falling, or they might be just too frail, and the thought of it upsets you. Don’t worry; I’m here to give you tips on exactly you can prevent that from happening. Follow the five simple steps given below and earn your elderly some safety.
1. Make The Living Space Safe
The first step you will be taking in this regard is, making sure the space is perfectly safe for the elders. There’s no clutter, no furniture placed at odd locations where it might interfere with the passage. Lights should be enough, and for daytime, night lights must be installed in their room, bathroom, kitchen, and hallways. The shower should have one of those anti-skid pads; they’re really good at providing the necessary support. Grab bars near toilets, and bath tubs save from falling as well.
2. The Right Equipment
Brace yourself with the right kind if equipment if you want to prevent your elderly friend or relative from falling. You are most probably not going to be home 24/7, so you better get them a cell phone and your emergency number. Set up an alarm according to your needs and conditions, that can be used to notify in case of a fall. When going out, consider wearing hip and limb protectors because wearing them all the time can be a bit tacky. Ask your doctor if using a cane is necessary.
3. Consult A Physiotherapist
Consulting a physiotherapist can prove to be a very good decision because they will introduce you to numerous ways in which your parent’s physical health can be made better without medicine. If you’re already using any equipment, a visit to the doctor can allow you to identify the problem with it, if there is any. For example, he can figure out if the walking frame is of correct height for your parent or not, etc. Or else, you can resort to educating yourself on the topic and figure out ways of doing it yourself, keeping them healthy and active.
4. Notice Your Parents – When They Walk
It’s one of the most important steps. You cannot prevent something terrible from happening unless you foresee it, and in this case, the only way to foresee it is by paying attention. Notice if they hold on to anything while they move about. Especially if up till now you have been sure that your parents are healthy, see if they have suddenly started complaining about their joints and aches they normally never mentioned before. This could be the right time to schedule a visit with the doctor and discuss the therapy options.
5. Visit the Optometrist
If your parents have a weaker vision already and they wear glasses, you immediately need to figure out what kind of glasses they wear and what potential damage that might cause them. Tint-changing glasses are a huge no-no because while light changes when entering indoors from daylight and that has a blinding effect on almost everyone for a moment or two. Even if they never had a weak vision, make sure that you get their sight checked up now and then.
Simple steps go a long way, be prepared and mindful to avoid any harm from reaching your elderly parents.
About the Author:
This post is written by Chris Palmer who is a comedian and a public speaker. He has got a lot of valuable information about dementia and elderly care. He regularly blogs at https://www.agespace.org/
4 comments
Wonderful advice. Thank you Chris! CAZ I will look forward to seeing you when you get back! Hope you are taking time off for pleasure not work or health related.
Thanks for sharing these tips. I’ve found my mother very resistant to having aids installed, especially where cost is involved. I also had a very unfortunate experience with Social Services (sadly the first of several) where months elapsed between my contacting them to assess my mother’s needs and their making contact 3 months later. They failed to ring back (as promised) and effectively my mother dropped off their radar as they claimed they’d tried to ring me on the agreed date but been unable to (I didn’t set foot out of the house all day as I was expecting their call. A further promises to ring me back “as a matter of urgency” didn’t materialise, I rang them back and the same promise was reiterated by them. When they did finally ring a further 2 weeks later my mother had fallen and was in hospital! My advice, sadly, is to do things off your own initiative rather than rely on other agencies to help – sad, but it’s based on experience.
Excellent guest post. So true about watching how they walk – you can often see more than what is spoken, so you could see aches they aren’t telling you about.
Very informative and helpful