Falls are the leading cause of injuries among older adults, sending more than two million people to the emergency department each year. Falls often result in brain injuries, hip fractures, immobility, and even early death. Many fall hazards are right in our own homes, and a few inexpensive changes could lower your fall-risk.
Install handrails
along indoor and outdoor staircases, hallways, and anywhere you feel you need a little extra support.
Use nonslip mats and treads
to help improve traction on bathroom floors, shower, bathtub, outside decks, and outside steps.
Improve lighting
Make sure you have adequate lighting in hallways, stairways, and outdoor walk-ways, and areas in which you're likely to walk in the middle of the night.
Install grab bars
near showers, bathtubs, and toilets. Avoid grab bars that "stick on" to shower tiles with suction, which are less reliable than metal grab bars attached to wall studs.
Repair steps and flooring
Repair crumbling outdoor steps, loose wall-to-wall carpeting and uneven floorboards. Call a handyman to repair stairs or floorboards, or a carpet story to come tighten wall-to-wall carpet.
Inexpensive Fixes
- Remove all floor clutter
- Rearrange furniture so that it works well with the flow of traffic.
- Use double-sided tape to secure the edges of area rugs to the floor.
- Remove small throw rugs.
Town & Country Insurance offers this information to help you make decisions that may help you mitigate your risk. Of course, we can't address every possible risk or guarantee these tips will work for you. However, we hope that you will consider which of these may help you in your efforts to protect your family and yourself.
