Reasons Why should Living Spaces be Senior-Friendly?

Senior members in every family need a comfortable and stress-life for their healthy existence. So it is important to create a safe and senior-friendly environment so that they can feel more confident and be largely independent in carrying out their daily-living chores in their homes.

Old age ushers a plethora of physical, emotional, lifestyle and cognitive changes which impact the movement and overall living of the elderly. Performing simple things as reading sign-boards or getting through a narrow aisle can be tedious. Many seniors also have chronic conditions like Arthritis, Osteoporosis and Parkinson’s disease which hinders their free movement. Falling poses life-threatening impairments and injuries to the fragile body and bones of elders. So safety and security features must be in focus while making adequate measures for fall prevention and fall protection.

The special needs of elderly persons who have physical impairments must be definitely taken into consideration in the house. Another factor that must be considered is the personal preferences and habits that the elders have. Additionally, seniors find it difficult to adapt to sudden changes in their routines or surroundings as it disturbs their emotional state.

Taking all these factors into consideration, all living spaces must be designed with a senior-friendly approach. Elderly Care options like Senior Independent Living Homes, Assisted Living Facilities or Senior Living Communities pay sufficient attention to this aspect to ensure a comfortable and enjoyable stay for their residents.

Senior Friendly Design Ideas

While designing a room for the elderly, the fundamental approach is to make it user-friendly, safe and accessible for them and their caretakers irrespective of the height and physical disabilities. The following ideas may be incorporated to achieve this:

Ease of Use - All furnishings and fixtures must be designed such that they may be easily used by adults with body limitations. Putting lever-style hardware, lever-enabled faucets and rocker switches with illumination are examples for this.

Safe Flooring - Slippery floors and surfaces are most likely to cause trips and falls thereby resulting in injuries and fractures. So living spaces must have anti-skid floors everywhere. Slip-resistant mats and carpets must be used particularly in the wet areas like bathrooms, near the wash basins and unsheltered balconies and porticos exposed to rain and fog. Low-pile carpeting is beneficial for seniors who use walkers as it prevents catches and falls.

Ambient Lighting - All portions of the living spaces including staircases, rooms, halls, doorways and entrances must be adequately lit with bright lights to avoid hits, falls and accidents. This avoids stressful situations and physical harm. All light switches must be easily accessible. Installation of switches with motion sensors is useful for seniors who have difficulties in vision and reachability.

Adequate Space and Accessibility - The living spaces must be spacious enough to accommodate the special needs of seniors like wheelchairs and walkers. Furniture must be neatly arranged to avoid obstacles so that they can move around easily with their mobility aids.

Grab Bars - Bathrooms happen to be one of the areas where elders are most likely to have falls and injuries. So senior friendly bathroom designs must incorporate strategically placed grab bars in bathrooms and adjacent long corridors for enhanced support and security. Application of slip resistant coatings to toilet floors can prevent skidding. Step-in showers help seniors to move safely on wet floors without risk of slipping rather than tubs. Faucet controls with single handles, hand-held shower heads with pressure-balanced controls and levers are useful for those with mobility constraints as they are simpler to handle and prevent scalding.

In summary, the senior-friendly living spaces must ensure familiarity, safety, security, comfort, accessibility, simplicity of usage, emotional sensitivity, visual appeal and effectiveness that makes life pleasant for the elders without burdening them.