On behalf of the entire LifeCare Mobility Solutions team, we’d like to wish you all a very happy new year! With this being our first blog of 2020, we thought it only right to greet you with such wishes, even though the year is now a little over a week old. As you know, this is no ordinary year. 2020 marks the beginning of an entirely new decade! And, believe it or not, there are those among us who are now celebrating their second go around with “the 20s”.
If you have an elderly loved one in your life who born in the 1920s, it’s certainly worthwhile to plan a celebration. Those in their 90s and reaching the 100 mark are clearly very special people. In 2020, it should go without saying that they deserve our love and attention. Of course, an individual doesn’t have to have hit 90 years old in order to be worthy of our care. In this new decade, attention to senior care will remain every bit as important as it ever was.
It’s time to see the light!
One of the top ways to ensure senior safety in your home is to make sure that it is well lit at all times. Yes, this includes night time. In fact, it especially includes night time as that is when it is obviously dark outside. As we age, our vision deteriorates and an inability to properly see is often a top culprit for trips and falls in the home.
As Rick Lauber of Home Care Assistance tells us, it’s vital that you assess your home’s lighting. “Aging eyes don’t always work as they once did,” he affirms, “Seniors may misjudge or completely avoid darkened areas in their home.”
He goes on to recommend that you replace any burnt-out light bulbs, install new light fixtures, install motion detection lighting inside and outside the home and test all lighting by standing in one corner of a room and looking across the room. “Can you see a clear path?” Lauber asks, “If not, brighten things up with more lights.”
How much additional lighting is needed to keep seniors safe at home?
According to Cubby at Eldercare Home Health, individuals who are over 70 years of age require three to five times more light than those who are in their 40s and under. “Seniors’ eyes lose their ability to discern contrast with age – and contrast is often the first signal that there is a stair or a change from one floor surface to another,” Cubby explains.
The blogger goes on to highlight the need to have strong lighting in the bathroom. “Install bathroom fixtures that have several bulbs; it’s not likely they all would burn out at once,” Cubby instructs, “ However, if the senior has cataracts or glaucoma, the glare of very bright light may impair vision, so be sure to use frosted bulbs and fixtures with light-diffusing bulb enclosures.”
At LifeCare Mobility Solutions, we proudly offer a wide variety of home bathroom modifications that are designed to increase the safety of completing basic daily living activities in your home. Among them are such easy-use fixtures as oversized or lowered light switches as well as night lights which increase safety when going to bathroom at night.
For more information, please don’t hesitate to call us at 416-267-9800 or email us at info@lifecaremobility.ca. You may also contact us by filling out the form on our Contact page!
