When older adults move into a retirement community, they can enjoy many advantages, like having their daily chores and meals looked after by the onsite staff, increased socialization among fellow residents, and enhanced safety, enabling them to live a carefree lifestyle.
When considering a transition to retirement residency, safety is a primary concern for older adults and their loved ones, who want to ensure they can maintain an independent lifestyle without worry.
Below, we’ve detailed several safety benefits that retirement communities provide so that you and your loved ones are fully aware of how your safety will be prioritized in such an environment:
1. Emergency Preparedness
One of the first things that likely come to mind when discussing safety measures is how well-equipped retirement communities are for unprecedented emergencies, such as forest fires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.
In case of such emergencies, care homes provide guidelines to ensure residents know what to do in the face of an emergency alert. These guidelines include emergency and communication planning, risk identification and assessment.
Therefore, if a natural disaster occurs, older persons and their loved ones can rest assured that they will be provided with the necessary information to make a safe exit or shelter in place.
2. Readily-available access to medical care
One of the biggest reasons older adults benefit from choosing to live in a retirement community is their access to regular health and medical care.
Communities like Seasons Retirement provide healthcare services to those who require insulin injections, assistance with hygiene practices, and other similar tasks. They also have general medical services available 24 hours a day in case of emergency.
For older persons living with dementia or who are more susceptible to fall injuries, many retirement homes provide 24/7 monitoring for residents.
3. Physical safety protocols
Retirement homes are built to accommodate the needs of their residents, which includes ensuring they can easily move around their apartments and the community.
To ensure all residents can mobilize without issue, retirement homes have wider hallways, walk-in showers, handrails, wheelchair ramps, elevators, easy-to-use lightswitches and accessible door handles.
These safety measures make moving around much more accessible for those with mobility issues and help prevent older persons from falling.
4. Regular monitoring of residents
As mentioned above, one of the safety measures many retirement homes put in place is regularly monitoring residents suffering from certain ailments.
Those with falling or memory loss issues are more susceptible to suffering injuries, wandering, and getting lost. As such, having a nurse or personal care aid available at all times will ensure that the safety of these older individuals isn’t being neglected.
Further, for older adults who live in memory care retirement communities, their homes are equipped with private outdoor areas and secure doors to prevent wandering.
5. Pestilence and disease preventive measures
In the post-COVID world, reputable retirement communities have instituted safety measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, along with other diseases and pestilences.
For instance, many retirement homes will have hand sanitizing stations scattered throughout the community area, and the cleaning staff will regularly disinfect surfaces that are frequently touched, like handles and railings. Some homes also still require masking when a visitor calls.
Many retirement homes have also installed advanced HVAC systems to prevent the spread of other germs that can cause issues for older ones and the onsite staff.
6. Carefree lifestyle
As mentioned earlier, retirement homes are designed to allow older adults to live more carefree lives. This lifestyle can be accomplished by ensuring all major housekeeping, cooking, repairs, and maintenance tasks are handled by onsite staff members.
With staff handling these types of tasks, older individuals won’t have to worry about the risks involved in maintaining a home, such as falls from ladders, accidents with tools and equipment, mishaps with knives, and other potential dangers to which they may be susceptible as they move through life.
7. Visitor monitoring and security cameras
In addition to maintaining safety measures to prevent accidents, retirement homes also ensure security measures are in place to avoid dishonest or hostile intruders.
Most retirement communities require visitors to check in at the front desk to verify their identity. This protocol is also in place for onsite staff, vendors, and other frequent visitors to ensure management is always aware of who is on the premises.
Additionally, retirement homes with apartments for memory care residents have security cameras around the community to prevent older persons from wandering or experiencing injuries.
Further, many retirement communities ensure the property is well-lit at night to prevent residents from getting lost or sustaining an injury due to low visibility.
8. Opportunities to improve physical health
Finally, residents in retirement homes can improve their safety by taking care of their physical health. Retirement communities provide many opportunities for retirees to prioritize their wellness, including individual fitness areas and exercise classes.
Engaging in physical activity will help older ones improve their balance, issues with knee and joint pain, back pain, cognitive focus, and insomnia, all of which will help prevent retirees from facing accidents caused by such ailments.
Final thoughts
Overall, there are many safety benefits to be derived from retirement communities. Older ones can transition from their house to a retirement home knowing that onsite staff will care for all their chores, home maintenance, repairs, and meals, making for a safer and more comfortable lifestyle.
Retirement communities also prioritize your loved one’s safety in their apartment and community areas by installing wheelchair ramps, walk-in showers, handrails, and other similar protocols to prevent accidents and falls.
Ultimately, these communities are well-equipped to support and safeguard retirees while allowing for the freedom and opportunity to pursue their interests.
