Home Safety
How can Occupational Therapy assess if an individual is safe in their home?
Assess the Individual’s Abilities: An Occupational Therapist can assess the individual in their own home to determine their strengths and physical or mental challenges that may be causing safety issues.
Review their Roles:They will also assess the roles of the individual within their home. For example, Do they cook, take a bath, do laundry, cut the lawn, etc. or do they have help for these tasks?.
Home Assessment:The Occupational Therapist will then look at the home at the entrance, bathroom, bedroom kitchen, stairs, lighting, etc. to identify any safety issues.
The Occupational Therapist will then help to make these tasks and areas of the home safer by:
- teaching new techniques,
- recommending safety devices (eg. Grab bars, bath seats, wheelchair ramp, rocker knives, stair rails, etc.) or
- suggesting that the individual receive assistance for the tasks.
Home Accessibility
- Accessible housing is the term for housing which is accessible and functional for a person with a disability. The home can be designed with the individual’s disability in mind. For example, a house for someone who is blind and walking would have different accessibility features than a person who lives and performs from a wheelchair level.
- A home which is not accessible can be made accessible through recommendations by an Occupational Therapist, related to the individual’s functional needs and physical abilities in coordination with a designer/construction expert who can determine how the home can be modified, structurally.
- Modifications may be as simple as adding a ramp to a front door or grab bars in a tub but may be as complex as building or adding an addition on the home to provide a bedroom and bathroom that suits the individual or a kitchen re-design with wheelchair accessible counters, sink, fridge, stove, microwave, dishwasher and cupboards.
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