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	It is beneficial for many senior citizens to engage in physical activity such as walking.<ref name="Lu">Lu, Zhipeng., Rodiek, S. D., Shepley, M. M., & Duffy, M. (2011). Influences of physical environment on corridor walking among assisted living residents: Findings from focus group discussions. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 30, 463-484.</ref> For residents of assisted living facilities to acquire optimal freedom, these living facilities must be built safely. Facilities need to install items such as wider hallways, secure handrails, and chairs in their hallways to provide residents with the option of walking by themselves in the safest way possible.<ref name="Lu"/> Not only do wider hallways promote walking, but they also make it safer for an emergency evacuation, which is a concern that was discussed earlier. Carpeted flooring was also shown to make residents of assisted living facilities feel safer since it was easier for them to walk on.<ref name="Lu"/> Another way to increase the safety in these facilities is to provide enough staff to take care of the residents in a safe and secure manner.<ref name="Kissam"/>Staff should be guided to enforce policies that ensure residents stay safe since many are not able to make the appropriate choices for themselves, yet residents should be allowed to make decisions on their own when they are able.<ref name="Kissam"/>		It is beneficial for many senior citizens to engage in physical activity such as walking.<ref name="Lu">Lu, Zhipeng., Rodiek, S. D., Shepley, M. M., & Duffy, M. (2011). Influences of physical environment on corridor walking among assisted living residents: Findings from focus group discussions. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 30, 463-484.</ref> For residents of assisted living facilities to acquire optimal freedom, these living facilities must be built safely. Facilities need to install items such as wider hallways, secure handrails, and chairs in their hallways to provide residents with the option of walking by themselves in the safest way possible.<ref name="Lu"/> Not only do wider hallways promote walking, but they also make it safer for an emergency evacuation, which is a concern that was discussed earlier. Carpeted flooring was also shown to make residents of assisted living facilities feel safer since it was easier for them to walk on.<ref name="Lu"/> Another way to increase the safety in these facilities is to provide enough staff to take care of the residents in a safe and secure manner.<ref name="Kissam"/>Staff should be guided to enforce policies that ensure residents stay safe since many are not able to make the appropriate choices for themselves, yet residents should be allowed to make decisions on their own when they are able.<ref name="Kissam"/>
-	Hypertension increases with age in a majority of seniors.<ref name="Bishop"/> If we make certain changes to the assisted living facilities to increase safety, hypertension may not increase as severely because they do not need to worry about safety issues. Doors that need a code to open or railings in the bathrooms are just a few minor modifications that should be considered. If facilities have the appropriate amount of staff and the staff are aware of their expected roles, the care in these facilities will be much more beneficial to the aging residents.<ref name="Kissam"/>	+	Hypertension increases with age in a majority of seniors.<ref name="Bishop"/> If we make certain changes to the assisted living facilities to increase safety, hypertension may not increase as severely because the residents do not need to worry about safety issues. Doors that need a code to open or railings in the bathrooms are just a few minor modifications that should be considered. If facilities have the appropriate amount of staff and the staff are aware of their expected roles, the care in these facilities will be much more beneficial to the aging residents.<ref name="Kissam"/>

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Revision as of 23:31, 31 October 2011

Contents 1 Considerations in the Design of an Assisted Living Facility: Group 8 2 Safety in Assisted Living Facilities for the Elderly 2.1 Evacuation Safety 2.2 Fire Safety 2.3 General Safety within the Facility 2.4 Notes and References

Considerations in the Design of an Assisted Living Facility: Group 8

• 1. Alyssa Marconi
• 2. Shelby Agnew
• 3. Roland

Safety in Assisted Living Facilities for the Elderly

Many residents in assisted living facilities demonstrate declining cognitive functions due to natural causes such as age, and diseases such as dementia. This increases the importance of providing paramount safety in these buildings for tenants. The changing and declining cognitive functions of these residents are not always predictable and make it difficult to assess which residents need more assistance for their optimal safety.^[1] Safety considerations when building the facility needs to be increased in areas such as evacuation, fire safety, and general safety within the facility.

Senior citizen after Hurricane Katrina.	Evacuated after Hurricane Katrina.	Nursing home after Hurricane Katrina, 31 residents died.	34 deaths in a nursing home after Hurricane Katrina.
Fire in Russia nursing home killed 62 people.	Nursing home room after Hurricane Katrina.	Remains of nursing home from Missouri tornado.

