Episode Summary:
Join Melissa Therrien, RN and new team member Shanna Hakala for Episode 11 of the Caring Conversations Podcast, where they dive deep into everyday environmental risks that put seniors at risk — and how simple fixes can make all the difference. In this full episode you’ll learn: The biggest trip-and-fall hazards (rugs, thresholds, pets, furniture) and easy swaps like non-slip mats, shower chairs, glow-in-the-dark tape, and motion-sensor lights Low-cost strategies for cleaner, safer air during fire season and dry winters: close windows, run air purifiers, humidifiers, and maintain furnace humidifiers How to handle chemicals and cleaning products safely: keep original labels, consolidate cleaners, and use wipe-and-go solutions Fire and burn prevention tips: carbon-monoxide & smoke alarms, induction cooktops, heating-pad precautions, and safe temperature regulation Smart-home hacks to boost safety and independence: smart plugs, blackout curtains, connected alarms, cameras, and remote-controlled thermostats Whether you’re a caregiver, family member, or an older adult wanting to age in place, this episode is packed with practical ideas to help your loved ones stay safe, comfortable, and independent. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell so you never miss an episode!
Transcript:
Melissa Therrien, RN (00:05)
Hello and welcome back to Caring Conversations. This is episode 11. It’s very, very exciting that we’re trucking our way through all of these episodes and sharing some education with everyone about home care and seniors care. And we have a new guest today. Shanna Hakala is our new guest. Shanna is a new member of our team and I’m so excited to have her join us today. So thanks for joining Shanna.
Shanna Hakala (00:33)
Thank you for having me. I’m really excited to be here.
Melissa Therrien, RN (00:36)
Excellent. So Shanna, tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience in senior’s care.
Shanna Hakala (00:42)
Absolutely. So I’ve been in senior care for the last 15 years or so in various roles. And it’s always been a passion of mine and I’ve loved it. And I’m just super excited to be a part of the Ohana team.
Melissa Therrien, RN (00:55)
Yay, we’re excited to have you for sure. So today we’re talking environmental risks. So slips, trips and falls. I knew I was gonna stumble over that, slips, trips and falls and how to prevent them both from a senior’s perspective and from family doing an environmental survey to, you know, try and avoid those falls that unfortunately happen usually more frequently than we’re even aware of. So yeah, let’s hop right into it.
Shanna, can you just highlight for me your experience with environmental risks and why is this so important to talk about?
Shanna Hakala (01:30)
Yeah, absolutely. I think it’s an awareness approach, right? We look at people who are living in their homes and educating the people
being mindful of looking for hazards.
Melissa Therrien, RN (01:44)
So let’s talk about, you know, with our experience, what some of the most common obstacles are or common trip and fall hazards. I think we’ve all had those times where we have a client that has fallen. Typically,
out of bed or in trying to get out of bed. But there’s lots and lots of other situations where clients have fallen. In your opinion, like what has been your most common?
Shanna Hakala (02:09)
I would say rugs, so loose rugs, lips on stairs or even doorways, showers, things like that. Those can be tripping hazards for sure.
Melissa Therrien, RN (02:10)
Yes.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s ever too early to get a shower chair. Honestly, like if you’re concerned about safety and you know, your loved one is showering alone. I really don’t think a shower chair is a bad idea. And like one of those non-slip rugs in the shower or the tub never hurts. Even for adults, I truly think it never hurts, right? Nobody wants to slip and fall in the shower and it’s a real possibility. Going back to rugs, totally agree. I think
Shanna Hakala (02:36)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Therrien, RN (02:48)
beautiful rugs on the floor, carpet rugs, slippery floor rugs, like hard floor and rugs. Definitely rugs are a huge hazard. It’s so unfortunate that, you know, like as we age, those kind of beautiful decor items kind of have to be tucked away because they are presenting such a huge hazard, huge hazard. Whether it be like,
you know, mom or dad are mobilizing without a mobility aid. You know, it’s catching the toe on something or lifted rug or the edge of a rug, or it’s once they have those mobility aids and catching that mobility aid on the edge of that rug. Same with like coffee tables or like beautiful vases on the floor. Animals, my goodness, the animals. I think we kind of overlook animals, but.
