Home safety, room by room: a walk-through you can do this weekend

How to use this

Walk each room with the person, if they are willing, and ask them to show you how they do things: get out of bed, get into the tub, reach the cereal. You will see the hazards they have stopped noticing. Fix what you can that day and write the rest down. A clipboard makes it feel like a project rather than a criticism.

Entrances and outside

• A sturdy railing on every set of outdoor steps, and steps that are even and not crumbling.
• A light at the door that turns on by itself at dusk or by motion.
• A bench or shelf by the door to set bags down instead of juggling keys.
• Ice: salt and a shovel where they can reach them, or a neighbor who clears the walk. This is Western New York.
• A ramp or a second railing if steps are getting hard. Ask about county and veterans programs that help pay.

Floors and hallways

• Take up throw rugs or tape them flat with double-sided tape. This is the single most common fix.
• Clear the path from bed to bathroom and from the chair to the kitchen: cords, magazines, the footstool.
• Fix loose carpet edges and lifted thresholds.
• Night lights along the route to the bathroom. Motion-sensor ones are cheap.
• A phone that is where they sit, plus a cordless or cell phone that goes with them, so nobody runs for a ring.

Stairs

• Railings on both sides, the full length, tight in the wall.
• A light switch at the top and the bottom. Add a plug-in light if there is not one.
• Nothing stored on the steps, ever.
• Contrasting tape on the edge of the top and bottom step if vision is poor.
• If stairs are the problem, a first-floor bedroom beats a stair lift for most families, and a stair lift beats a fall.

Bathroom

• Grab bars inside the tub or shower and next to the toilet, screwed into studs. Suction cups are not grab bars.
• A non-slip mat or strips in the tub, and a rubber-backed mat on the floor.
• A shower chair and a handheld shower head if standing is tiring.
• A raised toilet seat or a frame if getting up is hard.
• The water heater set no higher than 120 degrees to prevent scalds.
• The door unlocked or lockable from the outside, so help can get in.

Bedroom

• A lamp within reach of the bed, and a night light.
• A clear path around the bed. A bed rail or a firm chair beside it if standing up is unsteady.
• A bed height where feet reach the floor when sitting on the edge.
• Slippers with backs and rubber soles. Socks on a wood floor cause falls.
• The phone or alert button on the nightstand.

Kitchen

• Everyday things at waist to shoulder height. Nobody climbs for the good pan.
• A step stool with a handle if one is needed at all, and never a chair.
• Spills wiped right away; a mat by the sink that does not slide.
• For dementia: stove knob covers or an automatic shut-off, and a check that the smoke alarm works.
• Good light over the stove and the counter.

Living room

• A firm chair with arms that they can stand up from without rocking.
• The television remote, glasses, and phone within reach of that chair.
• Cords along the wall, not across the path.
• Bright, even light; a second lamp if the room is dim in winter.

The whole house

• Working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, tested today.
• A list of numbers by every phone: family, doctor, pharmacy, 911.
• A medical alert pendant or watch if they are alone for stretches, and practice pushing it.
• A key with a trusted neighbor and a lockbox at the door for emergency crews.
• Medicines in one place, in the light, with the current list beside them.

When to bring in a professional

An occupational therapist can walk the house, watch the person move through it, and write the list with the right heights and products. Ask the doctor to order it; Medicare often covers it as part of home health after a hospital stay, and some county Offices for the Aging can help with the cost of changes. Bigger jobs, like a walk-in shower or a ramp, are where Medicaid waiver programs and veterans benefits sometimes help. Our paying-for-care-at-home article has the doors to knock on.