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Elder CareTips:
Mastering The Eldercare Maze™
October 15, 2004
Care Tip:
Senior Bathroom Safety
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More accidents happen in
the bathroom than in any room of the house. There are so
many things to slip on, trip over, or fall into, and so
many hard things to crack a bone on. If you've installed
the grab bars and hand-held shower and set up a bath
bench or stool you've made a good start. Getting rid of
all glass containers is obvious. Liquid soap in a wall
dispenser is is safer than a bar of soap that can be
dropped (more hygienic, too).
But accidents can happen despite all these precautions.
If your elder were to have an accident in the bathroom,
could you get in? Easily? Do you know how to open the
door from the outside? If your older bathroom door has a
key lock, be sure you have an extra key that you can
reach easily. Tape it to the wall above the door, where
it isn't easily visible but it's handy. If you have a
newer lock with the little hole on the outside, try
using an opened clothes hanger - stick the wire into the
hole while you turn the knob. Practice this before you
need to.
You can reverse the doorknobs, so the lock is on the
outside and no one can lock the door from the inside. If
you're really handy, you can reverse the door, so that
it opens out instead of in.
Best to go take a look
now...You really don't want to have to start messing
with hinges or beating down doors if someone inside the
bathroom is in trouble.
Poking around on the
Internet the other day I came across this nifty
puzzle-making site. When it comes to our brains, just
like the rest of
our bodies, exercise is a necessary thing. If your elder
could use a little mental stimulation, here's something
you can whip out without having to shop or leave home.
If you have a child who needs ideas for holiday gifts,
this would make a terrific book the child could make for
the elder - or for anyone for that matter - complete
with clip art decorations.
The site would like to sell you a CD, but the free
puzzles are great. There's a good selection, and you can
make them as hard or as easy as you want.
I got totally lost playing with the mazes and had to
force myself to stop. The word-searches are pretty good,
too. Take a look at
Puzzlemaker.
Fred and his family were
having dinner at his Grandmother's house. Everyone was
seated around the table as the food was being served.
When Fred received his plate he started eating right
away.
"Fred, wait until we say our prayer."
"I don't have to," the boy replied.
"Of course you do," his mother insisted. "We always say
a prayer before eating at our house."
"But that's at our house," Fred explained. "This is
Grandma's house, and she knows how to cook."
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