Home Safety Assessment and Driving

An extensive checklist to determine your loved one's safety.

A summary of common barriers and hazards that mobility aid users encounter.

Whether you decide to bring in companion care or an aide or bring your parent to Adult Day Care for part of the day, the home environment still needs to be safe...

Falls are one of the leading causes of death in older adults.

This article will introduce you to a number of helpful mobility aids and safety products to make a senior’s life easier and safer.

Accidents, falls, and mistakes happen; more and more to aging individuals. When they occur, the caregiver is likely to take on additional challenges. If they are preventable, why not try to prevent them?

As a caregiver, you play a pivotal role in maintaining accurate and consistent medication regimens for your loved ones. Let’s explore the importance of medication management and provide caregivers with valuable tips to ensure medications are taken accurately.

This medication documentation sheet serves as a helpful tool for caregivers to keep track of medication administration, side effects, and any changes in the medication regimen

As a caregiver, your vigilance and attention to detail play a critical role in ensuring the well-being of your loved one, especially when it comes to managing medications. Monitoring for potential side effects and drug interactions is a keystone of caregiving.

Asking the right questions about new medications empowers you to make informed decisions about your loved one's health and ensures that you can effectively manage the new treatment

The responsible management of medications includes not only accurate administration but also proper disposal of unused or expired medications.

Family caregivers often find themselves juggling the responsibilities of caregiving and child-rearing simultaneously. Ensuring medication safety becomes paramount to protect both the health of your loved ones and the curious minds of children

In addition to providing emotional support and companionship, faraway caregivers are charged with ensuring the safety and security of their charge. This can often be a daunting task, as it involves a number of considerations and strategies

It is no secret that the current state of the world has contributed to a common feeling of unrest — and whether directly or indirectly, many individuals have been affected in one way or another by the sense of fear thousands of people feel today.

Caring for an older family member or other loved ones comes with a specific set of challenges. One of the most pressing concerns is dealing with...

Is My Loved One Safe at Home?

Caring for a loved one's health often involves managing a variety of medications, including over-the-counter (OTC) medications. While these medications don't require a prescription, their use demands careful attention to ensure safety and effectiveness.

Here are some pointers to maneuver through this delicate dialogue and address any resistance.

There are various monitoring tools on the market to aid caregivers in ensuring the safety of their loved ones. But how do you cut through...

This Caregiving.com article offers three practical tips for preventing infection in the home — an important but sometimes overlooked dimension of home safety, especially for older adults and those with weakened immune systems or chronic conditions. For caregivers, reducing infection risk protects a vulnerable loved one from illnesses that can escalate quickly.The article focuses on simple, high-impact habits that lower the chance of infection spreading at home. These typically center on diligent hand hygiene (proper, frequent handwashing for both caregiver and loved one), cleaning and disinfecting high-touch surfaces and shared spaces, and safe practices around wounds, medical equipment, food, and personal care. The emphasis is on consistent, everyday routines rather than complicated protocols, making the guidance realistic for busy caregivers to actually follow.This resource matters because older adults are more susceptible to infections and more likely to suffer serious complications from them, and the home — where caregiving happens daily — is a common place for germs to spread. Simple preventive habits can keep minor exposures from becoming dangerous illnesses and hospitalizations. For caregivers wanting to protect a loved one's health at home, these three tips offer an easy, actionable foundation. The article is freely available on Caregiving.com.

