If you are a senior or are disabled, what does it mean for you to practice bug in safety? There are steps that you can take to prepare now to ensure that you are safe when bugging in, in your home – and you can do it with a minimum of funds.
What Is Bug In Safety
Learning about bugging in for new preppers can be intimidating at first, but that does not have to be the case. This is especially true for those that live by themselves, are seniors, or are disabled.
According to the American Preppers Network, there are 5 principles of preparedness. The one thing that I would add is that bug in safety is essential for any prepper. Whatever you do when prepping has to be done with safety in mind.
Bug In Preparedness for Seniors and Disabled
So, if we think about it, what are some things that our elder generation can do to practice bug in preparedness and keep themselves safe?
Tripping Hazards
1. Children are precious
Think about it. Your grandchildren are so very precious to you, aren’t they? But, they can get under your feet and cause you to have a very serious fall. This includes your four-legged children like cats and dogs. You need to constantly be watching so you don’t step on their tiny, tender feet and cause you to fall down. Another thing to watch out for are toys on the floor. It’s a good practice to teach the young ones to put their toys away.
2. Watch Out!
Throw rugs can be dangerous. They can bunch up and create wrinkles. That’s not all, however. It is very easy to trip on the edge or corner of a rug. Even going from a bare floor to a raised carpet in another room can cause problems for tripping.
What about that cane you use? If you have a pet that drinks out of his water bowl on a bare floor, please be very, very careful. Your cane can easily slip causing you to go sprawling.
Even your walker can prove to be a challenge. You might get the front wheels to go over a rug or carpet, but the back wheels can catch causing you to become unbalanced.
3. There you go!
Do you have office chairs that swivel and have wheels on them? We highly recommend you get chairs that do not have wheels or take them off. Then when you go to sit down, make sure you have the back of the chair against a desk or table, so it won’t move. Then back up to it so the back of your knees are touching it so you are practicing bug in safety.
Let’s stop a minute and think about senior bug in preparation and maintaining safety.
4. Help! I Can’t See!
Is your home well lit? Or do you go down the hall to the restroom in a darkened area. Stop that! What we do at Prepare to Bug In is we put extra flashlights throughout the house. We have a bookcase in a darkened hall, so we put an extra flashlight on one of the shelves so we can easily grab it.
You can also use stick on lights that are operated by batteries that you can put next to your basement stairs, closets, and other places. Some of them even use motion sensors.
5. Let’s move on to your bathroom.
I would be negligent if I didn’t mention your bathroom. Non-slip mats need to be put in your shower and bathtubs, and don’t forget to have handles installed that you can steady yourself when getting in and out of both places.
Home Safety Checklist
This blog post mainly focused on keeping seniors and handicapped people safe from falls. But, according to U.S. News, they have a home safety checklist for seniors that you really should take a look at.
The three other categories they discuss are the following:
1. Food and Nutrition
Senior citizens may not be able to handle themselves in the kitchen as well as they used to. Sometimes they may even have call to use kitchen construction tools because cream bottles or jars may be hard to open. Seniors may not have the strength or may have arthritis that make everyday jobs harder to handle.
Kitchen appliances become more of a challenge. It’s harder to reach the controls on stoves or seeing the numbers can be harder to read. If you don’t have a fire extinguisher in every room of your house, please make sure that you at least have one in your kitchen.
2. Decline of Communication Skills and Cognitive Function
Things that seniors and disabled used to be able to do may become harder. Their minds may slip which can cause confusion and stress. As a result, a feeling of being overwhelmed may occur.
3. Loss of Mobility
In the article I mentioned above for U.S. News, they indicate:
“Decreasing mobility can also create a different set of safety concerns,” Petersen says. “The inability to leave the house often leads to social isolation, as well as difficulty in doing routine tasks like grocery shopping and home maintenance.” In addition, “if a senior is not able to move around their house with minimal effort, daily tasks like cleaning become onerous for them. This lack of mobility leads to piles of laundry and other household clutter that become their own safety issues,” such as trip or fire hazards.”
Our suggestion would be to call in extra help such as a caregiver and having as much as possible delivered like your groceries.
There is a lot I have not covered. My advice to you if you are a senior or disabled individual can be summed up in to words. Be Careful!
Bug in safety is all about being aware of your surroundings and preparing your home as a safe haven – and doing it now! Senior bug in preparation is essential for seniors.
Updated 4/3/2024 Prepare to Bug In is a subsidiary of Borlok Virtual Assistants, LLC. Our mission is to learn as much as we can about bugging in and survival techniques and then to pass that information on to our readers. Enjoy!
