Home
Safety for Older Adults
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Home safety is a health issue that people tend
to forget about. Yet accidents at home rank among
the leading causes of injury and death in the
United States. Even those who survive a home
accident often find their lives changed dramatically,
sometimes losing their independence. One hip
fracture, for instance, may be all that stands
between you and a nursing home. Fortunately,
it is possible to prevent most home injuries
by understanding how they happen and taking steps
to avoid them. This report will show you how.
Prepared by the editors of Harvard Health Publications
in consultation with Heikki Nikkanen, M.D., Instructor,
Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School,
and Attending Physician, Department of Emergency
Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
48 pages. (updated: 2005)
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Table of Contents:
- Aging and accidents
- Physical changes
with age
- Top five ways
to stay safe at home
- How to protect
yourself
- Room-by-room safety
inventory
- Prevent falls
- Address physiological
factors
- Improve balance
and strength
- Tackle home
hazards
- Prevent poisoning
and medication errors
- Medication overdoses
and interactions
- Carbon monoxide
poisoning
- Food poisoning
- Chemical poisoning
- Prevent fires and
burns
- Physiological
factors
- Protect yourself
from fires and burns
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- Prevent other common
injuries
- Choking and
suffocation
- Firearm injuries
- Blunt traumas
and lacerations
- Overexertion
- Protect against
intruders
- General advice
- Apartment dwellers
- Home owners
and renters
- Natural disasters
and terrorist attacks
- Step 1: Collect
disaster supplies
- Step 2: Create
a portable supply kit
- Step 3: Develop
and practice an emergency plan
- Glossary
- Resources
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Here's
an Excerpt from this Special Health Report
What are you doing to stay healthy? Chances
are you’re already keeping an eye on your
weight and blood pressure, trying to eat right,
and working to stay fit. But have you taken a
look at what’s inside your medicine cabinet
lately? Have you tested your smoke alarm to see
if it still works? Have you had your vision or
balance tested recently? Taking steps to make
your home safe can be just as important to your
chance of living a long and healthy life as watching
your cholesterol levels.
Accidents at home tend to occur because of
a combination of intrinsic factors—physiological
qualities such as poor eyesight or insufficient
blood pressure—and extrinsic factors such
as poor lighting in a stairway or an inadequately
grounded electrical circuit. Intrinsic factors
often develop as people get older, but may come
on so gradually that you don’t notice them
until you have an accident. You can modify some
intrinsic factors (getting an updated eyeglass
prescription, for example), and you can learn
to compensate for those that can’t be changed.
Most extrinsic factors involved in home accidents
are structural and can be fixed, provided you
are alert to potential dangers.
This report will show you how to implement
a comprehensive home safety plan that pays attention
to both the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that
may be putting you at risk for an accidental
injury. You’ll learn how to address or
compensate for the typical physiological changes
that occur with age. You’ll find out about
the most common types of home accidents and how
to avoid them, or how to administer first aid
if they occur. Because details can sometimes
be overwhelming, this report also contains a
list of the top five things you can do to keep
yourself safe at home and provides a room-by-room
inventory of top safety concerns. Remember that
health, like charity, begins at home.
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