Good Home Security For Senior Citizens
With advancements in medicine, nutrition and psychology, senior citizens are staying fit and independent much later in life than ever before.
This means many are living on their own, or living with their spouse for many years.
While you may be entirely capable of living alone, there are many outside factors that can affect your ability to stay safe at home.
An example is the threat of intrusion.
While it's a shame the world has to think this way, there are many individuals out there who think of a senior citizen's residence as an easy target.
Although the home of a senior citizen is unlikely to have the electronics and petty cash of another family or young professional's residence, there are other things thieves want like medications, valuable jewelry, and large stashes of cash that many senior's keep around the home.
In general, burglars want to go undetected.
However, in the home of a senior citizen that may have an impaired ability to see or hear, it is easy to get inside and physically overpower the resident.
For this very reason, seniors have to think differently about how to maintain good home security.
For starters, installing a home security system isn't always good enough.
A senior citizen must think about the features available on the system, for example, is 24/7 customer care available? It is likely that a senior citizen will be unable to move quickly enough to barricade him or herself in one area of the house long enough to alert the police, therefore, a security system that also automatically alters authorities will be important.
Another feature that shouldn't be overlooked is that of a panic button.
Today, many seniors have such a button that they wear either on their wrist or around their neck.
Just pushing this button immediately sends authorities to your home to help.
This is helpful not only in the event of a home intrusion, but in the event of a slip, trip or fall.
Many of the accidents that result in injuries of deaths when it comes to independently living seniors are preventable, or minor, but become serious due to the inability to call for help.
Always make sure there is a way to summon help from anywhere in the house.
Finally, it is important to surround your home with good home security measures.
Make sure all the doors and windows have excellent locks.
In addition to a security system in the home, try installing a driveway or perimeter alarm, which sounds a pleasant sounding chime anytime someone enters the property.
This will give the resident plenty of time to get up and check out what's going on without feeling rushed or panicked.
Install a peephole or video monitor at the front door or gate, so that it is always easy to see who is at the door before opening it.
At the end of the day, senior citizens must use all the same basic security measures at anyone else, but it will be more important that there is an alternative means to call for help besides relying on making it to the telephone.
This means many are living on their own, or living with their spouse for many years.
While you may be entirely capable of living alone, there are many outside factors that can affect your ability to stay safe at home.
An example is the threat of intrusion.
While it's a shame the world has to think this way, there are many individuals out there who think of a senior citizen's residence as an easy target.
Although the home of a senior citizen is unlikely to have the electronics and petty cash of another family or young professional's residence, there are other things thieves want like medications, valuable jewelry, and large stashes of cash that many senior's keep around the home.
In general, burglars want to go undetected.
However, in the home of a senior citizen that may have an impaired ability to see or hear, it is easy to get inside and physically overpower the resident.
For this very reason, seniors have to think differently about how to maintain good home security.
For starters, installing a home security system isn't always good enough.
A senior citizen must think about the features available on the system, for example, is 24/7 customer care available? It is likely that a senior citizen will be unable to move quickly enough to barricade him or herself in one area of the house long enough to alert the police, therefore, a security system that also automatically alters authorities will be important.
Another feature that shouldn't be overlooked is that of a panic button.
Today, many seniors have such a button that they wear either on their wrist or around their neck.
Just pushing this button immediately sends authorities to your home to help.
This is helpful not only in the event of a home intrusion, but in the event of a slip, trip or fall.
Many of the accidents that result in injuries of deaths when it comes to independently living seniors are preventable, or minor, but become serious due to the inability to call for help.
Always make sure there is a way to summon help from anywhere in the house.
Finally, it is important to surround your home with good home security measures.
Make sure all the doors and windows have excellent locks.
In addition to a security system in the home, try installing a driveway or perimeter alarm, which sounds a pleasant sounding chime anytime someone enters the property.
This will give the resident plenty of time to get up and check out what's going on without feeling rushed or panicked.
Install a peephole or video monitor at the front door or gate, so that it is always easy to see who is at the door before opening it.
At the end of the day, senior citizens must use all the same basic security measures at anyone else, but it will be more important that there is an alternative means to call for help besides relying on making it to the telephone.
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