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Inside the home, the bathroom is the most dangerous for the likelihood of accidents. The bathroom is one of the most hazardous places in the home; as a matter of fact the majority of broken hips are the result of slipping in the bathtub. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that there are more than 300,000 bathroom accidents each year and that 2.5 million adults over the age of 65 need special assistance in bathing. It is important elderly living at home know how dangerous the bathroom can be, and to take proper safety precautions. January is National Bathroom Safety Awareness Month, a great time for seniors aging in place to make improvements in his/ her home that can greatly reduce their risk of accidental falls in the bathroom. One of most important and easiest modifications, simply adding grab bars to make getting in and out of the tub or the shower more secure. A specially-designed grab bar can also make it easier to get on and off the toilet. A raised toilet seat or a commode with a self-powered lifting mechanism (can be used over a regular toilet) can be a great help for people who have trouble bending as well as getting up. Other smart bathroom products designed for the shower or tub are water-safe chairs and benches. A transfer bench that goes over and inside the tub makes it possible to sit on one edge and swivel legs into the tub for bathing. A great advantage to many of these bathroom safety products, they can often fold up and be moved to the side when other family members need to use the facilities. Other smaller things can be done to prevent bathroom injury – add motion and/or nightlights in the hallway to bathroom, skid tape in the shower, and use a long handled wash brush for bathing so that one doesn’t need to bend over, increasing their risk of falls. Even small measures and awareness of fall prevention can drastically reduce a person’s chance of being one of the following statistics.
• About one third of the elder population over the age of 65 falls each year, and the risk of falls increases proportionately with age. At 80 years, over half of seniors fall annually.
• Falls are the leading cause of death due to injury among the elderly 87% of all fractures in the elderly are due to falls.
• Falls account for 25% of all hospital admissions, and 40% of all nursing home admissions 40% of those admitted do not return to independent living; 25% die within a year.
• 55% of all falls take place inside the home.
• There are nearly 200,000 bathroom accidents per year. That’s 70 percent of all home accidents, according to research from home care products company Aurora in North Ridgeville, Ohio.
The bath is slippery when wet, and without proper safety, a fall can happen in an instant. Safety should come first. There are precautionary measures that one can take in the bathroom. Excellent Care home health agency can provide Occupational Therapy in the home to work with the client and his or her caregivers to scan the home environment for hazards and evaluate the individual for limitations that contribute to falls and facilitate proper home safety measures. In addition, Physical Therapy can help with balance and strength training to help with fall prevention to those who qualify for Home Health services. Contact Excellent Care to let us help you design a safer environment and provided professional and trained support during those times falls are most likely to occur. Please call 561-290-1143 today. We are here to help in any way that we can.
