June is National Safety Month! And summer brings many new safety concerns for senior citizens, so we’re letting our readers know what they can do to keep themselves or the seniors in their lives a little safer this June and beyond. Here are our top Senior Safety Tips.
Heat Danger
As our summers get hotter, they become more dangerous for anyone who spends time outside or in a building without good cooling. This is particularly true for the most vulnerable, like children and seniors.
Sometimes, older Americans are living on a fixed income and are unable to repair or replace old HVAC units. It’s vital they have access to public cooling areas, and luckily, many communities set these up.
You can help with senior safety by checking on your older friends and neighbors, checking to make sure they know the dangers, and helping them to stay cool and hydrated.
Emergency Preparedness
Natural and manufactured disasters can catch anyone off guard, but people with fewer resources and less connection to the community can be especially vulnerable. That’s why it’s essential to have an emergency preparedness plan in place.
Seniors (and everyone else) should have an emergency kit at home with food and water to last at least three days, a first aid kit, and a battery-operated radio. Your family should also have a plan in place for the closest person to your most vulnerable loved one to check-in.
Fall Prevention
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is particularly true with falls for older Americans. Falling becomes a greater danger as we age, because our bones are more likely to break, and less likely to recover. Unfortunately, as we age, we may also find that our balance and steadiness on our feet diminishes, creating an opportunity for disaster!
One of the most important things you can do to prevent falls is to exercise more to stay strong. It’s also important to not overly exert ourselves since when we exercise too hard, we can be less steady on our feet.
Another essential factor in fall prevention is arranging your home so you have fewer obstacles and trip hazards. If you are less steady on your feet, consider going to a doctor to see if getting a U-Step walker or other mobility help would be beneficial, and improve many seniors’ safety.
Stair Senior Safety
Climbing up or down stairs can be the most dangerous part of moving through a home. Even relatively healthy people may have mobility issues that make stairs a challenge.
We help people safely travel up and down stairs with stairlifts and wheelchair lifts. While adding one to your home may be intimidating, it can be the difference between staying where you live and having to leave or staying healthy and getting hurt.
We make stairlift and wheelchair lift installation and maintenance as easy as possible for our customers, so there’s no need to worry about making the wrong decisions. ADL will walk you through every step of the process and answer all of your questions.
Community
One of the best ways to keep your older loved ones safe is to build a strong community around them. When we have people supporting us, we’re much less likely to fall—both literally and figuratively. Happy National Safety Month, and let’s all do our part to promote senior safety wherever we can!