Those can be a huge trip hazard too, like little skittering dog. We love our animals, but definitely a source for a trip hazard. Yeah. What other things, like if you were to talk to a family member, like what other things would you mention when, you know, they’re asking about falls and trip hazards?
Shanna Hakala (03:55)
Just be mindful of mobility issues. So if they have an unsteady gate, like looking for that. So if someone is needing a walker or a an aid, a mobility aid, maybe just to keep an eye on that.
Melissa Therrien, RN (04:11)
What about
in the bathroom? Let’s talk about the bathroom and some of the risks that can happen in the bathroom, right? I mean, I think we put down a bathroom rug because we want to keep the floor from being too slippery when it’s wet, but that rug itself can be a huge hazard. Or when we have a senior like trying to get to the bathroom at night, there’s some urgency behind it.
Shanna Hakala (04:15)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Therrien, RN (04:33)
They maybe forget to flick on the light and that rug or that threshold becomes a huge hazard, right? What’s one simple change that you can make as a suggestion to a family relating to slips, trips and falls?
Shanna Hakala (04:33)
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely. So something that I found really useful is you can buy these little magnet lights that you can stick to your stairs or the bottom of your cabinets in the bathroom. And they’re censored. So very inexpensive, a couple dollars. You stick it to the bottom of your cabinets and they come on as soon as anybody gets close to it. It really helps the visual component. So you’re not.
tripping over loose items or your own feet even.
Melissa Therrien, RN (05:14)
Yeah, I also had a great success actually in one of my previous positions with glow in the dark tape. So with dementia sometimes that depth perception changes because our ability to see different colors changes or the ability to cognitively recognize what a color change is that it’s maybe not a void in the floor, it’s just a color change or a shadow. And so
glow in the dark take along the wall, outlining the door frame, outlining like arrows even, kind of ugly, but I mean, you don’t really see them in daylight. And if they’re able to point mom or dad in the right direction towards the toilet or the bathroom to where those motion sensor lights come in, I think it’s hugely helpful. I love how available motion sensor lights are now.
you can buy like the stick on tux that like you literally can stick anywhere and it lights up a room. So I think that’s a fantastic idea. Just keep batteries around and you’re to go. Kind of really cheap option for people looking for something that’s not modifying their home or mom and dad’s home. And yeah, like super cheap as an option for sure. I also suggest to some of our clients like
a loved one, let’s say you’re concerned about a loved one’s lips tripping and falling. I also make a suggestion to walk through the house with your eyes closed and shuffling your feet. you likely have some recognition of how the house is laid out. But if you’re closing your eyes, you’re removing that one piece of sensory perception where maybe it’s dark or just mom or dad has poor vision.
So you take that away and then you start shuffling your feet. So you’ll know like, I need to reach out and grab hold of this railing to be able to get up the stairs. Ooh, this railing is a little bit loose. So something we need to put on there. Like you said, the threshold on the stairs, like, ooh, I caught my foot trying to get up the stairs. We talk about down a lot, but up is just as much a falls risk, right? And then…
the shuffling along the floor, like are you catching yourself on a threshold between carpet and hardwood floor? Or that rug that maybe is underneath the table that’s been there the last 50 years and no one has moved it, you brand new carpet underneath. Maybe it’s time for that carpet to be moved. Or maybe there’s a beautiful sitting chair in the middle of a room that you know is there, but maybe it’s got a little bit of a splayed leg, know, a Victorian kind of design look.
to it and you catch your foot on that. Personal experience, I’ve had loved ones that caught their foot on a office chair, you know, with the spinny wheels and hit their head on a desk. Like how awful is that, right? So I think removing those senses and going about that yourself is like an extreme way, but a really good way for you to understand what sort of hazards might be around the house for your loved
Any additions to that?
Shanna Hakala (08:13)
The only thing I can think of is even footwear. Myself, I wore slippery socks and fell down the stairs.
