Growing older presents certain limitations in carrying out everyday activities that were easy in the past for many people. Seeing, hearing, and even movement may become difficult due to illnesses or medical conditions prevalent in older people.
However, seniors can get health aids to make completing everyday tasks less strenuous. For example, people with movement issues can use a walker at home and when going out, while those with hearing difficulty can benefit from using a hearing aid.
The following are common health aids seniors can use at home.
- Mobility Aids
Mobility aids can provide support for seniors struggling to move. These aids include.
- Ambulatory Seniors
Seniors who experience difficulty with mobility can get crutches or canes to support them while walking. People who need more support for movement can get rollators and walkers.
- Non-Ambulatory Seniors
For seniors who cannot work or can manage only a few sets, electric scooters and wheelchairs can give them mobility and some level of independence. These mobility aids come with accessories like headlights and oxygen carriers.
Installing ramps, uneven door jams, and small groups of stairs can make using these mobility aids in the house easier. Special lifts, electric lifts, and ramps are also available to load electric scooters and wheelchairs into vehicles for easy transportation.
- Bathroom Health Aids for Seniors
Taking a shower or bath can be challenging for some seniors and even dangerous, but a transfer bench can make this daily activity easier. Several styles of shower benches and chairs are also available to enhance safety and comfort while bathing.
Some other examples of bathroom aids include:
- Toilet rails
- Elevated toilet seats
- Non-skid bath mats
- Bathtubs and shower rails
- Toilet safety frames
- Staircase Chair Lifts
Seniors living in a two-story house may experience difficulty climbing the stairs to the top floor, so they opt to live on only the ground floor. These seniors can have electric chair lifts installed to carry them to the top floor of the house. This allows anyone, including people with a disability affecting movement, to access all parts of their house on the top floor.
- Power Lift Chairs
Seniors with arthritis and other mobility-limiting health problems may find standing up from a sitting position difficult. Power lift chairs can elevate chairs to a certain angle that allows you to stand without difficulty.
- Vision and Hearing Health Aids
Door knockers with flashlights and telephone amplifiers can help people with hearing loss. Reading magnifiers, talking watches, and telephones with larger buttons allow independence in seniors with limited vision.
- Kitchen Health Aids
Kitchen utensils with large, easy-grip handles can make food preparation for seniors with arthritis less stressful. Eating utensils with bendable, curved weighted handles makes it easy for seniors to eat without assistance.
Adaptive levers and doorknobs, long-handled jars, reachers, and lid openers can also make using the kitchen easier for seniors.