PROPERTY & INTERIORS NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Mike Lord, Chairman and CEO of Stiltz Homeliſts, provides insightful advice on the lifestyle and home adaptations that can be made to enable older people to age in place safely.
Most of us will have to contemplate the decision to move home because declining mobility or cognitive powers are making our property unsafe at some point. Aſter all, a quarter of Britons will be over the age of 65 by 2050. Failing eyesight, balance problems, stiff joints, or a dementia diagnosis are among many issues that can render the layout, fixtures, and fittings of a house impractical.
“Only 9% of British
houses currently meet basic accessibility standards.”
Moving to a retirement apartment or care home can be an excellent choice for some. They can provide a level of domestic accessibility and rapid assistance should you have an accident or medical incident that is hard to achieve in a normal home.
But for many more people, they aren’t the best option. More than most, carers know the benefits to clients of staying in their homes. Some conditions and disabilities can get worse in new surroundings. Leaving a familiar area and support networks can damage mental health and an important sense
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of independence. Yet many healthcare professionals perhaps don’t realise just how possible it is to adapt a home to allow older residents to stay in it, perhaps years aſter others might have moved on.
Despite only 9% of British houses currently meeting basic accessibility standards, there are numerous affordable, reasonably straightforward things people can do to age in place safely, starting as early as their 40s and continuing well past their 80s. Healthcare workers should play a key role in advising and helping clients achieve this, and the following tips should help.
Muscle weakness, balance problems, poor vision, and conditions such as low blood pressure and heart disease causing dizziness contributed to more than 340,000 people aged over 65 attending A&E with a fall-related injury in 2023. However, care workers, along with trusted builders and specialist solution providers, can recommend many home and lifestyle modifications that make falling and other kinds of accidents less likely.
Creating more space in a home can allow people to negotiate around tables, chairs, pets and between rooms much more easily. Widening hallways, where possible, is an excellent modification to make to a home, as it helps wheelchairs and people using sticks and other aids to move more freely. Erecting internal plasterboard partitions or concertina folding panel walls creates flexible layouts in homes that can be quickly modified. The walls can be opened up to create more space or kept smaller – whichever suits the lifestyle and needs as someone ages. Even
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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