How to create a dementia friendly home

Dementia can cause a number of changes in the brain and body that can affect safety and, depending on the stage of the disease, it can affect your judgment, behaviour, balance, sense of time and place, and your vision, hearing, sensitivity and depth perception.

If you put safety measures in place, which can range from installing aids such as curved stairlifts to simple safety devices, then an individual living with dementia can continue to live in the comfort of their own home.

There are lots of dementia-friendly home ideas and adaptions you can consider, and this article takes a look at some of the things you can do to help an individual living with the disease to continue to live in their own home.

Dementia home safety checklist

• Remove trip hazards
• Install a mobility aid
• Keep your home well lit
• Make a list of emergency numbers
• Make the kitchen safe
• Get help to keep safe
• Watch the temperature of water and food
• Assess the safety of all the rooms

Remove trip hazards

One very easy way to make a home safer for dementia sufferers is to remove trip hazards as this can be a huge obstacle for anyone who is unsteady on their feet.

Removing things like throw rugs, extension cords, and other excessive clutter that could be a tripping hazard from the floor is a quick and simple way to instantly make a home more dementia friendly.

Angela Mahepath, an Admiral Nurse at Dementia UK, told us a bit more about how removing trip hazards can help dementia sufferers.

“Trips and falls are common accidents in the home, particularly for a person living with dementia. This is because dementia can affect memory and the ability to coordinate, recognise objects, and interpret the environment and surroundings. With some simple adjustments, you can make a home easier to manage and more accessible; this not only helps the person with dementia to maintain their independence for longer, but it can also minimise distress and frustration.

“Depending on the person with dementia and the specific issues they might be experiencing regarding mobility around the home, there are some changes that could be made to make it easier to move around.

“For example, you could remove rugs — particularly for those who tend to shuffle when walking. You could also correct uneven flooring for someone who may have difficulty identifying an uneven floor due to their reduced capacity of judgement and spatial awareness.”

Install a mobility aid

As spatial awareness and judgement reduce for people who suffer from dementia, it can mean that they struggle with their mobility. This means that stairs in their home and baths and showers can become big obstacles, especially if dementia has affected their mobility.

That is why installing mobility aids such as stairlifts can help them to live independently and continue to use all areas of their home. There are lots of other aids and assistive technology which can help a dementia sufferer whose mobility has been affected and this includes grab bars, sticks or mobility scooters to help them get around whilst they are out and about.

Angela Mahepath adds: “Retaining the person’s sense of home and integrating their personal belongings and style can help to promote the feeling of being in a safe and familiar environment. This can reduce any discomfort the person with dementia might be experiencing whilst navigating their home.

“If you need advice or support around making your home accessible for a person with dementia, you can visit dementiauk.org/get-support for information resources and to find out how to access our national Helpline and Clinics services.”

When discussing devices, it is also worth mentioning that you should make sure devices such as carbon monoxide and smoke detectors are all in working order and are inspected regularly. It is recommended that you replace batteries twice a year.

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Keep your home well lit

Changes in levels of light can be disorienting for someone with dementia and it is important to have good lighting, especially in certain areas of a property.

Adding extra lights on outside landings, areas between rooms, stairways, bathrooms and at the front or back door are important. You should also consider buying night lights in hallways, bedrooms and bathrooms as this will help people to see at night but won’t be too bright that it causes them to become disorientated.

During the day, you should also try to let as much natural light in as possible as this will stop you or a loved one from tripping over anything in dark rooms.

Angela Mahepath from Dementia UK agrees that it is important to let light in. She said: “It is also beneficial to ensure good light is accessible for the person with dementia, with light switches clearly highlighted in a contrasting colour.”

Make a list of emergency numbers

If a loved one has dementia, then it is important that you are prepared for emergencies and one way to do this is to keep a list of emergency phone numbers and addresses. This could range from the local police, fire departments, hospitals and friends and family.

