This is the third in a series of “client” stories focused on providing information and resources to those who are caring for aging loved ones. Keep in mind that I’ve changed names and mingled some details to honor my clients’ confidentiality and protect their privacy.
This is next chapter in a story about Jennifer, a client of mine who was caring for her 82-year old mother, Dorothy. When we left off in our story last time, Jennifer’s mom was about to be released from a skilled nursing facility where she’d been recovering from a fractured shoulder.
Jennifer had had some relief from her care duties while her mom was in skilled nursing, but now that Dorothy was going back to her own home there were a number of things to think about. Because her Mom had fractured her shoulder in a fall, Jennifer was concerned it might happen again. Although a physical therapist would be coming in a couple of times a week, her Mom would be on her own for a good part of the time. Jennifer wanted to make sure that her mom’s home was free of fall hazards and other “unsafe” scenarios. So she and I set about doing a home “safety check.” According to AARP, more than half of all fall injuries to seniors happen inside the home, and an additional one in four happen outside near the home. Using the AARP checklist, Jennifer and I made a thorough inspection of Dorothy’s home to ensure that we identified any hazards, and then we developed a plan to address those hazards as quickly as possible.

Dorothy was released from skilled nursing and Jennifer helped her get settled back in to her “safety checked” home. Dorothy did well with her in-home physical therapy and seemed to be getting physically stronger. Jennifer noticed, however, that since her mom returned home from the skilled nursing facility she seemed to talk more about being lonely and called Jennifer more often asking when she would visit. On one of those phone calls Dorothy shared that she had nearly fallen again when she’d gotten up at night to go to the bathroom. Jennifer decided that it was time to have a conversation about in-home care or perhaps moving to assisted living.
Tune in next time to learn how I helped Jennifer evaluate and compare home care versus assisted living.
Fast Facts
• More than half of all fall injuries to seniors happen inside the home.
• The most dangerous room in the house is the bathroom. About 235,000 people over age 15 go to the emergency room each year because of injuries suffered in the bathroom.
• People over 85 suffer more than half of their injuries near the toilet.