Preventing Hazardous Situations At Home

Preventing Hazardous Situations at Home

Right at Home Northwest Orange County and Right at Home Hacienda Heights were proud to sponsor a lunch and learn at Whittier Hospital Medical Center for the Golden Years Senior Club. There were about 35 people in attendance. Also, joining the presentation team was Tyler Smith from American Medical Enterprises Inc

Before we presented on the subject of "Preventing Hazardous Situations at Home", we reviewed the concepts of "Aging in Place" including: 

• Why it is important
• Staying Connected
• Staying Healthy
• Staying Financially Secure
• Aging Changes

We have changed, but our house has not changed to fit our changes.

What Has Changed? 

Walking, going up and down stairs, getting in and out of bathtubs and showers, getting up from beds, chairs and toilets, reaching and retrieving items. All of these simple activities were safe and easy when we were younger. Now we have to make changes in our home and how we approach these movements

We talked about what it means to be mobility challenged and how this condition adds more risks, in addition to what we discussed above. 

Finally we discussed hazards in each room of a typical house and we talked about potential hazards for older people, outside of the house as well. Tyler Smith gave us excellent examples of body changes that occur in all of us as we get older. We all discussed all the changes needed in the house, including providing more light than was ever needed before. We need more light when ordering food in a restaurant and we need more light in our halls and on the path to the bathroom at night.

We talked about the natural tendency to put this off until we “need” it. We asked for members of the audience to commit to one change they are going to make at home and in their lives to prevent getting hurt - so we can all live as independently as possible for as long as possible.