As your parents start to get older, you are likely going to have concerns regarding their health, safety, and security at home. These concerns can be made worse should an incident arise that causes you to question their ability to continue to live completely independently without any additional assistance.
For instance, if you have noticed that your parent has begun to forget things like locking the doors and windows at night, you will understandably become worried about what could happen should this continue. Uncertainty about their mobility can also make you worry about accidents and falls happening when no one is around to help them.
If you have started to have concerns about your aging parent living alone without any assistance, it is important for you to take the time to make their living situation as safe and secure as possible. It might not yet be necessary to move them into an assisted living community or something of that nature, but it is important to ensure that they are as safe as possible in their own home.
Here are a few tips to help you as you look to make your aging parent’s home safer and more secure for them going forward.
Reduce the Amount of Time They Spend Alone
When your aging parent or loved one spends the majority of their time alone, you can find yourself worried and concerned not only about their safety but also about their happiness. This is particularly true if your parent has always been the sort of person to be active and social but who has begun to spend more time at home alone.
In order to curb loneliness and make sure that your parent is well looked after during the day, you should look to reduce the amount of time that they spend alone. Do what you can to spend as much time with them as you can, but if you don’t have the sort of time to dedicate to this as you would like, you should consider enlisting some help.
You can have a senior home care service come and spend time with your parent in their own home and give them the care and attention that they need. This will give you more peace of mind knowing that they are being looked after during the day when you aren’t able to do so yourself.
Make Small Improvements
Your parent is likely determined to stay in their own home for as long as possible. While there might not be anything wrong with these concepts at the moment, you might need to make some small improvements to their home in order to make it safer and more secure for them.
For example, you should address rooms in the home that are more likely to cause them difficulties, such as the bathroom, first and foremost. In order to ensure that slips and falls are less likely to occur, have grab bars installed in the bathroom and perhaps even shower seats to help those who struggle more with mobility.
