8 Things To Consider When Living With Elders

8 Things To Consider When Living With Elders

Photo courtesy of Encompass Home Health & Hospice via Pinterest

Old age manifests changes in a person’s life. During this stage, an elder needs care, love, and support from his friends and family, as well as special needs depending on their health conditions. Caring for an elderly should always entail their security, comfort, safety, and protection at all times. Especially when you are living with them in your home or in a condo, an article by DMCI Leasing discusses smart tips that can help you care for your senior loved ones better.

The number of people having elders living under the same roof is increasing as well, as CNBC reports that the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau states that 4.4 million homes have three generations or more living under one house.

There are things that you need to consider on a daily basis in order to provide the best care that you can give to them, especially when you are living with them. You need to be knowledgeable on what to do when living with elders for you to do everything in the proper manner and keep family security intact. Of course, there might be some difficulties with their regular activities, but keep in mind that everything is manageable and doable. What are the things that you need to do? Here are 8 things to consider when living with elders.

1. Safety Lights And Switches Matter

Make your home more comfortable and safer for your ageing parents and ensure family safety and security by incorporating safety features in your next home renovation. Have additional lighting in high traffic areas in your home, such as the stairways, sinks, and kitchen. If your elder uses a wheelchair, have lower switches for their easy access. Consider rocker switches or dimmer switches to easily adjust lights depending on the elder’s preference.

2. Have A Good Flooring And Grab Bars For Elders

One of the clever tips to ensure elders safety is to check if the grab bars are installed and secured properly on wall studs, in order to prevent accidents and slips from occurring. As for the flooring, be sure to use non-glare and slip-resistant flooring material. You can also use a tight pile carpeting or a hard floor surface to ensure that elders can walk safely around the house, without the worry of possible accidents. When installing surfaces, ensure that surfaces are even.

3. Use Elder-friendly Technology

With the current technologies available nowadays, there is also a niche for your elders to ensure their safety while keeping up with the tech trends. Let them use remote controls with large numbers whenever they watch TV, for easy access. If they want to talk over a friend through phone, check whether the keypad has numbers large enough for them to read. Instead of using a traditional clock, make use of digital ones so that elders can easily know the current time. When using mobile phones or accessing the internet, remind them of privacy and security settings so that they are still safe online.

4. Keep Track Of Their Daily Medicine Intake

Elders need their regular and maintenance medicines for their specific health conditions. Since they may have more than one health condition, they can have multiple medicines that they need to take in a day; these may be natural remedies, prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines. In order not to miss their medicine intake and ensure elder protection, have a medicine checklist that details the dosage and time when the medicine should be used. You can post it in your refrigerator or near the dining area.

5. Organize Your Home

Keeping your home organized is more than just going after the appearance. As you are living with your elderly loved one, you need to have a clutter-free space to avoid them tripping. And having a clean and organized space makes them feel at ease and comfortable in your home. Properly label their things so they know where it is located. Install mobility aids for them, and maintain their spaces free of any trash or scattered item all the time.

6. Understand Their Dietary Requirements

Elders need to eat the right food all the time so they can stay strong and healthy. Take time to understand and research on their special dietary requirements since most elderly have restrictions when it comes to salt, sugar, etc. When cooking or buying foods for them, always keep this in mind.

7. Adjust Room Temperature Accordingly

Older people tend to be more sensitive when it comes to room temperature. Age UK reports that in 2010, around three million people aged 65 and above in the UK were concerned about keeping warm inside their homes during the winter season. Be open to adjust room temperature whenever it is needed, depending on how the elder feels as of the moment.

8. Improved Reach For Elders

As elders go around the house, they need to have access to what they need. Make it easy for them to reach for the things that the need, especially in the kitchen, by having lower level shelves installed between the countertop and cupboard level. You can also have sliding shelves to have kitchen items easier for them to reach. Continue adding lower shelves for their closets and in the pantry.

Living with elders with you in your home needs to have that extra care and love. With this safety guide for elders, you’ll be able to provide the protection and care that they need on a daily basis and living in the same house with your ageing parents will be full of love and affection for them everyday.