How To Use The Master List
The master list is an alphabetized directory of things that may need attention in or around the home.
You might find that simply reading the name of the item sparks your own ideas about how to sufficiently modify, protect, remove, secure, or otherwise âdeal withâ the item in question.
If not, then you can locate the follow-up, companion articles to obtain more details and tips for the relevant action steps or items.
Coffee pots. See Appliances, electrical.
Computers. Keep work area tidy monitor usage restrict access to.
Cough medicine. See Specific Tips for middle-stage Alzheimerâs: Pharmaceuticals.
. Use on doors and windows.
Detectors. Install carbon-monoxide, natural-gas, and traditional smoke detectors.
Disposals. See Garbage disposals.
Doorknob covers. Use like in âchildproofingâ scenarios to secure entryways and exits.
Doors. Widened remove locks. See also Locks, bathroom.
Drains. Install strainers.
Drain traps. Insert in sinks to catch small items.
Drawers, kitchen. Latch or lock.
Dryers, clothes. Use âchildproofâ knob covers and latches.
Electrical appliances. See Appliances, electrical.
Electrical cords. Check for damage keep out of walkways. See also General Safety Items: Extension cords and Seniors: Trip Hazards.
Locks . Secure room.
Locks, bathroom. Remove locks or hide keys elsewhere in house.
Locks, garage. Use double-keyed deadbolt or reinforcement locks.
Locks, outdoors. Control entry/exit points. See Fencing.
Magnets. Discard or remove.
The Top 4 Ways To Create A Dementia
It can be incredibly beneficial to dementia-proof your home when looking after a loved one with dementia. Even if your loved one is still independent or isnt showing serious symptoms of dementia, you should consider making their place of residence a dementia-friendly home as a precautionary measure.
Are you unsure what Alzheimers safety entails?
Are you looking for some good dementia-friendly ideas for the home?
Whether its putting up dementia-friendly clocks and signage or installing door locks for Alzheimers patients, there are many things you can do to create a more dementia-proof home. And if your loved one ever needs hands-on care 24 hours a day, theres always professional home care available.
In this article, were talking about dementia safety at home. As you read, youll learn valuable information regarding how to safety-proof your home for elderly loved ones with dementia.
Keep reading to check out our dementia home-safety checklist.
Note: Since Alzheimers is the most common form of dementia, well be using the terms dementia and Alzheimers interchangeably to describe any memory loss disease brought on by old age.
How To Create A Safe Place For Seniors With Dementia:
1. Tour the home and make a plan for each room or area of the home
A thoughtful tour of the home is necessary to decide which rooms and space in the home offer the safest choices for a senior to spend time. Consider which rooms will be most easily updated and how best to limit access to the rest. Make a list of items to remove and any general changes or accommodations needed. A home may need , special door handle covers, secure latches or alarms on all doors and windows, and handrails or grab bars installed throughout accessible areas. Consider adding labels to doors, cupboards, and drawers to help encourage confidence and independence. These labels can be written at first, but can later evolve to pictures to help remind your mom or dad where things are kept.
2. Create space for your senior parents caregiver
Plan how youll create space for a caregiver to spend time as needed, with privacy and restricted access to ensure personal items are kept safely out of reach of your senior parent. A caregiver spending significant time with someone with dementia needs their own space to retreat to, and time to do so. An experienced caregiver will be accustomed to keeping their personal items out of reach and monitoring a home for safety, but personal space is important.
3. Create safe areas in which the senior can spend time
4. Identify areas that require extra caution or limits
5. Block access to danger zones or areas that offer too much risk
~ Senior Homecare by Angels Calgary team
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Expert Help Creating A Dementia
A dementia-proof home is vital to ensure Alzheimers safety for your loved ones while theyre at home. It provides them with a place thats comfortable and easy to navigate. A dementia-friendly home reduces the risk of injury and decreases frustrations as dementia progresses.
If youre wondering how to safety proof a home for an elderly loved one, you can follow this dementia home-safety checklist:
Caring for a loved one with dementia can be rewarding but also challenging. Family caregivers can find themselves overwhelmed and burnt out with care duties, especially during the later stages of dementia.
At Stowell Associates, we provide exceptional in-home care for elderly adults and much-needed respite for family caregivers. Here are three ways we come alongside family caregivers and their aging loved ones:
Contact us today to talk with a Care Advisor and learn more about caring for a loved one with dementia.
Home Safety Checklist For Alzheimer’s Disease
Use the following room-by-room checklist to alert you to potential hazards and to record any changes you need to make to help keep a person with Alzheimers disease safe. You can buy products or gadgets necessary for home safety at stores carrying hardware, electronics, medical supplies, and children’s items.
