3 Ways To Make Your Bathroom Safe For A Visiting Elderly Relative
If you’re still in the stage of life where you’re more worried about your little ones getting into your cleaning supplies and medicines than you are about something slipping and falling in the bathroom, there might be a few changes to be made to your bathrooms before you have an elderly relative come and stay with you for a while. So to help ensure that everyone will be safe while using the bathroom in your home, here are three ways to make your bathroom safe for a visiting elderly relative.
Install Grab Bars
While you don’t need to make your home bathroom resemble the bathrooms in an assisted living facility, there are things that you can do to make sure your elderly loved one doesn’t get hurt while using your facilities.
One of the best things that you can do is to install grab bars in strategic places around the bathroom. For many elderly people, getting up from a seated position and going from one level in the bathroom to another can be tricky. Because of this, you might want to install a grab bar or something secure to hold onto right next to the toilet. Having some to hold onto in the shower can also be helpful and reduce the chances of your elderly loved one slipping and falling to the ground while using the shower.
Switch To Motion Activated Lights
When visiting a new place, it can sometimes be hard to remember where things like the light switches are. So to help ensure that your elderly loved one doesn’t stumble into the bathroom with no lights on and take the risks of running into something, tripping on something, or slipping and falling, you should consider putting some motion activated light in the bathroom.
If you don’t want to have one of the main lights be motion activated, you can always put in a motion activated night light that will make it easier to see the main light switches during any time of the day.
Adjust The Heights
If your elderly loved one has limited mobility and you’re worried about how they will handle things like stepping into the bathtub to take a shower or lowering themselves down onto the toilet to go to the bathroom, there are things you can do to adjust these heights and make things easier for them.
If you have the time and money, you could consider putting in a no-step shower entrance, either by replacing the tub or removing steps. For the toilet seat, you can get an attachment that will make the toilet seat higher so that your elderly loved one won’t have to squat down so low to get to a seated position.
If you want to make sure that your elderly loved one is safe in the bathroom while visiting you, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you make some thoughtful changes.
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