Keeping Your Loved Ones Safe

We live in a world that is not the same as it was just 30 years ago. The reasons can be debated and discussed till the return of our savior. However, there are many new dangers that our parents and grandparents would never have thought of just a few years ago. So how do you keep your loved ones safe in times like these? How do you keep your senior loved ones safe and not have them think you are lording over them?

Talk

One of the most reliable ways of helping your parents out is by simply talking to them. Now that isn’t talking at them but sharing thoughts about the topic. If it is a discussion over scams, allow your mom to express her thoughts and concerns.

It’s not easy but having open discussions is needed so your parents will turn to you when they need advice. Those discussions help with the connection and trust required by your parents to open up when they aren’t sure what to do. It’s not that they don’t trust you. It’s that they have their own egos that show up. Your parents don’t want to feel as if they are beholden to their kids.

Having these discussions help keep the dreaded diapered butt syndrome from arising. What is Diapered Butt Syndrome you ask? It is the feeling one gets when they are being told what to do by someone that you diapered their butt. It is the I don’t need to listen to you, I’m your parent. So you have to make suggestions in a more gentle way. Because much like our teens if we want them to come to us we have to do the work of showing them they can trust us.

Dangers to avoid

As mentioned earlier there are a lot of dangers in the world. Now, are they more than before? That I honestly don’t know. I do think they get reported more often now. yet something tells me that most of the crimes are not an increase they have just changed their shape. Even if that is the case we have to keep vigil for our parent’s sake.

Scammers

They used to be known as Con Artists and this is the biggest issue now. There are whole companies dedicated to scaring our parents so that they send over large amounts of money to them. Now the vast majority of Scam call centers are in India and Pakistan and they have managed to scam $29.8 Billion from folks over here in the USA. If you look at the charts it shows that more men actually succumb to the scam than women and men in the 35-44 range are the most susceptible. So again this is why our parents have diapered butt syndrome. The children of the elderly are the ones often falling prey to scammers. If they can fall for scams your parents can too.

Learn to spot a scam. The government won’t call you. They will just send agents to your door or send a letter through the mail. Whey will not call they will not text. If it is too good to be true, then accept that it is. If you even slightly suspect it to be a scam then hang up and call the organization back from the main number.

natural hazards

There are advantages to staying home. The big one is that you are normally safer at home than you are away. However, even inside your home here n western Oklahoma you can face danger from mother nature.

Ice

In the wintertime, it is almost guaranteed that we will have 1 if not 2 ice storms each year. Those ice storms also have wind associated with them and the weight of the ice and the wind blowing is often enough to cause you to spend a very cold night in a house with no electricity.

So what do you do? the best solution is that if you find out that your loved one is suffering a power outage in an ice storm find shelter for them. If you are able to get to them then do so. Driving on the roads is a huge hazard but our cold can be extra hard on older people.

Our Western Oklahoma winds don’t do us any favors either. That wind creates windchill and at 10 degrees and a 35-40 mph wind, you are looking at frostbite in a very short amount of time. That wind also sweeps away the heat our houses are trying to hold on to so during an ice storm a seniors home can get too cold.

Then if they have their electricity still on at times they still will have the house colder than it needs to be to save money. So it is better if you know that an ice storm is coming in than the day before why not let mom come and have a visit at your house for a few days till everything is done?

Excessive Heat

Just as we can and often have sub-zero weather in the winter, we can also have very high heat in the summers. Now the heat is actually safer than the cold, however, too many people get themselves into trouble because they are trying to do way too much in the hot weather. Now, this doesn’t always mean working outside. When a senior citizen is trying to save money one of the first things they will do is cut back on electricity use. This means they will use just a fan and a wet bed sheet instead of their air conditioner.

Now western Oklahoma often has dry heat but there are times when our humidity can get up. That is even more trouble because you now are adding a heat index to the mix and you start seeing how even if you are using a tried and true swamp cooler it becomes a challenge to stay cool enough.

Severe weather

Not only does Western Oklahoma get extreme weather swings we get some fairly wild weather too. From windstorms and Downbursts that can reach over 60 miles an hour. Yet we have all the weather one can imagine. Some weather events are scarier than others.

Tornadoes

This is the big one that scares most people because folks have died from the debris being thrown around by the 100+ mph winds in a tornado. Then you see the aftermath.

In the spring we have most of our tornado activity, however, we can have a tornado at any time of the day on any day of the year in any place in the country. It just takes the right mixture of hot and cold air moving beside each other and down drops a twister.

So when we are in severe weather season it is good to have a weather radio on and turned up. Take the time to see where it is best for your loved one to be if a tornado was to strike. Make sure it is a place where they can get to without your help. many people think of the bathroom but can your mom carry a mattress with her to the bathtub? Not easily. So unless you know for a fact that you are going to be there. Find someplace safe that you don’t have to be present.

Lightning and Hail storms

Finally wanted to also cover lightning and hail storms. The lighting is a given but we also have hail. Now granted most of the time our hail is small little pea-sized chunks of ice that won’t hurt you but can sting. We have had golfball-sized hail on many occasions and even some baseball and softball-sized hail before. Those pieces of ice can cave a skull in right quick. So our thunderstorms can be dangerous though they are beautiful to behold.

So with all things in life, we have risks that we have to access. Yet when you know what the risks are you can help those you love to prepare for the assorted dangers that may arise in their life. You can show them how much you care about them and will keep them safer for longer. You also are able to build a stronger bond with your parents as you talk to them and share your thoughts and accept their thoughts.

using a companion service

Then there are other ways you can help your loved ones who are getting older. Using a companion service like Above All Home Care allows you to be able to attend to your business and allows your elderly loved one the freedom to live their life. Yet if any weather or other hazards were to show up we are able to jump into action and help keep your loved one safe.