RESEARCH: Home Assessment Important to Seniors’ Safety

It’s unanimous. 100% of emergency room doctors in the United States and Canada surveyed by Home Instead, Inc., franchisor of the Home Instead Senior Care® network, say it’s important that adult children dedicate one day a year to perform a safety check of their senior loved one’s home. Yet in the last year, less than half (44% in the U.S. and 41% in Canada) of family caregivers surveyed had done so.*

The research suggests a lack of knowledge and attention to potential home safety issues that could lead to danger and the risk of accidents and falls in an older adult’s home. Each year, more than 1.6 million older U.S. adults go to emergency departments for fall-related injuries, according to the National Institutes of Health. The Public Health Agency of Canada reports that falls account for more than half of all injuries among Canadians age 65 and older.

Emergency room doctors are often on the front lines of the action when it comes to senior safety. Dr. David John, co-chair of Emergency Medicine at Johnson Memorial Medical Center in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, and a member of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), has worked in emergency medicine for more than 20 years. The effects of aging can take a toll, leaving older adults vulnerable to falls doing a variety of everyday tasks, noted John.

A senior's home also can be a safety trap, with the most common issues identified in the research as:
• Throw rugs that pose potential tripping hazards
• No grab bars (e.g. in the shower)
• Kitchen storage that is too high or low

*Home Instead, Inc., franchisor of the Home Instead Senior Care® network, completed 600 telephone interviews in the U.S. (400 in Canada) with seniors age 65 and older, and 600  telephone interviews in the U.S. (400 in Canada) with adult children who have parents age 65 or older. Home Instead, Inc., also conducted five-minute telephone interviews with 100 emergency room physicians in the U.S. and Canada, excluding Quebec.