If you want to update your elderly parent's home to ensure that it serves as a safe and comfortable living environment for them in their old age, here are some tips that you may want to keep in mind.
Lower any cabinets that are above eye level
One relatively simple way to make your parent's home safer for them to live in is to lower the height of any cabinets in their kitchen, bathroom or bedroom that are above eye level.
The reason for this is as follows; as people age, their bodies become stiffer and frailer.
Their stiffness can make it painful for them to stretch their arms upwards to pick up items from a tall cabinet. Similarly, their physical frailty may increase the risk of them sustaining a potentially life-changing injury if they attempt to use a stepladder to climb up to a tall cabinet and subsequently fall off that ladder.
The simplest solution to this problem is to lower the cabinets to a height where your parent can access their contents easily, without having to overstretch their limbs or use a stepladder.
Install an awning
If your parent lives in an area which has year-round sunny weather or very hot summers, then it is worth setting up an awning in their garden.
The reason for this is as follows; elderly people have a much higher risk of experiencing heat stroke than younger people. This condition is serious and can be fatal if it is not treated soon after it develops.
As such, if your parent often sits outside in their garden on hot days, and there is no source of shade in their outdoor space to protect them from the heat of the sun, they could develop this illness. However, the solution to this is not, of course, to suggest to your parent that they don't spend time in their garden, as it would be both unhealthy and impractical for an elderly person to remain confined to their home during bouts of warm weather just to avoid developing heat stroke.
Instead, if your elderly parent derives a lot of happiness from sitting out in their garden on sunny days, and you don't want them to miss out on this daily pleasure out of concerns about heat stroke, you should hang up an awning in this area of their property. Awnings are made from special types of fabric that prevent almost any sunlight or heat from penetrating them.
As such, the area directly underneath a thick, heat-resistant awning will remain relatively cool, even on the hottest of summer days. This will give your aging parent the freedom to enjoy sitting outdoors, without putting their health at risk.
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