Safety Archives - Senior Living & Memory Care Community - Sugar Land, Rosenberg, Richmond, Katy & Houston, Texas

Safety

Navigating Resistance – A Guide for Supporting Your Aging Loved One

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Showing Support to Parent

Navigating Resistance – A Guide for Supporting Your Aging Loved One

Adapting to change can be challenging, especially when caring for a senior loved one who resists assistance. Many family caregivers encounter this struggle, but you’re not alone. According to a Penn State University study, around 80 percent of adult children who are caregivers find their parents “stubborn.”

Family caregivers frequently face challenges persuading a parent to cease driving, attend medical appointments, or contemplate relocating to a safer environment. These challenges can result in tension among family members. Addressing these challenges requires empathy and effective communication.

 

Ask Open-Ended Questions: This allows you to understand the root of their resistance. They will share their feelings and fears and you will be able to understand them better.  

 

Show Empathy: A senior might resist your advice because they fear losing their independence and identity. Highlight that accepting help now preserves their autonomy longer.

 

Enlist the Help of a Trusted Advisor: In situations where safety is a concern, seek support from trusted advisors like their pastor, rabbi, or physician. These individuals can provide unbiased perspectives.

 

Take Small Steps When Proposing Changes and Compromise: Suggest attending a few interactive events at an assisted living community, meeting the residents, or going for a lunch tour. Reinforce that it won’t obligate them to anything.

 

Timing is Crucial:  When approaching difficult conversations, choose a relaxed atmosphere for face-to-face discussions. Start gradually, acknowledging that you can only do so much. If your loved one refuses help, respect their decision for now.

During this challenging time, The Village at Sugar Land team is here to assist you. Whether you have questions, need someone to talk to, or want to explore options, reach us at (281)729-8800

 

Implementing a Home Safety Checklist to Prevent Potential Risks

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Implementing a Home Safety Checklist to Prevent Potential Risks

Implementing a Home Safety Checklist to Prevent Potential Risks

Develop a monthly home safety checklist to thoroughly assess the security of your living space. Consider the following questions when crafting your checklist:

 

  • Is there a functioning smoke detector on each level of the house?
  • Does the home possess a carbon monoxide detector?
  • Are easily accessible fire extinguishers present in all common rooms?
  • Has the furnace undergone inspection recently?
  • Are towel racks, bath mats, and handles securely in place?
  • Have burnt-out light bulbs been replaced?
  • Are there dimly lit areas where smart lights or motion sensors with bulb alerts could enhance safety?
  • Have laundry lint traps been cleaned out?
  • Are there any peculiar smells, signs of hoarding, or excessive trash in and around the house?
  • Are the doors and locks in good working order for your loved one’s security?

Regularly addressing these considerations ensures a comprehensive approach to maintaining a safe and secure home environment for your loved ones.

 

The Village at Sugar Land stands out by offering personalized programs and dedicated caregivers who cater to each resident’s individual needs. Reach us to learn more about the different levels of care we offer for your loved one, and the convenience of living safely with peace of mind.
Contact us at [email protected] or call 281-729-8800

Technical Devices Promoting Safety for Seniors

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Technical Devices Promoting Safety for Seniors

Technical Devices Promoting Safety and Wellbeing for Seniors

Even if your elderly loved one is not well-versed in technology, these user-friendly devices serve as invaluable tools to assist seniors in minimizing fall risks, effectively managing medication, and swiftly accessing assistance during emergencies. Embracing the simplicity of these devices ensures that seniors can navigate these functions with ease, fostering a safer and more independent lifestyle as they age. Below is a list of some popular safety devices that can help keep the elderly safe in their own homes or in senior living

  • Medical Alert Devices can help with keeping the elderly safe in their own homes. These wearable devices have easy-access buttons to call for emergency assistance and can be connected to landlines or cellular services. Some devices also provide fall detection.
  • Automatic Pill Dispensers are simple and safe ways to manage your medications. Medication delivery services are available, that prepackages your medications sorted by date and time and ship them to you monthly.
  • Senior-Friendly Cell Phones help older adults stay connected with friends and family, and they make emergency help more accessible in case of an accident. Some phones, come with built-in emergency networks and GPS tracking.
  • Smart Home Devices can set medication reminders, make emergency calls, and access entertainment like audiobooks and music.
  • GPS Tracking Devices can help prevent the dangers of wandering in senior loved ones with dementia or memory loss.
  • Telehealth services provide seniors access to doctors and nurses without leaving the comfort of their homes.
  • Hearing aids can help increase in-home safety for those with hearing loss. Over-the-counter hearing aids are now available for individuals living with mild to moderate hearing loss.