Keep in mind that it may not be necessary to make all of the suggested changes. This article covers a wide range of safety concerns that may arise, and some modifications may never be needed. It is important, however, to re-evaluate home safety periodically as behavior and abilities change.
On this page:
Also Check: Can Lewy Body Dementia Be Treated
Save Article To Kindle
To save this article to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the name part of your Kindle email address below.Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. @free.kindle.com emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. @kindle.com emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
When To Seek Extra Help Caring For Your Loved One
You may find yourself overwhelmed with the responsibilities of caring for someone with dementia in your home. When you notice that you have caregiver burnout, its important and valuable to seek out extra help to assist in caring for your loved one. This can also alleviate your own stress and help you monitor both of your wellbeing. Whether your loved one is eligible for Aged Care funding or you are ready to hire carers out of pocket, we offer affordable high-quality home care services. We look after individuals who require assistance so that they may remain independent and dignified in the environment that is best for their health: their own home.
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Making Your Home Dementia Friendly Making Your Home Dementia Friendly
Read a booklet about practical ways to make your home more dementia friendly.
This booklet describes some of the ways to create a home that supports you as a person with dementia. Each section covers a different aspect of living at home.
The sections list practical tips to make managing dementia at home easier. For some of these you may need help and support from friends, family members or health and social care professionals.
If you have dementia, living at home can give you more independence. By making some changes to your home, you can continue to enjoy it, and keep up routines and activities that are familiar to you. These changes can help you to stay safe, physically active, mentally stimulated and in touch with friends and family.
Everyone experiences dementia in their own way. You may need to try some of the ideas out to see what works best for you.
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Goals When Dementia Proofing A Seniors Home:
Create a safe, familiar environment Keep the senior in their home as long as possible Avoid accidents and reduce chance of injury Remove triggers that may cause stress or agitation Prevent disorientation or chance of wandering Consider caregiver comfort as well as the senior with dementia Ensure safety accommodations can evolve with the seniors needs
Recommended Reading: Does My Dad Have Dementia
How To Pay For Care Home Modifications
I have discussed long-term care in a separate post. Titled âAlzheimerâs-Proof Your Retirement Savings With Long-Term Care Insurance,â the article chronicles my own familyâs financial struggle to get my dad nursing-home assistance. In that article, I point out that there are really only three ways to pay for long-term care.
Three Ways That Anyone Can Pay for Long-Term Care
Now, of course, in order to be able to file a claim with long-term care insurance, you have to actually have a long-term care insurance policy in force. Since you will never be approved for such a policy if you wait until you have Alzheimerâs Disease , if you are interested in protecting your retirement for your family/spouse, then you need to apply for long-term care insurance before you have any signs of cognitive impairment.
When it comes to paying for home modifications, the options dwindle down to two. As the website Caring.com explains: âLike Medicare, Medicaid doesnât cover physical modifications to the home.â
Two Ways That Anyone Can Pay for Home Modifications
Generally speaking, you may need to seek preapproval for any prospective, home-modification project.
Memory Care With Prestige Senior Living
If the toll of caring for a loved one with Alzheimers or dementia is leading you to consider full-time memory care, Prestige Senior Livings award-winning wellness program Expressions may be the answer.
We help our residents live with dignity and purpose, while remaining active and engaged. To learn more about Expressions, find the community nearest you and contact the team for more, or book a tour.
Also Check: What Alzheimer’s Feels Like From The Inside
The Complete Guide To Alzheimer’s Proofing Your Home
The Complete Guide To Alzheimer’s Proofing Your Home is a book that will profoundly improve the environmental quality of caring for a person with Alzheimer’s at home.
Book Review 1
A Complete Guide to Alzheimer’s Proofing Your Home is a comprehensive practical guide for helping in-home caregivers and health professionals who advise them, to evaluate the home environment and make modifications enhancing safety and function. Easy to read, the book offers the reader numerous new ideas on every page, each with the potential solve some small yet vexing problem. The book begins with an overview of how to evaluate the rooms and exterior areas of a typical home and how to formulate a plan that facilitates maximum function for both the care-recipient and caregiver.
A strength of the book is the second chapter. It provides a disease overview focusing on symptom presentation and how it affects day to day function. This is particularly helpful for the caregiver as it explains how a symptom/behavior is represented in their home. Quotes familiar to professionals working with families help caregivers to recognize how this relates to their own situation. These quotes help to give the book focus and direction, but more important, the quotes provide a very empathetic and “human” touch and make the book highly readable. I find this approach much more salient than “academic approaches” to the description of dementia.
Multiples Of Common Items
One way to Alzheimers-proof your home is to purchase multiple sets of commonly used household items.
