Ways to Keep Senior Citizens Safely at Home

By Alex Markson

Safety is always a major factor when you have seniors with you. Recent researches reveal that falls are the main cause of injury deaths among senior citizens.

Injuries that are not fatal like bruises, fractures and brain injuries, needing hospitalization for trauma are also caused by falls. Statistics show that in the United States alone, one third of the senior people fall each year. A senior person's ability to move about and keep physically fit can be affected by the fear of falling and fear of injuries.

Experts have found that it is easy to recognize a senior who has a tendency to fall. Seniors mostly fall because they are weak in their lower extremities. Factors like impaired vision, dizziness, decreased balance, and dementia could also cause falls. Much of the causes of falls are not related to health at all. Environmental factors like poor lighting, loose stairway handrails or carpets, slippery floors could also cause falls. What can be done to prevent a fall? Regular exercise, a safe living environment, careful intake of medicines, regular eye check-ups etc. can prevent dangerous falls.

In order to make their lives safer, it is better to keep the elders under constant supervision. Even then, those ailing from disorders like dementia, have to come across many risks. To evade possible dangers, the Alzheimer's Association of America has laid down some guidelines. Install equipment that can sense fire, carbon monoxide and smoke. Keep locked areas like garages and stairs. Install locks out of reach of the old folk. Remove the locks from bath and bedroom doors so that they don't get entrapped inside them. Keep harmful items under lock and key. Take away the burner knobs of cooking ranges and use electrical appliances that can turn off automatically.

Secure the house well so that the elders inside are protected. For criminal elements like burglars senior citizens are an easy target. At all times, secure doors and windows properly so that no possible attempt can be made by any one to break into the house. The moment someone enters the house with criminal intentions, old people are impotent and vulnerable. Such things shouldn't be allowed to happen. A senior citizen is at the end of his lifetime and as such should be protected from every danger both from inside and outside. - 30540

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