“To Age In Place Well, People Deserve & Require A Safe Home To Occupy”

Regardless of why people have chosen the home they live in now, and whether they have identified it as their permanent home, living in it safely is an extremely important factor for them. Whether they are living in a home that they purchased new from a builder and are the original occupants of the home, or if they live in an existing home that previously was owned by someone else before them, they have a real need – and the right – to feel safe in their home. This would be true even if they were renting a home or apartment. It’s only logical. Think about it.

With all of the challenges that people experience while they are away from their homes each day, they deserve to have a dependable, safe place to return to that provides the feeling of wellbeing that is important to them to help them recover from the day away from their personal sanctuary. Their home represents a stable place that they can rely on not to fight with them, challenge them, or confront them.

It doesn’t matter where people live, how long they have lived in their home, how large that home is, or what type of home it is, they just need to have a home that is safe for them to enter, to be in, to feel comfortable in, and to be able to move about within freely – even with the presence of physical limitations. It must be pleasant and convenient for them to use and occupy while they are in it, and they must look forward to returning to it each time they are away from it because of the solitude it provides.

Being away from home and in the world means dealing with danger and unknown situations, such as automobile traffic, buses, bicycles, the potential for falling objects, slippery flooring, doorways, other people, windblown objects, and precipitation. There are noises also that can affect our sense of wellbeing. As such, we must be vigilant to watch and guard ourselves against such dangers and challenges. Returning home to our safe place should be such a rewarding, pleasant experience. Our homes represent friendly territory – or at least they are supposed to be this way.

Nevertheless, there are many situations in and around our homes that can challenge the tranquility and wellbeing that we are seeking – and that we have come to expect. When there are yard tools left where they can be stepped on or tripped over, hoses that extend across sidewalks, yard sprinklers that become tripping hazards, toys that weren’t picked up and put away, or broken or misaligned sidewalks or stepping stones that challenge safe movement along them, these can present issues for us and our clients before a person ever gets inside their home.

Once someone enters their home – to find the solitude they are expecting – they could find that a shelf is too high for them to safely and comfortably retrieve an item stored on it and risk injuring themselves by overreaching, by losing their balance and slipping, or by having something from the shelf fall down upon them. They could accidentally burn themselves with overly hot water, stovetops or ovens that are on, or by touching a motor. Cuts, bruises, and scraps (even those that leave a mark but don’t bleed) can result from sharp (or even dull) knives, abrupt corners on doors, cabinets, or countertops that can be walked into or bumped. Falls, tripping, and slipping can happen with wet or glossy floors, in bathtubs and showers, and with uneven transitions between flooring materials.

As much as we want our homes – and those of our clients – to be the safe havens that we desire them to be and that people have come to expect, there are things that can happen and issues that still can cause conflicts. We have to deal with general clutter, excess storage, clothes, outerwear, and shoes that are left lying about after wearing or using them, mail, books, magazines, boxes, shopping bags, and so much more that can interfere with safe passage or footing within our homes.

Our homes should be a safe retreat, but it takes a lot of work to get to that point. To the extent that people need help determining how their homes can be safer for them or to actually make the modifications to allow that, we can help make that happen. This is what we do. We know how to manage the interior and exterior areas of a person’s home to have it reflect the security, peace-of-mind, and safety that people require from their living environments.

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