When your elderly family member feels safe at home, that leads to overall feelings of confidence and happiness that allow her to simply enjoy her life. It might be a good idea to get an overview of neighborhood safety where your senior currently lives.
Start Some Conversations with Her Neighbors
It’s a good idea to make friends with your senior’s neighbors whenever possible. They can help you to stay aware of what’s going on with your senior and it’s just a friendly thing to do. They might have information to share with you about your senior’s neighborhood. They can tell you how things have changed, what they’re seeing, and other details you might not have thought to ask.
Walk or Drive Around the Neighborhood
Take a few minutes and walk or drive around the neighborhood. This can help you to get a feel for what has changed or what might be giving you an off feeling about the area. In general, you’re probably mostly looking for anything that lets you know that the neighborhood itself isn’t being taken care of very well or that things are generally in disrepair.
Take a Look at What the Web Says
There’s a lot more information available about neighborhoods and their surrounding areas than you might think. The Internet has made it much easier to get an idea what any neighborhood is like without having to dig too deeply. Real estate websites are among the best for this sort of research. They usually have information about how walkable the neighborhood is, what overall crime rates are like, and what sorts of shops and services are near any given address.
Come up with Some Safety Improvement Ideas
Take the time to talk to your senior about what you’re noticing and what has you feeling as if she needs to concentrate more on overall safety. Some of these concerns might be ones your elderly family member shares but didn’t want to worry you by bringing up. Now is the time to think about what you and she might want to do in order to create a safer environment for her.
Implement Some of Those Ideas
Next, it’s time to take a look at the list you’ve brainstormed and determine what might be actionable now. Some of the safety ideas that you came up with might include better exterior lights or fixing a broken walkway. Other ideas might involve installing an alarm system. You might also want to consider hiring elderly care providers, especially if you’re not able to be there with your senior as often as you would like.
How safe your senior is and feels at home is incredibly important. If she doesn’t feel safe at home, that can lead to anxiety and other psychological issues that could be easily avoided.