Melissa Therrien, RN (08:17)
yes.
Hmm,
very good. A great example.
Shanna Hakala (08:26)
Yeah,
I don’t wear those socks anymore. ⁓ But yeah, just making sure we have appropriate footwear in the home. ⁓
Melissa Therrien, RN (08:31)
Yeah.
Yeah,
yeah, anywhere really appropriate footwear. Yeah, and that’s readily accessible, right? Like maybe you need a pair of slippers upstairs and downstairs, right? It’s not like maybe you don’t think about wearing slippers on the carpet, but maybe that’s something that will just give you that extra traction, right? Great idea footwear. Love it. Okay.
Shanna Hakala (08:40)
Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (08:59)
So let’s move a little bit away from slips, trips and falls and talk about other environmental risks in the home. Unfortunately, we’re hot on the heels of forest fire season, right? So there’s definitely some air quality concerns to be mindful of as we move into the warmer seasons. And then, yeah, so tell me about how you have recommendations for your seniors or your teams that you’ve supported.
related to air quality.
Shanna Hakala (09:26)
Yeah, so ensuring that the air quality in the home is temperate, right? You don’t want very, very dry air, especially for someone that may have a COPD. We want to make sure that the air in our home is humid, but not too humid, right? We don’t want to cause any issues that way either. And during the fire season, just making sure that our windows are closed.
and not bringing in that heavy smoked air, because that can cause a lot of breathing issues.
Melissa Therrien, RN (09:57)
Yeah, for anybody, right? I think, you know, we’re talking specifically to seniors, but for anyone who has, you know, respiratory compromise or just high risk, right? ⁓ Allergies or otherwise. Is there anything that you use in your home or that you recommend to try and improve air quality indoors?
Shanna Hakala (10:00)
Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
Yeah, absolutely. I have an air purifier so that helps take out any kind of any bacteria just or smells anything really. But I prefer that as well as a humidifier. We live in Calgary, not, well, Alberta, and it is very dry. And I like to have the humidifier on. It helps me breathe better. So I recommend that as well if you like it.
Melissa Therrien, RN (10:37)
For sure. And just a note on humidifiers. I think one of the things that we tend to overlook with humidifiers that I think became even more pertinent through COVID, everything airborne and otherwise, is making sure that your humidifier is clean. So important to check those filters on a regular basis, make sure that you’re filtered water, check for mold, always do it like a full empty dry and then reload kind of thing.
Definitely something that is challenging for seniors to do. So, you know, if you have a family member that’s coming in to kind of check in on you, make sure to put that on their to-do list or as a family member, that on your to-do list, check all those humidifiers. Humidifiers on your furnace too, because we are in Alberta, BC is kind of the exception to the rule here where everything’s nice and humid and green.
You know, in Alberta, like many furnaces have humidifiers that need maintenance on a regular basis. So when you’re getting your ducts clean, when you’re having your furnace maintained, you know, every season or you’re changing those furnace filters, make sure that you’re checking those humidifiers on the furnace as well. Yeah. Another thing is chemicals in the home. So like, why are chemicals in the home something that we want to talk about?
Shanna Hakala (11:52)
I think that they can be harmful and airborne from my understanding. so breathing in a lot of chemicals is not great for you. And I’m trying to think of, I don’t use a lot of chemicals to be honest. I try to keep things very clean in my home, clean products for that reason.
Melissa Therrien, RN (12:08)
Yep. Yep.
That’s a great point. Not something even I thought about. You know, when preparing for this topic is choosing different products, right? Choosing those clean products, natural products. There’s a billion of them out there right now. So yeah, that’s a great idea. I also think chemicals become more of an issue or potential issue when vision becomes compromised, right? And so mom or dad are wanting to remain independent.
You know, they’re doing their own laundry, they’re cleaning their own house to the best of their ability. And once vision gets a little compromised, those labels become even more challenging to read. They’re small for all of us, but you know, next level when you have poor vision or decreasing vision. So, you know, my recommendation to family members is always to like keep the original labels on, but increase the size or make like a quick read, you know.
