How to Adapt Your Home For an Elderly Relative

By Editor1SYS | October 7, 2021 0 Comments

It is very common for people to reach a stage in their lives where it is no longer practical to live at home. Having an elderly relative move into your home can be a big change for both you, your family, and your relative. Preparing for the move and adapting your home can help you to ease the transitional period and make sure that your home is a safe, comfortable, and welcoming environment for your elderly relative.

Think About Their Needs

When it comes to adapting your home for an elderly relative, it is useful to begin by considering their individual needs. Next, you should consider their current lifestyle and preferences. Your aim when adapting your home is to make it as functional and practical for your older relative as possible. So you will need to think about their current mobility and what practical living arrangements they are struggling with. You should also consider their lifestyle, so you are able to adapt your home to facilitate their lifestyle preferences.

During this step, it is often useful to talk to your relative and their doctor or carer to get a clearer idea of what they can do day-to-day. In addition, finding out more about how your relative’s condition is expected to progress in the future will help you ensure your home adaptations will continue to be useful long term.

Assess Your Home

Once you have a clearer understanding of your relative’s current level of health and mobility, you can then turn your attention to your home. First, you should take a look at your home and try to identify how you can adapt it to make it safer and more comfortable for your relative.

If you have problems with this step, you can contact your local council and ask for a home assessment. This will involve an expert visiting your home to provide support and recommendations for adaptations.

Purchasing the Right Equipment

The most expensive step of the home adaptation process has to be the purchasing of supplies. Depending on the level of adaptation needed, the type of supplies you purchase can range from mobility tools to specialized bedding. When you are purchasing supplies to help you to adapt your home, it is useful to search for care home equipment supplies, as this will ensure you are able to get the highest quality supplies at a reasonable price tag.

Reassess in the Future

Adapting your home before an elderly relative moves in can take a lot of time and it is easy to assume that once this step is done, you won’t have to think about it anymore. Unfortunately, this is actually not the case. To ensure your elderly relative remains safe and supported in your home, you will need to regularly reassess the level of support you are providing. In addition, you should regularly re-evaluate their needs to find out if you need to start offering an additional level of support to ensure your relative is as happy and healthy in your home as possible.