Evacuation Safety

Natural disasters, such as hurricanes and earthquakes, may create a need to evacuate residents from their rooms in assisted living facilities. In the past, many people in assisted living facilities have died due to poor evacuation efforts and immobility issues.^[2] During Hurricane Katrina, 139 seniors in assisted living facilities did not survive, which shows that future preparation is imperative.^[2] The fact that cognitive decline impairs a number of these residents from making informed and prompt decisions on what to do in an emergency situation is enough of a reason alone to increase the planning for natural disasters.^[3] With various brain pathways having slower connections to each other, a pre-informed resident will have time to process what is going on and what is going to happen subsequently when a disaster strikes since they have more time to reflect on the information.^[3] If the state regulates disaster planning, aids in making the arrangements, and ensures the staff and residents are aware of the plan, then assisted living facilities will have a greater chance to efficiently get all of the residents to safety like in this Japanese nursing home.^[4]

Fire Safety

Seniors and older adults have the highest risk of death in the case of a fire.^[5] The reasons for this high risk include issues such as lack of fire safety knowledge, hearing problems, building design, and mobility issues.^[5] Many of these issues are a result of cognitive decline in the aging patients. Furthermore, the staff-to-patient ratio (which is magnified in the evenings) does not provide enough assistance for all of the residents to evacuate if there were a fire emergency.^[5] This statistic should be a major concern for assisted living facilities in which high ratios of seniors live together. As most people know, the population of seniors is growing rapidly and they are expected to represent at least twenty percent of the population in the United States by 2050.^[5] Measures need to be taken to reduce these safety risks before the amount of seniors in these facilities expands and it is too late. Educating residents about fire safety and planning safe routes of escape is one way to reduce this threat. However, as many residents have difficulties with memory, this must be done several times which may become costly and time consuming.^[5] In addition to these safety measures, if fire alarms were installed that residents with hearing deficiencies can detect, it would greatly improve their chances of surviving a fire.

General Safety within the Facility

It is beneficial for many senior citizens to engage in physical activity such as walking.^[6] For residents of assisted living facilities to acquire optimal freedom, these living facilities must be built safely. Facilities need to install items such as wider hallways, secure handrails, and chairs in their hallways to provide residents with the option of walking by themselves in the safest way possible.^[6] Not only do wider hallways promote walking, but they also make it safer for an emergency evacuation, which is a concern that was discussed earlier. Carpeted flooring was also shown to make residents of assisted living facilities feel safer since it was easier for them to walk on.^[6] Another way to increase the safety in these facilities is to provide enough staff to take care of the residents in a safe and secure manner.^[1]Staff should be guided to enforce policies that ensure residents stay safe since many are not able to make the appropriate choices for themselves, yet residents should be allowed to make decisions on their own when they are able.^[1]

Hypertension increases with age in a majority of seniors.^[3] If we make certain changes to the assisted living facilities to increase safety, hypertension may not increase as severely because the residents do not need to worry about safety issues. Doors that need a code to open or railings in the bathrooms are just a few minor modifications that should be considered. If facilities have the appropriate amount of staff and the staff are aware of their expected roles, the care in these facilities will be much more beneficial to the aging residents.^[1]

--Sa09ox 13:30, 31 October 2011 (EDT)

Notes and References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Kissam, S., Gifford, D. R., Mor, V., & Patry, G. (2003). Admission and continued-stay criteria for assisted living facilities. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 51(11), 1651-1654.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Hyer, K., Polivka-West, L., & Brown, L. M. (2007). Nursing homes and assisted living facilities: Planning and decision making for sheltering in place or evacuation. Generations, 31, 29-33.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Bishop, N. A., Lu, T., & Yankner, B. A. (2010). Neural mechanisms of ageing and cognitive decline. Nature, 464, 529-535.
4. ↑ Brown, L. M., Hyer, K., & Polivka-West, L. (2007). A comparative study of laws, rules, codes and other influences on nursing homes’ disaster preparedness in the gulf coast states. Behavioural Sciences and the Law, 25, 655-675.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4} Jaslow, D., Ufberg, J., Yoon, R., McQueen, C., Zecher, D., & Jakubowski, G. (2005). Fire safety knowledge and practices among residents of an assisted living facility. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 20, 134-138.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} Lu, Zhipeng., Rodiek, S. D., Shepley, M. M., & Duffy, M. (2011). Influences of physical environment on corridor walking among assisted living residents: Findings from focus group discussions. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 30, 463-484.