By Kerry Knight
Ah ... Home, sweet home. We normally think that once we arrive home after a day at the office, or shopping, or traveling, or just out-and-about that "we're back home, safe and sound."
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| Photo Credit: tahoecertifiedhomeinspections.com |
Yet accidents can and do happen anywhere in
our homes and apartments. You can trip
and fall down the stairs. You can open a
closet or cabinet and have an object fall on you. The list is of potential home accidents is long and oftentimes disconcerting.
In the United States, injury is the leading
cause of death among children and young adults and nearly half of these
accidents occur in the home, according to the National Safety Council. That same group states that in 2002, there
were more than 33,000 deaths and eight million disabling injuries that occurred
in the home. That makes one death every
16 minutes and one disabling home injury every four seconds. When it comes to injury and death in home
accidents, the leading culprits are falls, toxins and suffocation by ingested
objects or smoke inhalation. Poisoning
is the number one cause of death, which claimed the lives of 12,500 in 2002
alone in the United States.
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| Photo Credit: studentswithlearningdifficulties.blogspot.com |
What are the two most dangerous
rooms in your house? While accidents can
happen anywhere, there are a couple of rooms that create greater chances for an
accident than others. What are the two
most dangerous rooms in your house? One is
the kitchen. The other is the bathroom.
Each year in this country, more
than 100,000 people go to the hospital due to a scalding injury. This can happen in the kitchen or the
bath. Hot water alone causes 3,800
injuries and 34 deaths each year in the U.S.
Water boils at 212° Fahrenheit. It only takes a little more than one
second of skin contact with 150°F degree water to create third-degree burns.
Case in point: A couple of years
ago, I was getting some gourmet soup out of the microwave when the plastic lid
popped off, causing the scalding cream of portabella mushroom soup to pour on to
my right forearm and hand. Did it ever
hurt! I ended up going to the ER that night because I was in such pain. I was
lucky, though. One of the ER docs had told me I’d lose dexterity in my fingers
due to scar tissue, but that never happened. Yet even today, if you look closely, you can
still see some visible scars.
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| Photo Credit: lifehacker.com |
Modern gas ranges are a little
safer than they were 50 years ago. But even cooking and baking ware can become
dangerous. For example, a glass casserole dish left on the range top can
explode, jettisoning sharp shards of glass and hot food stuffs everywhere. Harmful cleaning products under the sink can
put children (and pets) at risk. Even sinks and faucets can become dangerous if
the water temperature is set too high. I have a neighbor who burned her hand
while doing the dishes.
There is also an invisible killer
in the kitchen – bacteria.
Cross-contamination with raw chicken is a known culprit. Wiping down table tops and counter tops with
the same cloth can spread contaminants.
The worse might be the sponge you keep near or in the kitchen sink. E-coli and salmonella are more common than
you think. (Change your sponge often.)
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| Photo Credit: opticstalk.com |
The bathroom offers its own set
of harmful conditions. In addition to
having the hot water gauge set too high, causing one to burn themselves while
using the sink, shower or bathtub, by its very design material-wise, the
bathroom can be a formidable environment. Think about it: almost every surface in the
bathroom is hard and unyielding. If one
were to fall and hit a part of their body, particularly their face and head on
the edge of the sink, toilet, bathtub, shelf, even the edge of a towel rack,
a serious injury may ensue.
Mirrors and other items such as
cups and glass containers (for cotton, Q-tips, etc.) can break to become a
dangerous lacerating object. My cousin once inadvertently knocked the overhead light fixture near the sink with her hair brush. It broke into numerous shards of glass, which came raining down on her ... a potentially dangerous accident.
While we often think of falls in
the bathroom as an issue only for the elderly, it’s a problem we all face
daily. A slippery surface combined with
wet and soapy conditions can lead to a fall and injury for anyone, regardless
of age. According to a Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study, nearly a quarter of a million
Americans age 15 and older fall in the bathroom every year. That’s a staggering number when you consider just
how much a bad fall can ruin your life. For example:
- In 2010, direct medical costs related to falls were $30 billion.
- One out of every three adults aged 65 and older fall every year.
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| Photo Credit: averyfinehome.com |
- In 2010, 2.3 million fall injuries among older adults were treated in emergency rooms.
Even with all these sobering statistics,
most people are reluctant to install grab bars in the bathroom. Perhaps that’s because of pride, vanity or
stubbornness. After all, no one wants
their home to look like an institutionalized hospital room.
But there is some good news … One
of the newest and best-received innovations of the last 12 years is the Walk-in
Bathtub. This one invention solves many
problems related to safety and independent care, especially for seniors. These freestanding tubs are attractive and
are sturdily built. Made of shiny marine-grade
fiberglass with gel coat on a stainless steel frame, they can be placed in the
same spot where your old drop-in bathtub once stood. They come with beautiful chrome faucet,
controls, drain, overflow and a hand-held shower sprayer. One real positive feature ― and one that
significantly increases the safety factor of any bathroom ― is the Walk-in
Tub’s watertight door. You can get in and
out of the tub easily through its wide door that seals perfectly and its
threshold step is a mere six inches high.
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| Photo Credit: tubking.com |
You can fill the tub to cover your
back while seated and bathe yourself, without help from anyone else. It also has a chrome grab bar inside the tub to
assist the occupant in getting up and down.
In addition to its low-threshold access and egress, the slip-resistant
floor and seat also add to the safety aspect of the tub. The seat is normally ADA compliant (17
inches, which means there’s little or no strain on the back.
As far as other features go, you can
add air-jetted hydrotherapy and water jet massage to the features, along with
an inline heater to keep the water warm.
Someone once commented to me, “This Walk-in Tub is like an amusement
park for bathing.” The important thing
is the Walk-in Tub helps tremendously by making the bathtub area and the bathroom-at-large
safer.
There are many things that can be
done to make your home a safer place, not only for seniors, but for
everyone. Take the time to do an
inventory of how you can make improvements. And keep in mind that one of the
best investments you can make for your own safety (or for someone you love) is
to invest in a Walk-in Tub.
In this article, I discussed some of the inherent dangers and accidents that can frequently happen in one's own home. I pointed out that the kitchen and bathroom are potentially the two most dangerous rooms in the house and why. I also explained why obtaining a Walk-in Tub greatly enhances the safety of one's bathroom, and gave an overview of its safety features and advantages.
If you found this article useful,
please share it with your family, friends and co-workers. If you have a comment
related to this article, leave it in the Comment section of this blog. Thanks again for visiting with
us.
Walk-in Tubs: Great for Seniors ... And Everyone Else.
If you’d like to receive
a FREE Walk-In Tub Buyers’
Guide, click here. Have a question? Feel free to contact me at the
number or email listed at the end of this article and I’ll personally get back
to you. It’s been my pleasure sharing this information with you. Happy Thanksgiving!
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| Check Out Our End-of-the-Year Sale on Walk-in Tubs. Click Here for More Info. |
Alan and Kerry Knight are the
owners of Tub King, Inc., and SeniorBathtub.com in Jacksonville,
Florida. Together they have many years of experience in the antique and
senior bathtub industries. Their companies not only provide superior products,
they are also award winners, receiving the “Best of Jacksonville Chamber Award”
four years running. If you’d like to contact them, call (800) 409-3375 or (800)
843-4231; or send an email to Alan@tubking.com.
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