According to Echo News Carehome bosses at Haven Care Home on Harwich Road, Colchester have come up with a bright idea to light up the loos in it’s home, preventing falls for its elderly who wake up in the night and take a trip to the bathroom.
In addition to illuminated loos, the care home have also installed other glow in the dark features to guide the elderly residents around when they get up at night. This includes footprints leading them to and from the bathroom and also illuminated door-frames and zimmer frames.
In the two months since the unique method was installed, only one resident has fallen at night, compared with nine in the same time period last year. – Echo News
Haven Care Home Manager, Ryan Moring, said “Earlier this year I looked back at the number of falls residents had had over the year… I was concerned to find 50 per cent of these were at night, when residents were getting up to use the toilet. I spoke to my staff and one put it simply – we needed to show them the way.”
The Home has implemented this fantastic idea, only costing them £200 to date, so that there’s less visits to the hospital with residents who have fallen over during the night. It’s a perfect idea to not only reduce NHS costs but also protect their elderly residents.
The Manager of the home also suggested how not only is the luminous paint helping preventing falls but it’s also helping those who suffer with Dementia. Dementia suffers often are easily distracted and Ryan stated how the light attracts their focus.
A Third of the elder population over the age of 65 falls each year
With ideas such as the one Haven Care Home has introduced, it’s improving the quality of life for elderly people by preventing falls which can ultimately cause injuries.
In an environment such as a care home there’s carers and lots of other people around to react when a frail or elderly person falls over, however what happens when no-one is around?
It’s ever so often elderly people fall in their homes and when living alone independently it can be both dangerous and frightening. Careline is a solution to this and we provide a personal alarm service which aids the frail and elderly. With a Careline personal alarm whenever a person falls over with the click of a button the user can activate an alert which calls for outside help. This system is great for those who are at risk of falls and particularly who live alone. Our care team are on standby 24/7 so whenever a pendant alarm is activated the person can be contacted through the base alarm and help can be sent.
With such technology we offer here at Careline, and ideas such as Haven Care Home, we are on the right track to helping people that suffer from falling which can be costly on the NHS.
Find out more about a Careline personal alarm! For more information please give us a call on 0808 304 4345.
