5 Easy Ways to Make Your Home Safer for a Parent with Alzheimer's

"Your loved one has Alzheimer's disease," is a sentence no child or caregiver ever wants to hear.

Besides being a complex condition and medically difficult to treat, an Alzheimer's diagnosis signals more than just a change in health - it means a change in lifestyle.

Due to the disease's degenerative nature, people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia may neglect basic routines and self-care, needing daily assistance with the once-basic tasks of daily living. 

If you’re watching a parent travel through the many stages of Alzheimer's or dementia, you may soon find that it is unsafe for them to be left alone for extended periods, or that they can no longer live alone without posing a risk to themselves. 

Some families choose to move their loved one into an assisted care facility, or a family caregiver will move in with their parent; but most often, an aging parent with Alzheimer’s disease will move in with a child. 

Bringing your parent to live with you will demand that you look at your home through a different set of eyes, and that you make changes - sometimes major ones in order to ensure their safety and comfort. 

Below are some general tips, handy ideas, and Caregiver shortcuts to help guide you through this transition (and beyond), while minimizing the disruption caused to you and others living in your home!

1. Help your parent avoid making unsafe or risky decisions.

• Think about posting a “No Solicitors” sign on the front door. Your parent may not be able to determine whether it’s safe or not to open the door to someone.
• Place decals at eye level on sliding glass doors to identify the glass pane.
• Lock cellar and garage doors to prevent unwanted entry/exit. If necessary, hide remote controls for garage doors. 
• Don’t make space heaters, electric blankets, or other fire hazards accessible. Your parent may not understand how to monitor them and turn them off when needed.
• Unplug your microwave to prevent your parent from placing materials like cans inside that could cause explosions or fires.
• Regularly remove spoiled food from the fridge and label items kept in Tupperware.

2. Making your home feel familiar will ease anxiety and prevent accidents.

• Create a personalized environment in your loved one’s personal space and as much as possible throughout the home. 
• Decorate with their mementos and photos, and use familiar colors and textures in their living area. 
• Use shadow boxes. A great way to personalize your parent’s space and spark conversations about events in the past is to hang a shadow box with mementos outside their room. It can also give them a visual cue to recognize their space.
• Develop a daily routine for your parent and post it on a bulletin board. Direct them to it each day; a familiar routine will help provide comfort and orientation.

3. Promote safety by creating stability and easy support solutions to prevent falls.

• Remove rugs or secure them to the floor to prevent slipping and potential falls. 
• Secure furniture to make sure it doesn't move when leaned on.
• Place non-skid tape on the edges of stairs; consider painting the edge of the first and last step a different color from the floor, to help with depth perception.
• Install grab bars near the tub and toilet for better support when your parent transitions from sitting to standing.
• Consider shower chairs for easier bathing with less physical strength required.
• Use threshold ramps to smooth transitions between rooms and prevent tripping.

4. Offer better visibility and sensory solutions to address deteriorating vision and hearing.

• Use brightly colored dinnerware that contrasts well with foods and makes it easier to distinguish one dish from the other. 
• Use reflector tape to create a path your parent can follow from the bedroom to the bathroom at night. 
• Keep all rooms in your home well-lit, even when you are not using them.
• Keep upholstery and floor patterns simple. Avoid confusing patterns such as wavy lines or stripes, which may confuse your loved one and can make it difficult to distinguish objects from one another. 
• Change your toilet seat to a bright, contrasting color. People with dementia can more easily miss the toilet, simply because it blends in with the rest of the bathroom. 
• To a person with Alzheimer's or dementia, a dark area rug may seem like a hole that must be walked around, not over. Avoid this extra navigating hazard by opting for lighter colored rugs, and secure their corners down to prevent a tripping hazard.

5. Help prevent accidents that may occur due to disorientation.

• Put childproof latches on cabinets and drawers that contain breakable items.
• Secure dangerous items such as matches, knives, guns, scissors, medications, and household cleaning items.
• Add cushioning to the sharp corners on furniture and countertops.
• Remove locks from bathroom and bedroom doors, so your parent can’t lock themselves in accidentally. 
• Remove any poisonous plants from your home.
• Lock up small electrical appliances like shavers, Cuisinart blenders, automatic can openers, etc. and cover any unused outlets. 
• Consider disconnecting the garbage disposal. Like children, people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia may place objects or even their own hands into the disposal.
• Consider removing stovetop knobs so that your loved one cannot turn on the oven or stove. 
• Place deadbolts on your exterior doors (either out of sight or out of reach) to keep your parent from leaving the house alone. (Studies have shown that a large, red STOP sign will send a clear signal even to someone with memory impairment. When placed on outside doors, this could act as an additional deterrent!)
• Use nightlights throughout the home to prevent falls during nighttime bathroom trips or wandering.
• Use a monitoring device or patient safety alarm to alert you to any falls or other need for help. (Read more about how to choose the best one here!)
• Set the water heater at a maximum of 120 degrees to avoid scalding tap or bathwater.

How will I pay for all these changes?

It may seem like preparing your home for the arrival of a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease is a massive and possibly expensive undertaking. 

No doubt, it will be an investment of time and, yes - some money, but luckily there are options out there to help you get the things that you need to ensure their health and safety.

Medicare pays for medical equipment prescribed by a doctor

However, there are some exceptions. Medicare may pay for assistive technology devices that are part of the modification process, if they are proven to be required for medical reasons.

Medicare Part B will pay for an occupational therapist to evaluate your home and determine what changes are required. In rare instances, Medicare will even pay for bathroom modifications, including walk-in tubs!

Look into local and state resources

Most states have Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Waivers.

These programs offer assistance to qualified individuals to help them live at home and avoid nursing homes. In many states, they will pay for home modifications toward this end.

Each state has different waiver programs and eligibility requirements, but you can check out this list of Medicaid programs that cover home modifications.

See which Medicaid programs your loved one qualifies for 

Another way to help offset medical costs is to take advantage of a Money Follows the Person Program, which go by different names in different states. As of May 2017, 44 states and Washington D.C. have MFP programs.

These are Medicaid programs specifically designed for nursing home residents who want to return to living in private homes. The programs offer support for home modifications that help them to do this safely.

Summary

When you bring a loved one with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease into your home, you’ll need to prioritize and make decisions about the most important safety features you need to attend to first. 

You may not have the funds to do everything at once - but do what you can with what you have, and show yourself kindness, knowing that you are always doing your best.

One final note: amidst the upheaval of changing your entire home to meet someone else’s needs, be sure to keep a "respite area" for yourself: a room or area that is yours alone, where you can read, pay bills, think; ultimately, an area where caregiving does not take place. 

On those days when you feel like your home has been given over to someone else’s needs, having that personal space will help you refresh, refuel, and care while avoiding burnout.

By adopting some (or all!) of these tips, you can ensure a smooth and successful move-in process - and a safe and happy living environment for your loved one.

For more helpful information like this, be sure to browse our full library of articles on Caregiver University.