Caregiving Challenges, How Seniors Live Alone Safely

Your loved one lives alone and you have concerns about their safety. You worry about how they manage and wonder how best to help.

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Living Alone Safely

Helpful Highlights

Many older adults want to stay in their homes and age in place. But you may have concerns about their safety or ability to maintain daily activities.

Remaining home, especially alone, takes planning. Accepting a few lifestyle changes and home modifications could create a safer home environment and help your loved one continue to live there independently. Focus areas are bathroom safety, nighttime safety, preventing falls, good nutrition, socialization, and immediate communication of issues.

Safety

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Preventing Falls

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Nutrition

Many older adults who live alone will stop cooking, which can result in poor nutrition. Heating canned foods and frozen dinners is easy, but they are high in sugar or salt and low in nutrients essential for the older adult. Likewise with fast foods. You can do the following to help your loved one stay healthy:

Additional options include:

Beware of prepackaged foods and deli foods, as they also tend to be high in salt or sugar. Focus on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and high fiber, though do encourage your loved one to treat themselves once in a while, as well!

Unless they are on a fluid restriction, encourage them to drink lots of water or other clear liquids to stay hydrated. Hydration in the aging adult is just as important as nutrition.

Socialization

Continuing socialization with family and friends is good for mental health. If your loved one no longer drives, has difficulty ambulating, or has other health issues, these tips may help.

Ability to communicate issues immediately

The communication technology available today is exceptional and the more you can employ with your loved one without frightening or confusing them, the better. Smart devices, smart wearables (like trackers and watches), personal emergency response systems (PERS), active home monitoring systems (voice, video), passive home monitoring systems (without voice, video), and remote patient monitoring (RPM) help you stay plugged in and help your loved one reach out quickly.

No content in this app, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

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