While any safe environment is going to be the best place for senior citizens to live, whether that’s an assisted living facility or their own home, many places need to have a few adjustments made if they want to be optimally safe as someone ages. But luckily, most of the most helpful adjustments can be made relatively easily.
To help you see how this can be done in your own home, here are three adjustments that make a home senior-friendly.
Zero Steps
One thing that isn’t very senior-friendly, regardless of how active or healthy you might be as you are near older age, is stairs.
While stairs can be a great way to get some exercise as you go up and down them, with every step you take, there’s always a chance for tripping or falling. And for older people, tripping and falling can be very hazardous to their health. Knowing this, eliminating all stairs or steps from your home is going to be the safest option.
When you can’t completely take the stairs out, another option you can look into is using ramps. Ramps can be used over steps to get into or out of your home in addition to moving up or down in level inside of your home.
While you might not want to use a ramp for an entire staircase in your house, one or two steps can easily be covered by a ramp to make it easier and safer for seniors to maneuver around the house.
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Make Lighting Easy
Lighting in a home should also be changed when you have a senior living in a home.
For most senior citizens, their eyesight can start to get worse and worse over time. Smaller print can be harder to see, and lighting becomes ever more important. With this in mind, one great adjustment you can make to your home in order to be more senior-friendly is to bring in more lights.
Task lighting and even motion-sensored lights can be a great update so that various levels of light can be used and lights can turn on automatically when they are most needed for safety purposes.
Update Your Cabinetry
Reaching high or low items can become a challenge for many seniors with limited mobility. To address this, you can make some simple yet effective changes to your cabinetry or other storage spaces.
Instead of having to reach into the back of a shelf or cupboard, having cabinets with drawers that pullout can make it much easier to store items and get the items that you have previously stored. While this might require some renovation, it could be well worth it in the end.
If you’re wanting to make your home more senior-friendly, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you find the best projects to take on.
