Being safe while being outside is an important step in keeping your loved one protected during these winter months. Here are a few tips for cold weather preparedness and how senior home care can help protect your parent from the dangers of cold temperatures.
Two Cold Weather Dangers for Seniors
Anyone can be negatively affected by the cold, but seniors often react more quickly to adverse temperatures because their bodies are not as easily able to stay warm or protect themselves.
- Frostbite. Frostbite occurs when the skin is damaged due to exposure to frigid temperatures. The elderly are more susceptible to it due to poor blood circulation, a fairly common condition in the elderly. Frostbite can lead to a loss of feeling in the extremities like the fingers, toes, nose, and ears fairly quickly on the coldest of days. If areas of the body develop an acute case of frostbite, permanent damage may occur to skin and muscle.
- Hypothermia. This condition occurs when the body’s core temperature drops below 95 degrees. It can easily occur if your loved one is exposed to the cold winter air for an extended period and may lead to confusion, a slowing heart rate, and eventually death.
Seven Steps Your Loved Should Take to Protect Herself from the Cold Outside
Some of these steps your loved one can take on her own, for others she might need help from a family member or a senior home care provider. Whenever she’s going to be outside (even for a short period), she should always be prepared and protected.
- Check a weather channel or app for up-to-date conditions before heading out the door. Even if your loved one was out earlier, she should check for the weather forecast for the next few hours while she is out. Remind her to not just check the temperature, but to also look at the wind chill temperatures because, in winter, a windy day can make a 30-degree day feel like 5 degrees easily.
- Tell someone where she’s going and when. If your loved one is not traveling with a family member or her senior home care provider, it’s always safest to let someone know where she’s going and when she expects to be home. Even a simple text to a family member can help if later she doesn’t arrive home when she should.
- On cold days, shorten the time outside. While a nice walk is great exercise, if the weather is too cold, it can be dangerous. Keep time spent outside on the coldest of days to a minimum.
- Dress in layers. Layers help the body to keep its natural warmth by trapping it next to the body. Don’t have her wrap up too tightly. Loose layers work best.
- Dress appropriately from head to toe. The less exposed skin your loved one has will help prevent her from developing frostbite. Ears, fingers, noses, etc. should all be covered if possible.
- Prepare the car. If your loved one is still driving during the winter months, make sure her car is plenty warm before she heads off for a journey. If her senior home care provider helps with rides, it can ensure she can step inside a warm car when heading out. Even so, she should also keep plenty of blankets and spare winter clothes in the car just in case it happens to break down somewhere and they have to wait for service.
- Always have a phone with her. That way if anything does go wrong, she can immediately call for help.
If you or an aging loved one is considering senior home care in Burr Ridge, IL, please contact the caring staff at Suburban Home Care today at (630) 964-9000.
The Amazing Staff at Suburban Home Care
Our agency is a Family Owned Small Business since 1995. We are fully licensed through the Illinois Department of Public Health and follow all of their policies and procedures. We are bonded and insured, allowing our clients peace of mind that they are fully protected when receiving care in their home.
There are several great reasons why Suburban Home Care® should be your choice for quality homecare. All of our Certified Nursing Assistants and Home Health Aides are screened, trained, bonded and insured.
Every family needs to be aware that almost every Homeowner’s insurance policy specifically excludes anyone working within your home. If the person you hire becomes injured while working for you, you will become personally responsible for all of their medical bills. This has left several families very vulnerable when their caregiver injured themselves at their home.
The potential to lose everything you have worked so hard to achieve seems an unnecessary risk. Every one of Suburban Home Care®’s employees are completely covered by insurance so you and your loved ones can relax knowing that if something unforeseen happens to your caregiver, they are completely covered by insurance.
There are several great reasons why Suburban Home Care® should be your choice for quality homecare. All of our Certified Nursing Assistants and Home Health Aides are screened, trained, bonded and insured.
Every family needs to be aware that almost every Homeowner’s insurance policy specifically excludes anyone working within your home. If the person you hire becomes injured while working for you, you will become personally responsible for all of their medical bills. This has left several families very vulnerable when their caregiver injured themselves at their home.
The potential to lose everything you have worked so hard to achieve seems an unnecessary risk. Every one of Suburban Home Care®’s employees are completely covered by insurance so you and your loved ones can relax knowing that if something unforeseen happens to your caregiver, they are completely covered by insurance.
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