Shanna Hakala (12:55)
you
Melissa Therrien, RN (13:08)
big label of what the chemical is so that or dad are able to read that label. But also if something were to happen, the people coming in to help and to support, be it for poisoning or risk of poisoning, are still able to see what that chemical is and how to treat it. So that’s another thing that I recommend. Leave them in the original containers. I know I have loved ones that like to take everything
Shanna Hakala (13:28)
you
Melissa Therrien, RN (13:31)
I’m guilty of it myself. I take everything out of the original container and put it in something prettier. It’s terrible habit. Trying to be environmentally friendly, I guess. I’m not sure. But also making sure that we still have those labels accessible so that we can help the people that are trying to help us in case of an issue. Yeah.
Shanna Hakala (13:54)
You could always stick to an all purpose cleaner as well. So just limiting the amount of cleaners that you have in the home, like you said, the visual, ⁓ by only having one kind of limits it as well.
Melissa Therrien, RN (14:04)
Right.
Yeah, and removing the need for mom or dad to even need to do that kind of deep cleaning. I have Clorox wipes everywhere in my house. I think every room has Clorox wipes. It’s quick and easy just to wipe down a surface, but removing the need for mom or dad to have to do that deep clean, I think is also something to consider. Just removing the risk. Have something like a Clorox wipe
No brand shout outs for Clorox there, but something quick and easy. Yeah, something quick and easy for mom or dad to grab, you know, for those spills or whatever. But that’s not overly harmful and easy to identify as the right type of product for that, I think is important. Actually, really interesting. Just recently, my neighbor had an issue with carbon monoxide.
Shanna Hakala (14:36)
Sponsored.
Melissa Therrien, RN (14:57)
and an alarm going off for carbon monoxide in a brand new home. So that’s something else that we need to talk about carbon monoxide, fire detection, risk for burns. Do you have a carbon monoxide detector in your home?
Shanna Hakala (15:10)
Yeah, we do. We have one close to our furnace and then we have one on our main floor as well.
Melissa Therrien, RN (15:17)
Awesome. Good for you. I don’t, so I really need to do that. But good idea on placement, a note to self. Good idea on placement to put it right near your furnace. And what I know about carbon monoxide detectors, unlike call bells in the hospital, those are impossible to ignore. Absolutely impossible to ignore. Yeah, yeah, definitely very loud. However,
Shanna Hakala (15:25)
you
very loud.
Melissa Therrien, RN (15:42)
As we know, some of our seniors are extremely hard of hearing. So is there a way for us to mitigate the risk of a senior not hearing like a fire detection alarm or a CO detector? Any ideas there?
Shanna Hakala (15:54)
What I’ve seen in the past is a lot have the flashing lights. So they do have options on, I know fire alarms for sure. You can get options that have the light flashing. We have quite a few in our home, so they’re very hard to, not like hard to miss. So yeah, having more within the home also like a,
Melissa Therrien, RN (15:58)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
You know her. Yeah.
Shanna Hakala (16:16)
The carbon monoxide, think having two of them in the home, especially if you have more than one level is important. But yeah, definitely the lights, that’s what I’ve seen anyway.
Melissa Therrien, RN (16:26)
sure. You know, some of them, I’ve seen them in passing, not something that I need right at the moment, but you can link them to your smart systems too, right? Or your alarm systems. I know that used to be a really big thing where you can link it to your alarm system. Again, we can talk about tech till we’re blue in the face, because I’m sure there’s something for everything. But you know, if
Hearing is compromised and that is something that is of good concern. think, I definitely think it’s something to look into is adding that next level of tech to be able to support or remove the need for mom or dad to be able to hear and react to it, right? Yeah, I think that’s good. What about burns? Let’s talk about burns and fire risk. Have you heard much about burns and fire risk with seniors?
Shanna Hakala (17:13)
leaving the stoves on.
