Heloise Show Segment

Heloise

Heloise, Columnist, Author

Given: May 22, 1996 at the AARP Biennial Convention-Denver, Colorado

Home Safety Lifestyle

PRESS CONFERENCE

These are Heloisey Hints to make your living space safer and I do it as, it's an investment. It's a good investment in your life because sometimes you look at something and you say, "Well, it's OK. It's always been that way." well, we change and as we age, things need to be adapted and so what I tell people is, "You childproof a home for your grandchildren and your babies." well you need to safety proof it for you.

Looking at throw rugs. They call them throw rugs because guess why, you slip on them and they throw you and it's been there because it's always been there. Does it really need to be there?

Looking at extension cords, you know, when you move in you start plugging things in, you plug things in and you add something else and then a couple of years later you look over and there are five appliances running out of one socket with all these extension cords.

And, in the kitchen, the safety in the kitchen. As we age our eyesight diminishes and so you look down and you think, "Well now is that stove off or on." using red nail polish to mark the off buttons on the stove. Or if you always turn it to whatever level, three or five, to heat whatever, to cook whatever, put a red dot. Then all you have to do is go over to that dot.

Coffee maker, I'm always, "Is it off. Did we turn it off? Did we turn it off?" Red nail polish for off. And some people like to get in the habit of unplugging appliances after they use it because they may forget to go back and if you're concerned about that, it can be a very simple thing to always unplug it after you use it. We have a lake cabin and I do that when we leave. Safety in the kitchen as far as food safety, you know, sometimes as we get older our systems are a little bit more delicate and maybe when we were younger we could eat leftovers that maybe were a little bit, should have been really gone in the garbage, but marking things, either when you put it in the fridge, or when you think that last date that it's edible. So then you don't have to question, "Is this three days old or three weeks old? When did I last do pot roast?"

Medications. As we get older we take a lot of medications. It's very easy to get the bottles mixed up and a hint, a great hint from a reader was to take red nail polish or red felt tipped pen and to, on the label, in big letters, you put the first letter of the medication and match it with the cap. Then when she grabbed it she knew which one it was but she would always check and in emergency situations, whether you like it or not, it's probably going to happen, it's a good idea to keep on the refrigerator, a list of all the medications you take, all of your physicians and your contacts so that if anything happens and somebody comes to help you, that information is there. It saves a lot of precious time by what are you allergic to, what medications are you taking, who is your doctor, it's all there.

And then if you do have to call for emergency, you have somebody with you, remind them that, again, you know where you live and it's the third house on the right. An emergency vehicle does not so go outside, turn all the house lights on, throw a towel over the door, open the front door, turn the flashers on in the car in the driveway, something to alert them that this is where the situation is.