Seeking a community that offers personalized care? Look no further than The Village at Sugar Land. We create customized programs and assign dedicated caregivers who provide comprehensive support and the convenience of living safely with peace of mind.

Contact us at [email protected] or call 281-729-8800

Creating a Safer Haven: Essential Home Safety Tips for Seniors

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Home Safety Tips for Seniors

Creating a Safer Haven: Essential Home Safety Tips for Seniors

Ensuring the safety of our aging loved ones becomes increasingly important as they grow older. Falls, a leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among individuals aged 65 and older, present a significant threat, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Factors like aging skin and decreased bone density make recovering from falls challenging for seniors, not to mention the potential financial impact of medically supported recovery. In this article, we will explore essential safety tips aimed at reducing fall risks and establishing a secure home environment for our elderly family members.

 

  1. Remove Trip Hazards:

   Falls often result from tripping over common household items. To mitigate this risk, start by identifying and removing trip hazards such as area rugs, electrical cords, low tables, and ottomans. Consider installing nonslip flooring to provide a secure walking surface, and ensure that all cords and wires are safely covered.

 

  1. Install Bathroom Grab Bars:

   The bathroom can be a particularly challenging space for seniors. Installing grab bars near toilets, showers, and bath areas can significantly enhance safety. These bars, readily available at hardware stores, can be installed by handy do-it-yourselfers or professionals specializing in home safety. They provide crucial support for seniors as they navigate these spaces.

 

  1. Provide Easy Seating:

   Making daily activities like bathing more accessible is key to preventing falls. Consider incorporating specially designed kitchen and shower chairs to provide comfortable and secure seating. These aids empower seniors to perform their routine tasks with ease, reducing the risk of accidents.

 

  1. Check Thresholds:

   Transition areas between rooms, often marked by raised flooring or thresholds, can be potential trip hazards. Consult with a safety expert to assess and address these areas. Flattening thresholds or adding indoor ramps and handrails can create a seamless and safe transition between spaces within the home.

 

  1. Outdoor Spaces Matter:

   Safety precautions should extend beyond the indoors. Regularly inspect outdoor spaces, starting with the driveway. Look for cracks and ensure a clear path to the mailbox. In the yard, remove potential trip hazards such as rocks and roots that could pose a risk to seniors navigating the outdoor environment.

 

Taking proactive measures to enhance home safety for seniors is crucial in preventing falls and promoting their well-being. By addressing common risk factors such as trip hazards, bathroom safety, seating accessibility, and outdoor concerns, we can create a secure environment that allows our elderly loved ones to age gracefully and independently in the comfort of their homes.

Checklist to Prepare Your Home for Upcoming Winter Season!!

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A person holding a cookie in their hands

Checklist to Prepare Your Home for Upcoming Winter Season!!

Fall is a really good time to start thinking about your home maintenance as well as getting it ready for the colder weather. Here are a few items that you can do to get ready for the winter and help keep your home happy:

1. Check your home’s heating and air conditioning system

Most heating and air systems typically last 12 to 15 years.Before the weather turns cold, take this time to change your filters, at the very least. Have the system inspected by a reputable HVAC contractor. Better yet, look into an annual maintenance agreement. Have the contractor check your system and make sure your heat is going to work when you need it. It’s much better to find an HVAC problem in the moderate temperatures of the fall than it is to find your furnace doesn’t work on a frigid winter day.

2. Paint, caulk and seal exterior wood
All of the wood trim on the exterior of your home needs to be protected from the elements. The wood used on deck is typically a pressure-treated or rot-resistant species of wood, but the wood trim around your exterior doors and windows is just a one-inch-thick pine board that deteriorates very quickly if not protected. Replacing this trim is a big cost, the best thing to do is to make sure it doesn’t rot in the first place, and that means keeping it painted and caulked. This is a job most people can do themselves if they stay on top of it. Once the wood is rotted and requires replacement, then you’re probably going to need to hire a good trim carpenter to tackle the job. So before that happens, take the time to go around your home and make sure that none of the caulk is cracking and your paint is not chipping and flaking away. If it is, scrape away the bad paint or caulk and apply fresh.Even though your deck is made of treated or rot-resistant wood, it still needs protection. You don’t need to stain and seal your deck every year but check it to make sure it’s protected. To do this, simply pour some water on it. If the water beads up, then you’re good. If the wood absorbs the water, it’s time to clean and seal your deck.