Melissa Therrien, RN (17:15)
⁓ Yes,
that might be the most popular and maybe the most devastating. So sad when I hear that happening. Yeah, or microwaving something with tinfoil on it into many. Yeah. Yeah, many false alarms, not even really a false alarm, a true alarm related to tinfoil in the microwave. I think cooking is one of those things that like
Shanna Hakala (17:27)
glass because it can get very hot.
Melissa Therrien, RN (17:39)
really hard to let go of as a senior because you want to be able to maintain that level of independence and who’s going to feed you if not yourself. And so as loved ones, like we think to, you know, here’s a microwaved meal, right? But I think we have to take that and go to the next level of like here, put a big sign.
don’t put tin foil in microwave or use only this container to microwave. Just remove tin foil altogether. But I’ve also heard actually just yesterday of a family member who changed out an oven and this is an expensive option, but changed out a stove oven for an induction. So it would only work if a pot was actually on the burner.
So if mom was to turn it on and forget that she’s turned it on, it’s not actually generating any heat, only if there were a pot on it. Not to say that there’s anything in the pot because that too is a fire risk, but yeah, just an interesting innovation that I heard about yesterday. So a nice idea. Yeah. Unplugging the stove, the oven. That’s a tough thing to do. It’s like taking someone’s driver’s license away, but I do think it’s…
Shanna Hakala (18:42)
That’s pretty cool. Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (18:53)
good option if there are some concerns about safety when it comes to using the stove. Yeah, any other places that burns are a possible risk that you’ve come across?
Shanna Hakala (19:04)
how about it? We talked about it yesterday. ⁓ So how about heating pads and heated blankets, making sure that they’re not on high or left unattended?
Melissa Therrien, RN (19:07)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, that’s something we never think of. I sleep with a heating pad every night. so I’m someone that has the windows open and the fan on but I have a heating pad. Yeah But yeah, totally I mean those heating pads can get smoking hot and if you have like a sensory difficulty or deterioration in some of your sensory as far as like your ability to feel the
that heat, that cold, which I think we all suffer from at some points. know, the peripheral profusion gets less and less as we age. And so be very mindful of that heating pad. As much comfort as they bring, sometimes it’s just not the best option for sure. But to that point though, magic bags, you know, like the hot water bottles and the, yeah, the things that you can heat up or.
Shanna Hakala (20:01)
big.
Melissa Therrien, RN (20:05)
freeze in there, that’s also something to think about. And though it might bring mom or dad some comfort, if they’re microwaving it, that’s a huge risk, or pouring scalding hot water into a hot water bottle, a big risk too. Or even cold, postoperatively, right? Like when you put a bag of ice on your leg and you’re like, this feels so good. But postoperatively, you have minimal nerve function as a result of your incision.
you know, and you can get burns frostbite as a result of that. not just seniors, important for us all to be aware of that for sure. Not just hot, cold too. Absolutely. All right. So we’re also nearing some nice weather. It’s a rare thing in Alberta, but we are coming up on spring and summer where we have been known to get some extreme temperatures. What are some ideas for us to keep
Shanna Hakala (20:39)
Not just hot, cold.
Melissa Therrien, RN (20:59)
temperature regulated in the home and keep it comfortable for mum or dad.
Shanna Hakala (21:03)
Yeah, absolutely. I know for me, my home faces south. It’s very hot in the summer. One thing that I do, I have blackout curtains on all of our windows and that helps to regulate the cool within the home. Cause it can get really hot. People don’t think that it does in Alberta, but it can be pretty hot. So that keeps it a little bit cool in the home as well as
keeping the windows and doors closed throughout the day and opening them at night to get your fresh air as it gets a little bit cooler. Or you can open them in the morning as well, but just making sure that that peak time of heat to have everything closed off to not get too hot in the house. What else do? We have a pool.
Melissa Therrien, RN (21:52)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Shanna Hakala (21:53)
Put your feet in a pool to keep regulating your temperature. ⁓
Melissa Therrien, RN (21:54)
It’s not a bad idea and it’s touching on exercise,
which is also very important to avoid slips, trips and falls. So that’s good. Yeah. Yeah. I love the idea of blackout curtains. On our previous house, we had tint on our windows, so you could still keep the windows open, but you know, it kept some of that heat out. Works both in winter and in summer. Keeps the heat in, keeps the heat out.
