How To Make a Home Safer for Dementia and Alzheimer Sufferers

Making a home environment safe can be vitally important to ensuring a loved one can remain in their own home as long as possible.  Knowing that you can minimize the risk of injury or incident by making simple adaptations to a home can give significant peace of mind to a caregiver.

We have listed below a few useful tips on how to ensure a home environment is made safer for someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s.

1. Remove car-keys if driving could prove dangerous.
2. Install window and door locks to prevent a dementia sufferer from wandering off.
3. Ensure all hallways are kept clutter-free to reduce risk of trips.
4. Remove any rugs that could cause trips.
5. Put nightlights in bedrooms, bathrooms and hallways to make night-time movement safer.
6. Install an outdoor light to improve outdoor visibility.
7. Remove bathroom door locks to prevent accidental locking-in.
8. Installing non-slip bath mats, grab bars, shower seats and handheld showers in bathrooms to reduce the risk of slips.
9. Put childproof-type locks on any cabinets that contain any dangerous items or chemicals to reduce risk of accidental injury.
10. Ensure a fire extinguisher is kept in the kitchen and install an automatic shut-off switch on the stove.
11. Try and ensure that your loved one carries some identification with any medical alerts at all times just in case they wander off.
12. If necessary put notes around the home to reiterate simple routines.
13. Make sure important legal and financial documents are kept in a safe and secure place.