Individuals with dementia often forget where things are or where they placed items. Having many different sets of everyday household items around the house can make finding them easier.
Some items to consider are:
- Kitchen utensils
- Reading glasses
- Office supplies, like scissors, pens, and pencils
You may not know right away what you need. Be aware and keep a list of items that are regularly used but often misplaced.
Also Check: Is Paranoia A Symptom Of Dementia
Outside Approaches To The House
- Keep steps sturdy and textured to prevent falls in wet or icy weather.
- Consider installing a ramp with handrails as an alternative to the steps.
- Eliminate uneven surfaces or walkways, hoses, and other objects that may cause a person to trip.
- Restrict access to a swimming pool by fencing it with a locked gate, covering it, and closely supervising it when in use.
- In the patio area, remove the fuel source and fire starters from any grills when not in use, and supervise use when the person with Alzheimer’s is present.
- Place a small bench or table by the entry door to hold parcels while unlocking the door.
- Make sure outside lighting is adequate. Light sensors that turn on lights automatically as you approach the house may be useful. They also may be used in other parts of the home.
- Prune bushes and foliage well away from walkways and doorways.
- Consider a “NO SOLICITING” sign for the front gate or door.
What Is The Best Environment For Someone With Dementia
Knowing how to properly dementia-proof your home is critical for keeping your loved one with dementia safe. For a person with dementia, an optimal living environment is one that allows them to be as happy and independent as possible. A person with dementia needs to be familiar with their surroundings and habits. The home setting should assist someone in determining where they are and assisting them in determining where they wish to go. Confusion and disorientation can be exacerbated by changes in the surroundings.
In addition to memory, dementia can affect physical coordination and sensory perception. Falls are more likely due to reduced coordination and vision burns are more likely because of a reduced sense of touch and poisoning is more likely due to a reduced sense of taste and smell. Since disorientation can cause behaviors that can result in injury, its crucial to consider the following suggestions to make your house a dementia-friendly setting.
Recommended Reading: What Do Dementia Patients Usually Die From
How To Keep A Wanderer Safe And Indoors
When it comes to keeping someone from wandering outside , you can lock the doors to the house as long as you are home in the event of an emergency. It is not cruel to lock the doors. You are also saving the neighbors and police some worry. If the police are summoned frequently, they may insist that you find some way to keep your loved one inside and supervised so they will be safe. JessieBelle
Get deadbolt door locks, take the keys out of them at night, and keep the keys on a chain around your neck, that way if your loved one is wandering at night, they cannot get out of the house. If there is a fire, you do not have to look for the keys in the middle of a crisis, because they are right there around your neck. If all the deadbolts are keyed the same, you only need to wear one key. LyricaLady
Child locks and alarms work well and are reasonably priced. Also, try installing a lock at the bottom of the door or at the top. Your loved one may not think to look in those places to unlock the door. jycaregiver
I finally secured the doors to the point that my mom could not open them on her own. I covered our doorknobs with plastic covers designed to keep toddlers from opening doors. Eventually, I had to secure those with duct tape wrapped around and around, as she could get the knob covers off when she was really intent on leaving. I also had to add internal hardware, like sliding locks and chained door guards, and these had to be installed above her reach. Catjohn22
Elsewhere Around The House
As we noted earlier with the outdoors lighting is a simple, but effective way to help someone stay safe. It may be in the form of a bedside lamp, or even motion-activated night lights if they get up to wander in the night.
Lighting is also paramount around stairs. If possible, have lighting installed along the stairwell to help seniors navigate them safely.
Of course, stairs and cognitive impairment can be a troublesome combination at the best of times. With diminished eyesight and visuospatial decline, stairs are not particularly safe for those with Alzheimers or dementia.
Adding bright or glow-in-the-dark tape at the top and bottom of stairs can serve as an indicator that they may be verging into dangerous territory. A locked gate, particularly at night, can be an important safety measure. And if possible, ensure the depth of the stair can fit a persons entire foot so theyre not having even more trouble than necessary with balance.
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Fall And Injury Prevention
Late-stage dementia often affects an individuals physical mobility and stability.
To ensure dementia safety at home and decrease fall risk, you may want to consider:
- Cleaning and clearing clutter on floors
- Making sure throw rugs and carpeted flooring dont have bumps
- Installing or tightening handrails on stairs
- Placing non-slip strips on wood stairs and in the bathroom
- Increasing the lighting in commonly used rooms
- Putting up railings or help-aids alongside your loved ones bed
- Fixing any cement, asphalt, or stone-like walkways that have uneven surfaces
- Installing stair gates for adults with dementia to block them from using stairs
Even though you may not be able to prevent every possible fall or injury, putting some preventative measures in place can decrease the risk and severity of these occurrences.