Effective Ways To Make Your Home Dementia-Friendly

In the beginning stages of the disease known as dementia, a person will start to display the inability to remember little things. As the disease progresses, an individual will get increasingly confused and agitated due to their inability to recall certain memories and information. When an older person gets dementia, it is usually the job of their friends and family members to provide them with a safe environment to live in.

Over 55 million people around the world suffer from dementia. If you are taking in a friend or family member with dementia and letting them live with you, making your home safe for them should be a top priority. If you want to make your home dementia-friendly, you need to consider the following tips.

Safe Flooring is a Must

When bringing an older person with dementia into your home, you need to perform a thorough inspection beforehand. One of the main things you need to work on removing from your home is potential trip hazards. If you have a number of mats and rugs spread throughout your home, you might want to remove them. Dementia patients will forget about certain elements in the home they live in.

This can include the location of mats and rugs. If an older person slips and falls on a mat or rug, it can do lots of damage to their body. Rather than waiting until these slip and fall accidents take place, you have to work on preventing them. Removing rugs and mats from your home is a step in the right direction when trying to eliminate fall hazards from your home.

Work On Making Eating and Drinking Easier

Ideally, you want your loved one with dementia to retain as much independence as possible for as long as they can. As dementia progresses, their ability to identify certain colors and contrasts becomes compromised. If you want to make eating and drinking easier for a dementia patient, then you need to use cups and tablecloths with colors that contrast the foods and drinks a dementia patient consumes.

You also need to think about investing in clear containers to store food in. Doing this can make it much easier for a dementia patient to identify items.

Keep Clutter To a Minimum

Another important thing you have to do to keep the dementia patient living in your home safe is reduce clutter. A home with too much clutter can leave a person with dementia feeling distracted and confused. This is why you need to work on keeping things as simple and clutter-free as possible.

You also need to eliminate distractions like televisions and radios when they aren’t being used. Leaving these items on can lead to a dementia patient getting confused with something they hear or see. You can make your life and theirs much easier by turning these devices off.