Senior Care in Rowayton CT

Organization is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal in your senior care routine with your elderly parent. Staying organized helps keep their home cleaner, more accessible, more functional, and healthier, improving their quality of life and enabling them to live more enjoyably as they age in place.

Keeping your parent's kitchen organized and clean is a critical aspect of protecting their health. The kitchen is a place that is central to life, yet can also host a variety of hazards that can put their health, comfort, and safety at risk. With a few simple changes and habits, however, you can ensure that the kitchen stays at its best.

Use these tips to arrange your parent's kitchen for simplicity and health:

• Always rotate. When it comes to perishable food, make sure that you rotate products as you get new ones. Rather than just pushing new products into the refrigerator after you bring them home from the grocery store, make sure that you take out the older products and put the new products in the back. This will ensure you use up the older food first and then move on to the newer food. This not only prevents waste, but it keeps them from going bad and creating increased possibility for foodborne illness and infection.

• Think access. Whether your parent lives on their own with only your help occasionally or they have a senior health care services provider, it is important to encourage independence. This means arranging the kitchen in the best way to allow your parent to maintain as much independence in the kitchen as possible while also keeping their safety in mind. For example, keep foods your parent eats regularly in the cabinets that are most easily accessible and avoid storing pots, pans, and other necessary tools high overhead unless you want to discourage your parent from using them.

• Label carefully. Filling the freezer and refrigerator with meals and snacks to enjoy later is a great way to make sure that your aging parent can get the nutrition that they need quickly and conveniently. If not labeled properly, however, these meals can go unused or can be prepared incorrectly, putting your parent at risk of foodborne illness. Be sure to label all leftovers or prepared foods with what it is, when it was stored, and how to properly prepare it.

• Keep cleaning products separate. Cleaning products can pose serious dangers when stored in the kitchen. Keep these products well out of reach of seniors who are dealing with cognitive limitations. Be sure products that may be confusing even for those without these limitations, such as borax, sink scrubbing powder, and soap-embedded sponges that look like dish sponges separated from similar-looking products to prevent accidental misuse.

• Take time to arrange. Your schedule is already full, but that does not mean that you should shave a few moments off of your grocery run by not taking the time to put groceries away properly. When items are stored in the same place every time, they are easier to find for you, your parent, and a home care provider.