What does it mean for you if your older parents stay safe at home? If you are like me, sandwitched between children, older parents and work, it means quite a lot! The last thing anyone wants is lost independence when someone falls and breaks a hip or a leg.
You might have heard about the home modification industry – Aging in Place. It is focussed on finding home design solutions so that mom and dad stay at home of their choice as long as possible without going through the monstrous expense of the assisted living or a nursing home.
The good news is that finding solutions for your older parents to be safer at home can be easier than you expect.
Here are some suggestions for several weekend projects.
1. Change and add lighting
If there is only one thing you can do, change lighting.
To adjust lighting for an aging eye, this is what you need to understand: As per American Lighting Association a 20-year-old needs three times less lighting than even a 40-year-old person. So if your parents are in their fifties, sixties and seventies make sure that the lighting in their home is much brighter than yours. And here is why:
Visual impairment is # 1 of top 4 reasons for loss of independence among seniors because of falls! 80% of people over 60 years old with overall good vision do not perform well at everyday tasks if the lighting is wrong. They do not want to read if there is too much glare. They are not comfortable cooking and feel tired quickly if there is low contrast between surfaces.
These are the things you can do. Please note that some of them are DIY projects and others require a professional electrician:
- Install more light fixtures or, at least substitute existing bulbs with more powerful ones. You can use LEDs to save energy cost.
- Make sure that hallways, stairs, and bathrooms are lit especially well.
- Buy additional light fixture that are concealed or have shades instead of exposed lamps.
- Make sure that all the lighting is on dimmers.
- Buy a special age friendly reading lamp by Holtkotter specifically designed for an aging eye.
2. Replace doorknobs into lever-style handles
This you might be able to handle yourself as a DIY project. To understand how a person with arthritis feels trying to turn a round shiny knob, put a thick sock on your hand and then try to operate it. Feels uncomfortable? Lever-style handles work better for someone with less finger flexibility.
- Substitute round knobs with door lever handles.
- Install electronic locks that can be opened with a proximity card or swipe card.
As reported they are #1 cause of accidents of people over 65. Over 1/3 are caused by a fall in elderly every year. The scary part is that many people affected by the falls lose independence and/or do not return to their previous lifestyle. Tile remains the top product used for flooring. Textured finishes for tile and grout lines create a slip-resistant surface in the bath.
AVOID:
- Polished marble tile, one of the most dangerous products used in the bath because it is slippery when the surface is wet. If you crave that beautiful marble tile install a smaller size
4. Rearrange furniture
- Consider how spaces can be adjusted or revamped to enhance your parents’ routines and enjoyment of those special features of their home.
- Keep an open mind about the activities that they enjoy the most and relocate some furniture to accommodate those activities.
- Put a desk in the room with the nice view of the yard
- Substitute a low seating chair with a chair with a higher seat with wood arms.
rubber wall pocket garden from Gold Leaf Design Group
5. Adjust outside for gardening
There is nothing more healthful and helpful for your older parent than gardening. It develops physical strength, coordination and gives enormous pleasure to all senses. If mom and dad enjoy gardening but developed certain difficulties bending, consider making certain changes to the garden set up.
- Think about vertical garden to make garden beds accessible for planting and harvesting, so try using wall and trellis.
- Raise beds to avoid bending and stooping.
- Provide retractable hanging baskets, wheelbarrows and containers on castors.
- Make suitable movable and elevated garden beds.
- Use premade wall pocket garden, such as the one above.
How to talk about home modifications
I find that it is the hardest part to convince my older parents to make changes in their familiar and dysfunctional environment. Let’s face it, the older we get the less we like changes and the mess of the renovation. So how do you approach the issue of aging and then transition to a home modification topic?
Don’t do this:
“Mom, you are not getting any younger”, will not get you too far. People value their independence the most, and thoughts of disability and dependency on children are depressing.
Do this:
A good way to talk is through stories about other people and how certain home changes made their lives easier. The trick is to collect all the information so that you could “sell” your idea about home modifications to your older parent.
P.S. If you know someone who has an older parent and would benefit from this post, please do not forget to share.
Please post your questions here below. I’ll be happy to help you!
Xo,
Marina
Sad but true – home modifications for the elderly is something that we often take for granted. Thanks for your tips!
you are welcome
Very often, family members can feel guilt about placing loved ones especially the elder ones in an uncomfortable place. If a family member feels guilt, they should remember these tips to benefit their elderly parent’s health and well-being. We are all involved in the major changes in an elderly person’s life. It is important to fully understand the changes involved while helping your parents feel comfortable as they chose to stay in their home.
