Do you have a member in your family that requires special needs? Perhaps a senior citizen who needs assistance when moving around the house or a family member who is physically impaired? Physical limitations can keep a person and his or her loved ones from living normally and safely inside their own home, but the good news is that things can be added to make your home a safer place.
Certain parts of the house are prone to accidents, such as the stairs and the bathroom. For houses with stairs, parents with babies and toddlers normally place stair gates to prevent access to this accident-prone area. Persons with physical disabilities or the elderly often have their rooms on the first floor so they don’t have to use the stairs.
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The stairs aren’t only the part of the house that is prone to accidents; bathrooms have also been a notorious area for falls and slips. According to a report released by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 234,094 nonfatal injuries happens in the bathroom to people 15 years or older. The CDC also says that the rate of injury increases as the person gets older.The bathroom is definitely a place that is going to be frequently accessed every day until the person is unable to stand or move around. While the function of the bathroom is mundane, you want to keep all bathroom activities as private as possible, even with physical disabilities. Hence, keeping the bathroom accessible and safe for everyone is essential.
Floor Coatings
There are certainly a lot of things that you can add to your bathroom to make it safer, but one of the first things that you should get for your bathroom is slip-proof flooring or floor tiles. A wide variety of floor coatings are available to make your bathroom floor slip-proof. If this floor treatment is a bit expensive for you, then you may consider getting non-slip floor mats instead. Make sure to attach them well to the floor so that they don’t move even when the floor is wet. Most mats are made from rubber.
Hand Rails
There are different types of hand rails that you can attach to your bathroom. First, you may want to install a hand rail right beside the toilet to allow a person using a wheelchair to easily lift himself up from the chair to the toilet seat. Next, you may also put a vertical grip bar along the shower to help a person stand while he or she is taking a shower.
Walk-In Tubs
Want your physically-disabled loved one to still enjoy the comfort of a bathtub? There are new walk-in tubs that allow the person to enter the tub through a door. The door can then seal shut so the water won’t leak and the tub can be filled. These tubs usually have built-in chairs. Once the person is done taking a bath, he or she may just go ahead and drain the water inside before opening the door again to get out of the tub.
Aside from the ones listed here, other precautionary measures may include an “occupied” sign so the users won’t have to lock the door and anyone can enter in case of an emergency. You may also install a type of doorbell or alarm inside the bathroom so the person may just pull a string or push a button to call for help.