Shanna Hakala (22:13)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Therrien, RN (22:23)
And then you’re not losing all of that beautiful sunshine that we’re craving so desperately as we come out of winter. Because it seems so like you feel awful shutting the windows on a beautiful sunny day, ⁓ but definitely important to keep the temperature regulated. And I think minimizing the adjustments to the thermostat or creating like getting a smart thermostat is also really important. think
Shanna Hakala (22:34)
I
Melissa Therrien, RN (22:47)
you know, because of that thermal regulation that changes as we get older, it’s important to keep like a consistent temperature that’s comfortable for mom or dad, might be scorching hot for us as we walk into 21 degree temperature in mom or dad’s house. But, you know, if it’s comfortable for them, keeping that consistent so that they’re, you know, maybe not dragging around a blanket as they’re moving around the house or, you know, going back to those slip trips and falls.
you know, having to get up with a blanket around their legs because they’re cold, things like that. So I think a smart thermostat is a great investment as well. Great segue to our next section to you about smart technology and how to utilize that in the home. Do you have smart tech stuff in your home? I’m sure you do. You don’t? Wow. I totally thought you would be up on the tech savvy stuff.
Shanna Hakala (23:35)
No, I know. You think I would, but no.
Melissa Therrien, RN (23:43)
That’s funny. We have some smart stuff in our homes. My children, no, I’m just kidding. Smart tech in our house. We have some motion-censored lights. We have an Alexa where we have our lights set on like a schedule. So it’s a smart plug, I guess. And so on a schedule, the light will turn on. Great ideas. Super cheap options.
Shanna Hakala (23:47)
Okay.
you
Melissa Therrien, RN (24:07)
that you kind
of set up once and then you don’t really have to think about again, right? Doesn’t matter if whatever the time change or whatever, that schedule is still pretty applicable or you change it twice a year, it’s no big deal. But to set those routines so that, it’s helpful for mom or dad because then they’re moving into a room at the time that they usually wake up and the light is on, which is great to avoid those falls hazard by no lighting.
Shanna Hakala (24:20)
Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (24:32)
but also it’s a keen reminder of what time it is. know, sometimes mom or dad are waking up and they’re a little disoriented and not really sure if they know through that routine that that light turns on at nine o’clock in the morning every day. It’s fantastic. The lights on, they know it’s after nine and that’s a great reminder for them. So cheap doesn’t have to be expensive as far as options for tech. Any other kind of tech ideas you have or that you’ve seen that you’ve worked with?
Shanna Hakala (25:01)
Well, you were talking a little bit earlier about the smart thermometers. So you can, I believe you can get those installed and regulated as well to your smartphones. So if you’re worried about the temperature being too high, too low, you can control those as well. Especially if your loved ones aren’t tech savvy, having control over that from your mobile device.
Melissa Therrien, RN (25:14)
you
Shanna Hakala (25:23)
is beneficial to you.
Melissa Therrien, RN (25:25)
Yeah, I agree. Yeah, about what’s linkable to your cell phone. I hear more and more about people utilizing cameras in the home to keep track of where mom or dad are and being able to get alerts if there’s motion in a room that’s unusual. ⁓ Maybe in the basement where the old piano is and nobody ever goes down there kind of thing and there’s…
Shanna Hakala (25:43)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Therrien, RN (25:50)
motion in that room, you being able to look at your cell phone and, and see what’s happening. A great peace of mind option where, you know, maybe the compromise with mom or dad is to have some smart technology instead of an actual human being coming in and checking in on them, which is, you know, a next level kind of intervention. So having that camera to be able to talk both ways too, right? How cool is that? Like,
Shanna Hakala (26:14)
you
Melissa Therrien, RN (26:15)
mom sitting on the couch and not looking all that great. You can be able to say like, hey, mom, are you okay? What’s happening? And mom responds, she’s like, oh yeah, I just fell asleep. I was just sitting here and I fell asleep. And you’re like, okay, well, maybe you should get up and get something to eat and then lay down. But now you’ve resolved an issue that might have previously involved you going to the home and having to check in on mom and.
going in a mad panic and mom’s like, I was just leaving, just leave me alone, this is not a big deal, right? I think we’ve all had that intervention where you’re like, I’m fine. So yeah, mean, providing peace of mind is wonderful for all people involved, actually loved ones and seniors themselves, I think too.
