An accident can happen in a split second at home
The morning garden stroll, as innocent as it seems, can be a hazard to your elderly loved one.
Yesterday I received a phone call from one of our professional experts, sharing with me a story that is still with me. Last week, on a misty, rainy morning, an elderly woman went out to her beloved garden, her walker as her support, she went through her morning ritual of visiting the garden's surprises that arrived to greet her overnight.
She had walked that path so many times before. Stepping stones dug deep into the grass as she made the trek she always had done, day after day. This morning it was different, experiencing a summer rain; the air so fresh and clean. She entered her garden, only to have one leg of the walker get caught in an ivy bed, causing her to fall.
The poor lady, luckily was not hurt, but she was unable to stand up, and laid down on the ground in the rain for well over two hours until by a fluke, a utility person came to read her gas meter and saw her there! Had he not come that one day- which only happens once every other month, who knows how long it would have taken to find her until help would have come.
What profoundly sticks in my mind, is how often we don't realize just how many things could happen to our parents because we don't think to notice the little things that could cause an accident. Luckily for this sweet lady, her path has now been replaced with concrete and guard rails. The ivy bed was taken out, and she now will have a safe place to walk, and still enjoy her beloved garden.
It is my hope that we can all share with each other, the things we should look out for, both inside and out.
What are the things you want to remind us all to check for our parents?
Let us as a community create a check list, so that things like this don't happen to our own parents!