As a loving child of an aging parent, you are probably rightfully concerned about your loved one's well being after they have a significant fall within their home. It raises questions about whether your parent is safe living alone, and whether the house has an adequate amount of features designed to protect an aging resident. Thankfully, there are many things you can do to provide care for your parent after a fall.
Learn What Caused the Fall
Having a bad fall may or may not be related to a problem that can be fixed. For example, if there is a problem with the way the home is set up or designed, then moving to a new place or adding features to the existing home may be an option. If it was related to a physical health problem, that may be fixed as well, in some cases. If the fall related to mental fuzziness that caused your parent to not be mindful of what they were doing at the time of the fall, that can be a little more difficult to solve; monitoring would be the key to see if they are safe at home.
Get a Home Care Aide
Think of a home care aide as someone who provides light custodial care for a senior. In-home health care services providers might cook or clean, depending on what your parent needed for the day. Aside from that, they would be there to monitor your parent's health and cognitive clarity. It's often recommended that you start with a home care aide who can take some of the burden off of your loved one to complete daily tasks that may be challenging for them. If a more serious problem is there, your home care aide will pick up on it over a few sessions.
Re-Evaluate the Home
Is your loved one living in an ADA accessible home? Chances are that, if this was a family home or long-time residence, it could use some improvements to be a great place for an older senior to live. Consult an ADA specialist to see what needs to be done with the home. For better mobility, widening walkways and adding railings or chairlifts will help. For shower mobility, slip guards and railings help, as do chairs within the shower.
Get a Medical Opinion
A geriatric physician will clue you in as to whether assisted living or rehab is needed after a fall. When a range of factors play into a fall, sometimes you're better off switching to more comprehensive care immediately to protect your parent's safety.
Contact a retirement center, like Wellspring Meadows Assisted Living, for more help.
Share8 August 2017
Recently, my mom took my grandmother to her physician for a regular check-up. During this visit, the doctor discovered my grandmother had a cracked bone in her foot. Due to my grandmother’s dementia, she didn’t know if she had fallen or dropped something on her foot. My family and I decided my grandmother shouldn’t live on her own anymore. Do you desperately desire to protect an elderly loved one from harm? If he or she is currently living alone, consider placing your loved one in a nursing home or an assisted living facility. By making this move, you won’t have to worry anymore about the possibility of your relative falling with no one to help him or her. On this blog, I hope you will discover the numerous benefits of moving a senior loved one into a nursing home or assisted living facility. Enjoy!