A safe home for an older person
When you age, you may feel that coping with everyday life in your own home becomes difficult, and the environment around it no longer feels safe, either. The most common accidents at home are falls. You can get support and assistive devices that help you live and move around safely. Ask the service advisers for older people or the home care staff in your wellbeing services county about them.
Your eyesight changes with age so that you need more light than before to see properly. The basic lighting of older housing units is often not bright enough for older people. Brighter lighting produced by general and spot lighting fixtures make your home safer and more comfortable: in a well-lit home you can see objects before you and on the floor and can avoid tripping over them. Also remember good lighting outside the front door and in the yard.
At night, separate night lighting makes trips to the bathroom safer. For example, shops sell small night lights that can be installed into a socket in the bedroom. They make it easier to move about at night but are not too bright to prevent you from falling asleep again.
Remove thresholds. The threshold of the door leading to the bedroom, for instance, often is not needed. If you need a walking frame to get around, the thresholds should be removed at all doors, and you should check that there is enough space around corners and in hallways. It may be necessary to widen doorways. Slippery rugs and cables on the floor increase the risk of tripping, so they should be removed.
Replacing a bath tub with a shower that you do not have to climb into would be a good idea. You can attach grab bars to the shower room walls and beside the toilet seat. An accessory can be installed on the toilet seat that makes it higher and easier to get up from. Alternatively the entire toilet seat can be replaced with a higher model. This will make it easier to sit down and get up from the toilet. Various accessories are available for the electric cooker in the kitchen, including timers and off switches.
Many types of devices are available to help you. For example, a sharp knife with an upright handle is easier to use for people with weaker muscles. Levers can be installed on taps, locks and adjusting knobs. You can use grabbers to lift small objects off the floor or to reach up to a shelf.
If you live in a block of flats with no elevator, consider moving when you can still get around without too much difficulty.
The most common communication device is an alarm that you wear on your wrist or around your neck. By pressing a button on the device on your wrist, you can contact care personnel when needed. You can also use your mobile phone for this purpose if you keep it always on you, either in your pocket or in a pouch around your neck, for example.
Many types of technology are available to support older people. You can ask the public health and social services centre, home care staff or service advisers for older people about them.
The municipality may give support for repairs in an older person's home if they improve the safety of the home and enable the person to keep on living in it. You may get support if you are aged over 65 and you do not have enough money for the repair costs. If the alterations are absolutely essential, the support may in some cases even cover the full cost.
The Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (ARA) also grants subsidies for the renovation of homes. Grants have income and wealth limits. Grants can be used to improve the safety and accessibility of the home and to generally improve the preconditions for living in a home that is in a poor condition.
You can get information about support for repairs from the wellbeing services county's service advisers and the regional repair advisers of the Finnish Association for the Welfare of Older People. A housing company may provide support for installing an elevator and removing obstacles to moving about.
If you find it difficult or frightning to go out, do not give in. Talk to home care staff in your wellbeing services county or a service adviser for older people about it. Together you can find a solution. Various organisations have volunteers who can accompany you when you go out. Associations or clubs for older people may operate in your home municipality that organise informal activities, trips and meetings.
You can get non-slip shoes or anti-slip devices for your shoes and walking poles that make it easier to avoid falling when the roads are slippery. Also a walking frame is a good support for all types of mobility.
If you live in a block of flats with no elevator, consider moving when you can still get around without too much difficulty.
There are also housing solutions for older people that provide many different services. Housing units for older people may be either rented or owned. Flats are also offered by private housing service providers.