Why are older people or people with disabling conditions at risk in their homes?
A lot of the time there’s a struggle between the person’s abilities and the demands of the environment. There are things people think about in terms of safety all the time, such as tripping over electrical cords. However when people have either a disabling condition or their skills change as part of normal aging, and their environment is built for healthy young person, there becomes a mismatch between the person’s abilities and the environment.
You can’t make an environment safe, short of putting somebody in a padded cage, but you can reduce risks. At the same time, you’ll make it more likely that people will be able to do the things that they need to do.
How can someone modify the bathroom?
For many people, getting up from the toilet, which is usually the lowest seat in the house, is an issue. You can purchase commercially available seats to go on a toilet to make it higher. You can also go into a home improvement store and order a higher toilet bowl or there’s a platform called a Toilevator that is a permanent installation that goes between the floor and the regular toilet bowl, and raises it up several inches.
For people who are shorter in stature, sometimes the easier solution is to leave the commode as it is, but simply have something to hold onto when they get up and down. Everybody’s favorite grab bar is the towel rack. Unfortunately that is not the safest method, and often it breaks or comes out of the wall as the person is trying to get up. Luckily there are now designer grab bars that come in different colors and can also be used as a towel rack.
