You need to make sure that the furniture has no sharp edges, and it is senior furniture. You need to ensure that the bedroom where they tend to spend maximum time is safe for them. It should have all protective aids to help them out with their daily chores. From bedside tables to bed rails to having anti-resistant flooring in the attached bathrooms is what helps the elderly feel safe and secure.
Make Space for the Elderly to Roam Around Freely:
With elderly in the house, there are frequent visitors along with the family members and their children and even a separate caretaker sometimes. So, it is mainly a house full of people around living like a joint family. But you need to make sure as a caretaker that the elderly have their room spacious. So, it is easy for them to move around while walking, or even while using a wheelchair. The room should be made clutter free to help them feel comfortable while they move in their room. You should avoid any kind of furniture that is huge and occupies more space in their room. Like a L shaped sofa or a coffee table at the center of the room.
Use Bedside Tables:
A bedside table helps support the elderly. It helps keeping the meds, lamp, or an alarm clock in place. Also, the elderly can use it to keep their books, spectacles, and other important things. Since the elderly have spent a lot of time in bed, therefore a bedside table also helps with eating and playing games from their bed, creating no mess. It provides some sense of independence to the elderly who are bed ridden. The table can also be used to keep ice, water, and other things that they use on daily basis.
Use Bed Rails:
Using bed rails is beneficial to the elderly, as it reduces the risks of falls and injuries. These are easy to install that are fixed alongside the bed of the user to prevent them from falling. Some come with collapsing mechanism, helping you lower the rails which helps in getting in and out of the bed to the elderly. It is a portable and cost effective aid as well. It also includes safety strap on the bed, and can be fixed to any kind and size of bed.
Go With Higher Beds:
Lower height furniture is no good to the elderly. It makes it more difficult to for the elderly to sit and stand without any support, because they lose balance very easily. So, a higher bed is an essential requirement. If their feet can just reach the floor, that height is ideal for them. You can add layers of thick mattress to increase the height of the bed. It helps in providing with the soft cushioning to rest comfortably on it with a good rest for the back and the legs. You also need to make sure that it is not too high as well, or else the elderly might find it difficult to use the bed.
Select Slip Resistant Floors for Attached Bathrooms:
Elderly should have an attached bathroom with their bedroom. It helps them save energy and reduces the distance for multiple visits during the day to the bathroom. For areas like bathroom, where there are wet floors, it is a high risk zone for the elderly to slip and fall. It is one of the most common ways an elderly gets injured. As a caretaker you need to have anti-resistance floors to make bathroom elderly friendly. It helps minimize the slips and injuries that are caused by such incidents. Like a pebble tilled floor is one of the best options. Or you can even use the anti-slip rubber mats that can help while entering and exiting the bathroom.
Properly Lit Room:
Proper lighting plays an important role in the life of an elderly. As a caretaker you need to provide an equally lit room from centre to all the corners and parts of the house. It helps them figure their way around the house. It also helps small things lying on the ground visible to the elderly so that it reduces their chances of falls. With a window side by the bed helps increase the amount of natural light entering the room, as well as increases the ventilation in the house. Their bedroom needs to have a main tube light and the corners can have lamps or small LED lights that can help them see and figure out the things clearly.
Conclusion:
A bedroom is the room which the elderly uses to rest. It is because they have everything at an arm distance and is easy to rest. Which is not possible in the living room because people keep coming and going which can hamper their sleep as well. Therefore as a caretaker you need to make sure that the bedroom allotted to them have these things. These 6 ways can help you elderly feel safe and secure. It allows them to feel a sense of independence as well and reduces the risks for injuries.
Source : https://telegra.ph/6-Ways-to-Make-Your-Bedroom-Eldely-Friendly-07-11