Alzheimer’s Society has spoken a bit more about the importance of listing emergency numbers: “Keep a list of emergency phone numbers near the telephone. You could also store important names and numbers on the phone, so you don’t need to dial the numbers.”

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Make the kitchen safe

If you know a person living with dementia, then one room that you will need to make safe is the kitchen as there are lots of safety hazards that can be harmful.

You should use appliances that have automatic shut-off features, consider using safety items such as stove knob covers. You can also get rid of plants and decorative fruits from the kitchen as they can confuse people suffering from dementia.

If you keep medication and vitamins in your cupboards and drawers in the kitchen with other utensils, then it is worth moving these into their own drawer or cupboard. It is important to keep these in a safe place and sometimes people keep them in a locked cupboard which can only be accessed by a carer to ensure a dementia sufferer does not accidentally take the wrong tablets or medication.

To help ensure that medications are taken safely, use a pill box organizer or keep a daily list and check off each medication as it is taken.

Get help to keep safe

If you or a loved one is suffering from dementia you should talk to other family and friends about what they can do to help you.

They can help you to stay safe by checking in on you regularly or neighbours could help you with simple tasks such as getting items off of high shelves or stuff that has been stored in an attic or loft.

Leaving a spare set of keys with a friend or relative that lives close to a dementia sufferer is a good idea in case of an emergency. Alternatively, you could have a key safe fitted to an outside wall instead that contains a set of house keys. Then you can give a code to friends or family members should they ever need to enter the house.

Watch the temperature of water and food

For someone living with dementia, it can be difficult for them to tell the difference between hot and cold and it is therefore worth considering installing an automatic thermometer for the temperature of the water.

If you are cooking for somebody living with dementia, then you should always test the temperature of foods and beverages before you serve it out.

Whilst on the topic of food, it is important that dementia sufferers are getting proper nutrition to keep the body strong and healthy. If a loved one is living at home, you should check that they are getting a balanced diet and that a carer is including vegetables, fruit, protein and whole grains within their diet.

Rachael, the author of the blog Dementia By Day and someone who is a dementia care expert, has spoken about what dementia care homes do to make dining experiences better for people living with the condition.

“Here are a few things communities can do to immediately improve their dementia care dining:

• Offer red plates > plain, off-white ones. Red plates stand out and help the food stand out and look more appetizing.
• Get puree moulds. These are moulds that allow food to actually LOOK like what it really is. These make puree foods SO much more appealing!
• Provide background music. Have you ever been to a quiet restaurant? (It’s weird.)
• Offer utensils and equipment that meet the needs of your residents! Not everyone can use a normal plate without making a mess: try a plate guard.
• Offer 2 choices. 2 choices are perfect: residents with dementia can still choose which they’d like to eat without being overwhelmed.”

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Assess the safety of all the rooms

We have touched on ensuring the kitchen is safe, but to make a dementia-friendly home you need all the rooms in a property to be safe.

That’s why it is important that carers assess the safety of all the rooms in the home of a person living with dementia. You should assess the safety of the bedroom by ensuring that shelves are at an accessible height and checking that if someone is using items like electric blankets that they are working properly.

Making sure that chemicals and cleaning products are out of sight and secured properly is something else you will need to consider if you are looking after a loved one with dementia as this will help avoid the possible ingestion of harmful chemicals.

There are usually lots of safety hazards in garages or basements and you will need to make sure any poisonous chemicals like weed killer or paint thinner are locked away and that lawn mowers and trimmers are safely stored.

Bathrooms can also be full of safety hazards and from ensuring that the bathroom door can be unlocked from the outside so that people living with dementia don’t lock themselves in, to installing walk-in showers, there are lots of things you can do. There are even toilets that are made dementia friendly, that not only include easy to use toilet seats but ones that come with grab bars.

If you have a family member or a friend living with dementia, then these tips will give you a few ideas about how you can support them.

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