Pediatric Home Care North Miami FL
Children with mobility issues present unique challenges to home safety. Here are some suggestions that can help reduce potential disasters both large and small.
Trip/Fall Hazards
Most households gather a fair amount of clutter. It’s especially important to be mindful of this and eliminate it for homes with mobility-challenged kids. Clutter on surfaces can cause a fall if a table is needed for sudden support. Keep walking paths through living spaces and down hallways clear of debris and small furniture where possible. Throw rugs should be eliminated – these present a serious tripping hazard for those with walking challenges and get caught up in the wheels of wheelchair users.
Any change in elevation, even a slight one, should be marked clearly. Transition pieces that help prevent jagged or rapid shifts in floor height can be acquired inexpensively at your local home improvement store and can help prevent tripping (and also damage to the floors if your limited mobility child is a wheelchair user).
Keep stairways and ramps well-lit and free of any debris to prevent tripping or falling. All handrails should be correctly positioned and capable of supporting up to 250lbs of weight, and installed into studs or blocks, never into sheetrock (even with anchor bolts).
Room to Move
We know that wheelchairs require more space to maneuver – modifications often need to be made to interior doors, particularly bathrooms, so our wheelchair users can navigate to and from these spaces and make use of them. Make sure all pathways in the home are wide enough for a wheelchair to pass safely through and that every common use area has enough space for the wheelchair to turn around with ease.
Usability
Create accessible working spaces in every common use room – high tables with nothing beneath, wall-mounted sinks with space beneath for wheelchairs to fit, and suspended countertops in the kitchen where older kids can help with simple meal preparation.
Similarly, put things the kids need to access in easy reach. A basket of school supplies on the table where they tackle homework, a basket of healthy snacks in reach at an accessible counter, and similar resources prevents kids from reaching for items they need in more challenging areas, reducing falls.
Disaster Preparedness
Our disaster preparedness guidelines often do not cater to mobility issues. Consider your child’s unique needs in the event of common disaster planning and decide how you will handle each event. For example, you may want to have a step stool and padding to help ease a child safely out of a window if the rest of the house is inaccessible, stock up on spare medications, and have a secondary manual wheelchair if the primary one becomes inoperable. Your child’s unique needs will set your guidelines.
Kids with limited mobility present unique safety challenges in your home. Help prevent accidents by broadening your perspective of home safety standards.
Sources: http://www.redcross.org/prepare/location/home-family/disabilities http://www.cdss.ca.gov/agedblinddisabled/res/VPTC2/5%20Injury%20and%20Fall%20Prevention/Home_Safety_for_People_with_Disabilities.pdf
If you or a loved one are considering Pediatric Home Care Services in North Miami FL, contact the caring staff at Providence Healthcare Services. We provide services in all of Miami Dade county and the Upper Keys. Call today (305) 680-5349.
