Falls in the Home
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Excerpts from Preventing the Fall: Designs on Building Safe Homes for the Elderly | |
by Gina Rollins
Solutions ... can be as simple as repainting walls to create more contrast with floor surfaces or as complex as adding first-floor additions for those who can no longer negotiate stairways.
There are no hard-and-fast guides. The structure of a person's home, their disability, physical traits and even the way they use a space all determine the most workable solution, according to Bill Lusby, owner of Adaptive Access, a remodeling company located in Katy, TX.
Universal design concepts, which seek to make products and environments usable by as many people as possible, can be difficult to retrofit in older homes.
Be careful not to over-simplify or make inappropriate modifications. A common error, for example, is installing grab-bars without proper structural support.
Fall Prevention Home Modifications
General Areas
Stairways
Bathroom
(The full article originally appeared in the September 2000 issue of Safety & Health magazine.)
November 15, 2001
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"(The issue is) multi-factorial and often involves balance problems, medications, osteoarthritis and the environment. Falls on stairs and in bathrooms are the most common, but people fall in different ways and places. We used to oversimplify and say that if you fixed one element, you fixed falls, but it's multi-dimensional."
- Jon Pynoos, Ph.D. "The elderly need two-to-three times the light people need in their 20s and 30s, and they also lose spatial perception, so if you have a blue baseboard against a blue chair, it makes the wall appear further away than it is." - Mark Warner, architect, gerontologist "We don't like to see slick surfaces like glossy tile or hardwood floors with high-gloss polyurethane coating. Even shag carpeting can be a hindrance to those with assistive devices like walkers." - Dale Ritzel, Ph.D. "The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act standards) says grab-bars should be parallel to the floor and 32 inches from the floor, and many use that as a standard [in residences], but it makes little sense. Does that equally serve a woman who is 4-foot-11, or a man who is 6-foot-2, or a person who is paralyzed on the left side because of a stroke?" - Bill Lusby |