This will be especially relevant to carpeted or rug-covered floors, which can often be more moveable than one might desire. One article, published by Men's Health Center, offers the instructions to "fix carpet edges to the floor - avoid loose rugs and mats and make sure any uncovered floors are not polished too highly. Ensure all handles, railings and banisters are firmly fastened." (Health & Age, 1)
With respect to handles and rails, this helps to direct our attention toward how best to outfit transitional flooring between rooms. Railings and handles for level hallways is an effective way to provide extra support as one breaches the threshold of a carpeted room from the lower gradient of an uncovered surface. Wherever possible, however, transitional gradients will be avoided, with carpeting running through rooms at a uniform rise, reducing the need to prepare for transitional steps. Again, however, where transitions do exist, we would use banisters to help cross through doorways and thresholds.
In addition to the flooring, the facility in question will require seating which is especially design to meet the unique safety requirements of the elderly. The research here denotes that often specialized seating will be necessary in order to accommodate the many seniors who will spend significant portions of their day bound to a seat. As the research finds, in such instances, "a prescribed seating solution will help prevent/correct deformities, increase functional ability and improve sociability. Proper seating will also prevent pressure sores and may assist in improving a client's medical status by enhancing their swallowing and breathing ability." (Brennan Occupational Therapy, 1)
For these purposes, as with flooring, an issue of great importance will be the use of non-slip materials for the upholstering of chairs. Therefore, hard plastics are not recommended. Micro-fiber cushioned seats provide some degree of cushioning as well as the capacity for the needed variance in firmness and a non-slip surface...
(SS, 1)
Another suggested approach to providing safe seating is through the affixing of handles and railings to seats. In particular, especially for the placement in the rooms of those residents who are capable of sitting upright, chairs with rails and inbuilt folding table surfaces can help to facilitate a better digestive habituation. Rails affixed to chairs both in rooms and in common areas will also help to provide the additionally required degree of safety against falls and injuries.
The assisting-living facility will, in general, benefit from the facilitation of higher degrees of personal independence amongst patients, even as the staff takes a great level of interest in providing oversight. The need for the elderly to feel confident and vital can be greatly enhanced by providing the proper furniture and flooring to allow self-ambulatory activity and the capacity to rise from and return to a seated position under one's own power.
The modifications suggested here would be guided by the standards committed to us by federal, state and relevant local legislation and would be intended to provide the highest possible standard of living to all facility residents.
Works Cited
Brennan Occupational Therapy. (2006). Seating for the Elderly. Brennan OT. Online at http://www.occupationaltherapist.ie/seating.html
Health and Age. (2006). Physical Safety for the Elderly at Home. Men's Health Center. Online at http://www.healthandage.com/Home/gm=0!gc=28!gid7=960
Minns, R.J. (1999). CAN FLOORING and UNDERLAY MATERIALS REDUCE the NUMBER of HIP FRACTURES in the ELDERLY? Regional medical Physics Department, Newcastle General Hospital.
Seniors Superstore (SS). (2008). Safety products for seniors and elderly, safety products for around the house and on the go. Online at http://www.seniorssuperstores.com/cart/html/Products/SAFETY-PRODUCTS