Very nice post. I would like to thank you for this very useful content.
My sister and I had a plan for our aging parents. To move them from a nursing home to our house. To do that, we came up with a plan, to make things better for all of us. This past year, as both of them reached their 80th birthdays, their living situation grew harder. Dad has taken a few spills while mom’s getting too forgetful.
I like the way to laid out the different helpful tips that we can do for our home, to keep our aging parents safe all the time. Thank you so much
I really hope your parents are ok. Hang on there.
Most people worry about getting older and I am one of them. I fear getting old and living alone in a home which doesn’t really ease my fear or loneliness. I think most of us are scared how we’ll manages in our homes when we get older. But after reading this article, I realized that the key is to be ready. To prepare your home to accommodate you as you grow older. This is really a helpful article which gave me a great insight. I’d like to apply the tips you taught in your blog to my in law’s home. This can really help her be comfortable in her home!
You got it right, John. Getting prepared really helps.
I grew up with my grandparents, and yes dealing with older people is difficult. I can relate with the story here. Our love for them makes us hesitant to change the way they are used to. But the problem is they are not anymore comfortable with the home settings like before. And yet they keep on insisting on their old ways. Thanks for your advice. Maybe I should try to use your approach when talking to both of them. And by the way, your DIY tips are really great. I’ll do that at home. Not to mention that I won’t be spending for someone to do that for me. Thank you.
Good point, Phenny.
Marina – these are great suggestions! My brother owns an adult care facility and updated the homes with many of the suggestions you have here. I love the tip about the lighting and how to figure how much is needed for aging eyes! I will link this article as a reference from their site – this is very valuable information. Thanks for sharing! Dawn
Thank you very much, Dawn. For adult care facility it is even more important because the clients have to feel better than at home and lighting is one of those things to accomplish a sense of well being. Stay tuned, I have much more on the subject.
I use to take care of older parents for a living. I got out of the business because of personal reasons but all of these tips that are explained with detail is exactly what we advise others to do if they dont bring there older parents in. As long as you care for your loved ones, you will save a great amount.
thank you for your comment
@Alexis
The best way to tell them about these types of things is exactly what this article is saying. I Approached the topic to my older ones and they understand right away. They are worried about themselves just as much as you are worried about them.
Talking to my loves ones is going to be the problem, I think that they will have a problem understanding because of the fact that they have this motivate like no kind. When I tell them about the little changes I want to make towards the house they might take it offensively …
Well, may be you tube videos will help or HGTV where they will see that everyone is doing something around the house, it is like a new trend.
I really found the last step to this article really interesting because I never really thought about that side of things. When my folks go outside I never really worried about it until I went ahead and read the last step of this. I think putting some step lights on the porch outside will really help me feel comfortable letting them go out in our back yard. Thank you.
Yes, Ryan, putting the lights at the steps is the first thing to do not only for your parents but for older people that visit your home.
I have a dear friend to me, who is having problems like this at home. As of right now, I cant really help her out but I can just support her in the choices she makes when doing work around the house or when moving around the house. But I want to share this article with her because I think she will realize a lot from it. This should help a great deal.
Tony, you can also refer her to website Aging in Place.
Ive been worried about my mother for a while now, she has been doing a lot around the house and I get worried that she is going to over do it once in a while. I guess this fear is becoming more and more each day so finding this article really helped me out.
Thank you for your comment, Austin. If there is one thing you can do to help your mom stay safe at home and age at home-that would be lighting, such as high heads with dimmers and a swing arm bed lamps.
I personally went through this but not with my parents, it was with a dear friend of mine. We use to be old childhood friends and well she needs to start realizing that the things she could do when we were kids, is not the same anymore. I really dont like telling her that she can`t do specific things but some stuff is just not safe for a woman that age. Any tips on telling someone to not do something because of there age without hurting there feelings?
You can tell her stories about other people, something you saw on TV about a woman …and then describe a situation which is similar. Then you wait, and do not rush. Let your friend ask you questions about how that woman managed to stay at her home and be safe and independent. Independence is the key to this conversation. May be even come back to that subject a couple of times. Hope this helps.
I completely agree with this article, Our parents are getting older by the day and I really want to help keep them safe around the house. I think that little things like changing the light in dark area`s is a great start to helping them feel safe around the house and helping me feel secure when I`m not around them.
Yes, Peter, that is right, and thank you for your comment