Many people across the world are tasked daily with helping to care for ageing relatives and family members. In many cases, family members are made to be the sole caregivers to an older relative – be it parent, aunt, uncle or other. Caring for the elderly can be challenging at the best of times and so ways to lessen the impact and struggle are oftentimes welcomed. Here are some ways that you can start to help elderly relatives in their own home that are fairly straightforward and simple to execute.
Take Stock
Taking a look around the home, you can begin to take notice of things that may be easy to amend. Things such as moving commonly used items in the bathroom, kitchen or garage into easier to reach places or moving things like linens into closets that are more accessible. You can buy a stairlift to make stairs more comfortable and to enable access to the upper floor of the home. Changes in the bathroom and kitchen are common when helping to create a more elderly-friendly residence, including putting in wall railings and supports as well as shower seats in bathtubs or showers. There are a number of things you can do quickly and on the cheap that can help create a better home for an ageing friend or relative today.
Carpets And Flooring
When it comes to carpets and flooring it’s safe to say that they can be one of the biggest culprits when it comes to slips and trips that could be dangerous, especially to an ageing population with increasingly fragile bones. Add anti-slip undersides to rugs that are on tile flooring and fix any loose carpeting in areas like hallways, living spaces and bedrooms. The best cure is prevention when it comes to falls, so making sure you cover all your bases is the best way forward.
Slips And Grips
Off the back of falls and tripping, slips and falls can happen in other areas of the home – particularly in the bathroom. It’s imperative to ensure there are wall railings and other supports at hand for aid in doing things like getting off the toilet or in and out of the shower/bathtub. Be sure to check the state of the anti-slip bottom of all the rugs and mats in the bathroom and replace or remove if they are worn and missing pieces.
Home Care And Caregivers
At the end of the day if your ageing relative needs specialist care and you aren’t correctly qualified, you can consider looking into in home care by nurses and caregivers. There are many people who are qualified to do specific jobs that you may be unable to do – such as give fluids intravenously or provide specialist medication. There may come a time though where even in home care with nurses is no longer sufficient, which is when you may have to begin considering a care home for your relative.
So if you’ve found you need to begin helping an ageing loved one with making their home more elderly friendly, consider some of these tips you can look into to help them live happily and healthily as long as possible.