3. Seal your masonry and hard surfaces
Patio needs attention, too. If you have a concrete patio, driveways or walkways, make sure they’re protected as well. Occasionally apply a concrete sealer to all of your flat exterior concrete surfaces. All concrete flatwork eventually develops cracks. Good masons strategically place control joints in your concrete to try to ensure cracking is limited. Take the time to inspect your concrete and fill in any cracks before you apply sealer so that water cannot get in and freeze over the winter. This should ensure your expensive concrete work lasts a very long time.If you have an asphalt driveway, now is the time to think about resealing that as well. It’s not very expensive to have a company come and give it a quick spray of sealer, or you can simply buy a bucket of sealer and roll it on yourself. If your driveway has developed cracks, then patch those before sealing.

4. Check your drainage
Make sure the soil around your foundation hasn’t settled, creating areas for water to pool at your foundation. If you find a low spot, simply fill it in with some soil. Then go around and check your rain gutter downspouts. Make sure water is getting moved away from the home. Add downspout extenders if necessary. Saturated soil around a foundation can create real problems as it freezes and thaws throughout the winter months.

5. Clean your gutters
Once the leaves are pretty much off the trees, it’s time to clean those gutters. When your gutters back up, they overflow, and when they overflow, that water runs down your home, speeding up the deterioration of your exterior. It can also lead to deterioration of your foundation, water infiltration in the basement and to settling under your concrete porches and walks, which creates all kinds of problems.

6. Clean your chimney and order firewood
Have your fireplace cleaned and inspected before you start building those cozy fires in the next couple of months. A good chimney sweep company will make sure the fireplace is safe to use, and it can also identify maintenance problems.This is also the time to order that load of firewood. Take the time to stack and cover that wood in a good location in the yard. Make sure that old firewood isn’t rotten and move it away from your home.

7. Test your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
Winter is the time most house fires happen. It’s the time of year when we’re blasting the furnace and building fires. We are also much more likely to have our home closed up tight, so carbon monoxide is a much bigger hazard. Check all of your smoke detectors to make sure they are working and that they have good batteries. If your home is not equipped with carbon monoxide detectors, consider getting some. The HVAC inspection will also ensure your furnace and water heater are properly vented, which is the most likely source of carbon monoxide.

8. Shut down the pool and the sprinkler system and drain outside faucets
Fall is a good time to get pool work done if a problem is discovered. Pool contractors tend to get busy in the spring.

 

Make sure your sprinkler system is properly shut down for the season. Most sprinkler systems require the lines to be blown out. Again, it’s well worth the cost for a professional. A professional winterizing is way cheaper than replacing a bunch of broken lines next spring. Your outside water faucet is completely unprotected from the elements. It will freeze over the winter. In less extreme cases, outside faucets develop nasty leaks. Take the time to do a basic drain of the line. You can simply shut off the water valve to your outside spigot, then go outside and open the exterior spigot valve and let the water drain out of the line. Now if the water in there freezes, it has plenty of room to expand without breaking pipes or seals. Leave the water shut off to the faucet until you need to use the hose next spring.

9. Prepare your lawn for winter and set it up for a great spring
If you want that beautiful spring lawn, you have to give it attention in the fall. New grass does not grow when it’s too hot or too cold. If you want new grass to grow, you really only have September and October, then April and May to do it. If you neglect the fall, then you’ve cut your time in half. There are differing opinions on when you should overseed. Once the heat breaks, your lawn can get some great growing time. So around late September, aerate the lawn and overseed it. Then in about late October or November, apply fertilizer with winterizer.

10. Check your trees
Before all of the leaves fall, take a look at your trees and make sure they’re still healthy, especially trees that could fall on your home or a neighbor’s home. Don’t think a dying tree will be obvious. Sometimes you really won’t notice, especially if you have a lot of trees. Fall isn’t a good time to trim your trees, but if there are branches up against your house, it’s a good idea to trim them away before winter.

11. Do a quick energy audit

If you’ve never had one, a professional energy audit is a good investment. But fall is also a good time just to check your door seals. Make sure you’re not seeing daylight around your exterior doors, and take a can of spray foam insulation and fill in around those drafty outlets and light switches.

12. Prep your lawn, yard care equipment and your patio furniture
Before you put your lawn equipment away for the season, drain the gas. Gas goes bad, and come springtime old gas can gunk up your fuel filters and make your equipment run sickly, put a fuel stabilizer into the gas if you want to keep it on hand.
Your weed eater probably uses two-stroke gas so you can’t put that into your car. It’s best to plan for that early and make sure you don’t have a lot of fuel left over at the end of the year. Plan to do one really good trim job at the end of the season to run the fuel out of the weed eater.
Get your patio furniture protected, but make sure you wait until a clear, warm day to cover it so you don’t trap moisture on it.

We hope these home winter safety tips set you to stay safe and enjoy this winter like a pro!!