When a senior lives alone, it can be concerning. As they age, their balance changes, muscle mass weakens, and they can fall easier. Luckily, if you’re worried about your elderly loved one, certain things may help them age in place longer and safer. Certain technology devices like small buttons can help alert a response team when a senior falls down, but they can also benefit from senior home care for assistance when living at home. Both can help give you peace of mind when thinking about your mom or dad aging in place. However, let’s say your senior has already fallen. What can you do to help your loved one not fall again? Try these steps to reduce the likelihood of another fall, and how senior home care can help.
Assess How They’re Feeling
Anyone who falls must take a break to assess their feelings, especially if they get hurt. After a fall, the first thing you should ask them is how they’re feeling mentally. This may have scared them badly, and it’s important to acknowledge any feelings about the incident. If it’s right after a fall and a senior doesn’t get hurt, it’s essential to sit up slowly and take a few deep breaths before anything else.
Always Look At Where and Why
When a senior falls, there is usually a reason why. Sometimes they will fall on stairs, sometimes, it’s due to dizziness from medication, or sometimes there is something in the way they tripped over. Senior home care will help take notes on how medication impacts a senior, so if they think falling occurs more after a medication, they can help your loved one bring it up to a doctor. A doctor may want to change what time a senior takes medication to prevent falls from becoming more frequent. Assessing the situation will help limit falls for seniors living alone at home.
Add In Equipment
If a senior continues to fall regularly, it’s important to start changing things to make living at home easier. This means adding non-slip mats in a bathroom area or even downsizing a home to a one-level space. Senior home care may ask for the family’s help going through things to get rid of to make more space for your senior. When a home is cluttered, it can be a hazard for the senior trying to age in place and for the caregiver trying to help around the house. It’s important to add the right equipment to help your seniors and eliminate what’s necessary to age at home instead of in a nursing home.
Go To Check-ups
Some seniors may break bones during a fall because bones do become weak after aging. If your senior broke anything in the fall, they should go to the doctor immediately and then go back for checkups. Your senior loved one should be seeing a doctor regularly but continue to go back after they break anything to keep an eye on everything. This will help ensure they recover and keep from falling again.
If you are considering senior home care in Houston, TX for an aging loved one, please call the caring staff at At Your Side Home Care. We will answer all of your senior care questions. Call today: (832) 271-1600.
At Your Side Home Care, provides exceptional home care for seniors and families in Houston, West Houston, Katy, Memorial, The Heights, Spring Valley, Garden Oaks, Hunters Creek, River Oaks, Hilshire Village, Galleria, Cinco Ranch, Spring Branch, Sugar Land, Missouri City, Richmond, Rosenburg, Piney Point, Bay City and surrounding areas.
Our Certified Nurse Aides, 24-Hour Live-in Assistants and Home Health Aides are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We also provide the security and confidence of 24-hour Telephone Assistance, so fast, reliable help is always available when it's needed. To learn more about our homecare services see our homecare services page.
Different people need different levels of homecare. To meet the requirements of our clients, At Your Side Homecare maintains consistent staffing levels of caring professionals. Homecare service is available for as little as a few hours a week, or as many as 24 hours a day, seven days a week
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