Creating a Safe and Comfortable Home for a Senior Parent

If your mom or dad wants to live independently as they get older, making their home safe and comfortable is important. More seniors than ever are choosing to age in place, and many live quite safely and happily at home. But as your mom or dad gets older and their health changes, they may need some extra help keeping their home safe and comfortable. There are lots of ways to provide support to your senior parent without taking away any of their independence.
Get In-Home Care
In-home care is support for seniors that is focused on helping your senior parent maintain their independence while keeping them safe. With in-home care your senior parent will get regular visits from a care provider that can help them do essential tasks that are too difficult or unsafe for them to do because of their health.
An in-home care provider can help your senior parent with things like:

• Cooking meals
• Doing dishes
• Running errands
• Shopping
• Paying bills
• Doing the laundry
• Changing linens
• Pet care
• Mopping
• Vacuuming
• Household chores
  One Floor Living
  If possible, turn an existing ground floor room into a comfortable bedroom for your mom or dad so that they don’t have to navigate the stairs multiple times per day. Stairs are one of the leading causes of falls.

If your mom or dad’s home has an unused study, formal living room, or even a formal dining room that can be repurposed as a bedroom, that will help them be safer and more comfortable at home.

Make The Kitchen Senior Friendly
The kitchen can be dangerous for seniors in many ways. Your mom or dad might lose their balance and fall if they are reaching down under a cabinet for a pan. Or they could slip in spilled water or food on the floor. They could drop a hot pan or not be able to carry something from the refrigerator to the counter. Making the kitchen more senior-friendly can help your mom or dad continue being independent and safe. Add a rolling kitchen cart that they can load up with items from the fridge or cupboard so they don’t have to carry heavy ingredients. They can also put pots and pans on the cart to avoid carrying heavy pans full of food. Add chairs or stools at points all over the kitchen if it’s a large kitchen so they can sit down if they need to. And put down some anti-slip mats so that even if something spills your mom or dad won’t fall. It’s also a good idea to move the items that your mom or dad uses every day to the countertop where they can easily be reached.