Shanna Hakala (26:57)
Can you tell me some low-cost options that could be useful for doing environmental scams?
Melissa Therrien, RN (27:05)
Yeah, for sure. So first place I would check, Google, of course. Actually, I did a Google search, environmental scan, lots of studies came up. So better way to look at it is home safety checklist for seniors. Yeah, environmental scan gets a little too technical and not what we’re needing. But the home safety checklist was important. Talked about like fire extinguishers in the home, when to change your furnace filters.
making sure that you’re changing the lint traps in your laundry. I knew actually someone in my childhood who lost their home as a result of a lint fire in their dryer. Devastating. So it’s a real thing and something we forget about. So do it. But talked about all different things like how to do that home safety checklist. It talked about chemicals. It talked about lighting. All the things that we touched on I think really important.
you could just Google a really easy checklist. If you’re looking kind of next level, go to the resources that are offered through Health Region. You can get an OT assessment. It might be a long wait list, but occupational therapists and the assessment through them is free if you’re approved for home care through your local health authority in Alberta anyways. In BC, I know there is a charge for occupational therapy visits. Again, it’s a long wait if you go through your Health Region.
but occupational therapists are available all over the place. You can hire a private one. It’s not extreme. They’ll be able to go through your house and talk about like railings that might grab bars that might be helpful. Bed mobility. So maybe it’s time for mom or dad to have a railing on the side of their bed. What’s an option that’s not necessarily a hospital bed, right? There’s lots of like semi-permanent or temporary fixes that you can use that are
reasonably affordable. I mean leverage the resources that are available through the health region. And if you have to go privately go privately and it would be a very beneficial cost honestly being able to have someone come in and make those recommendations to keep mom or dad safe in their home safe comfortable for as long as possible. That’s what we want. Also
You’re welcome to call a home care company like Ohana Care. We’re happy to come out and do those home safety checks, make some recommendations as far as like the daily happenings and what are some of the things that we see on a regular basis that would be good. Just as quick, know, no suggestions about putting elevators in people’s homes or otherwise, but we can give you the ideas that maybe you haven’t thought about and provide you with some of the ideas of.
where to go about next as far as getting them installed or otherwise. If you are doing any modifications to your home, please use a verified contractor. Do your due diligence. My goodness, our next podcast actually, talking about scams that are out there that target seniors and our vulnerable populations. So really important for you to do the due diligence and make sure that you’re hiring someone who’s credible and who knows what they’re doing. Yeah.
On that note, Shanna, anything you would like to, one final tip to leave us with on our environmental hazards in the home and safety for seniors?
Shanna Hakala (30:11)
Yeah, absolutely. I think that we want to allow seniors to continue to live independently within their homes. having these environmental checks allows a lot of the risks, right? So just taking that extra step to ensure that they can remain independent in their home is great.
Melissa Therrien, RN (30:33)
Yeah, being proactive for sure, very important. Yeah, I mean, there’s lots of resources available when mom or dad are in the hospital, but let’s try and avoid that. Those falls are awful and especially if there’s a break that rehab is awful and very challenging for seniors. So let’s do our best to avoid it. Chyna, thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you’ll join me again on our podcast.
As always, reach out if you have any questions. We’re happy to answer any questions. We have a team of experts in just about everything on our team. Happy to chat with you and work through some of the issues that you are facing with your loved ones who are maybe considering or in need of some home care supports. And please like, subscribe. We have lots of interesting topics and more guests on the way. And I look forward to chatting with you all again soon. Thank you, Shanna. and take care everybody.
