How Assisted Living Can Help Prevent Trips to The ER
An Assisted Living Community has many benefits but fewer trips to the ER may not be one you’ve thought about before.
If your senior is still living in their own home, please read our blog about the home safety checklist to ensure the home is safe.
You may wonder how assisted living communities help prevent trips to the ER.
Well, let’s look at the bathroom in the seniors home versus the bathroom in an assisted living community.
While there are no 100% ways to guarantee accidents won’t happen assisted living communities are much better equipped to prevent recurring accidents. Let’s have a look at some of the ways they help prevent trips to the ER.
- Is the bathroom in the home equipped with grab bars in and out of the shower?
- Are there grab bars installed near the toilet?
- Are there throw rugs in the bathroom?
- Is the floor in the bathroom tile and does it get slippery?
Bathrooms in assisted living communities are handicapped accessorized . Meaning they have grab bars installed in the shower and outside of the shower. There is a grab bar by the toilet so they can raise themselves up easier, a lot of the bathrooms have pull strings as well.
Most of the floors have the non-slip tile or the rubber mats that are trip-proof.
In the home, are there handrails down the hallway and/or up the stairs? How about stairs to get up into the home? Are there three or four steps the senior has to climb to get into the front or back door? Are the handrails sturdy?
In an assisted living community, there are handrails in all of the hallways.
The communities don’t have stairs because seniors don’t need the aggravation or worry about having to climb them.
However, some do have inclines where a step or two might have been at one time. Assisted livings install ramps where the steps were so the wheelchairs, walkers, and any other equipment glide easier. Also, many seniors tend to not pick up their feet, so the ramp is easier for them to maneuver.
Does the senior have access to regular exercise in their home? If so, do they actually do it?
In an assisted living community, they have exercise programs to help the senior build strength in not only their muscles, but their minds as well.
Check out our blog on senior friendly activities for some things you can do with your seniors to help sharpen them.
Most seniors won’t go to the doctor if they think they have a cold, which can then turn into pneumonia.
In an assisted living community, they have access to regular doctor check-ups and if something is wrong, they receive the medical attention they require.
Does the senior eat healthy living at home?
Probably not, but at an assisted living community, they get the proper nutrition their body needs, and they get it three times a day! Yes! They receive breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all prepared by a community chef.
This is sounding pretty good right?
When a senior lives alone, they are just that, alone. What happens if they need to change a light bulb? Perhaps they need to step on a stool to reach it, and oops, they slip and fall.
Hopefully, someone checks on them regularly and will find them quickly, but what if that’s not the case? They could lay there for a long time before anyone realizes it and who knows what could happen.
In an assisted living community, they only need to tell the staff the light bulb is out and the staff has someone change the bulb for them.
No worries!!
If you are worried about placing your senior into an assisted living community, I hope this blog gives you some peace of mind.
Not only will they thrive and make new friends, but they will also have fewer trips to the ER, and have around the clock care.
That’s not slighting your loved one, that’s LOVING them!!!