This Caregiving.com article introduces the topic of home entrance safety — focusing on the doorways, porches, steps, and pathways that a loved one must navigate every time they enter or leave the home. Entrances are a frequent and often-overlooked site of falls and injuries, making them a priority area for any caregiver assessing home safety.The article highlights the hazards commonly found at entrances: uneven or cracked walkways, steps without handrails, poor lighting, slippery surfaces in wet or icy weather, high thresholds, and doors that are difficult to manage while using a mobility aid. It then points toward solutions such as installing sturdy handrails on both sides of steps, adding ramps where needed, improving lighting, applying non-slip surfaces, clearing and maintaining pathways, and ensuring the entrance is manageable for someone with limited mobility. As an introduction, it frames why entrance safety deserves attention and sets up more detailed guidance.This resource matters because entrances combine multiple fall risks — elevation changes, weather exposure, and transitions between surfaces — at the very points a loved one uses daily. A fall at the entrance can happen coming or going, in any season. Addressing these hazards protects a loved one's safe access to their own home and community. For caregivers reviewing home safety, this introduction is a useful starting point. It is freely available on Caregiving.com.

This Caregiving.com article offers focused safety tips for steps and stairs — among the most dangerous features of any home for older adults. Stairs combine elevation, balance demands, and the potential for a serious fall, so making them safer is one of the highest-priority tasks in home-safety planning.The article walks through practical ways to reduce stair-related risk. Common recommendations include installing sturdy handrails on both sides of every staircase, ensuring steps are even and in good repair, improving lighting (with switches at both the top and bottom and nightlights for evening use), adding high-contrast markings or non-slip treads to make step edges visible and secure, keeping stairs clear of clutter, and, where stairs become unmanageable, considering solutions like stairlifts or rearranging living space to a single level. Each tip addresses a specific way stairs cause falls.This resource matters because stair falls are frequently severe — a tumble down a flight can cause fractures, head injuries, or worse — and yet many of the fixes are straightforward and affordable. Addressing stairs proactively can prevent a life-altering injury. For caregivers whose loved one lives in a multi-level home or must use steps to enter, these tips are essential. The article is freely available on Caregiving.com.

This Caregiving.com article zeroes in on the real fall risks posed by common bathroom hazards — identifying the specific features of bathrooms that make them one of the most dangerous rooms in the home for older adults. By naming the actual hazards, it helps caregivers see their own bathroom through a safety lens.The article details the bathroom features that most often contribute to falls: slippery wet floors and tub or shower surfaces, the difficulty of stepping over a high tub wall, low or unstable toilets that are hard to rise from, the lack of anything sturdy to grab (towel bars are not grab bars), poor lighting for nighttime trips, and tight, hard-surfaced spaces that turn a stumble into an injury. For each hazard, the implication is clear: these are the points where falls happen, and where targeted fixes — grab bars, non-slip surfaces, shower seats, raised toilet seats, better lighting — will do the most good.This resource matters because understanding why the bathroom is so risky helps caregivers prioritize the right modifications rather than guessing. Bathrooms concentrate fall hazards in a small, hard space, and falls there are often serious — yet most hazards have simple, affordable remedies. For caregivers focused on preventing falls, recognizing these specific risks is the first step toward fixing them. The article is freely available on Caregiving.com.

Reduce your risk of falling inside your home and improve safety.

Your local AAA’s Information and Assistance team is here to guide you to trusted resources.

Call us Monday through Friday, from 9am – 5pm at 1(800) 654-2810, or visit our website.

Welcome to Habitat for Humanity of Michigan, where we are dedicated to helping build and restore communities across the state. Habitat’s vision is a world where everyone has a decent place to live. To us, that starts in Michigan.

Michigan has a robust network of 45 Habitat affiliates, serving almost every county in the state. Habitat for Humanity of Michigan is here to support the work your local Michigan affiliate is doing on the ground in your community.

Housing Options for Older Adults is a practical guide that helps seniors and their families weigh key living choices—from owning or renting to group settings and nursing homes—while addressing safety, comfort, costs, and legal considerations.

This booklet breaks down the benefits and challenges of each option and provides helpful resources—like the Eldercare Locator and the ABA Commission on Law and Aging—to support informed decisions.

Check for Safety is a free downloadable brochure from the CDC’s STEADI initiative, offering a practical, room-by-room checklist that helps older adults—or their loved ones—identify and correct common fall hazards at home.

From securing loose rugs and improving stair lighting to installing grab bars in the bathroom, it’s a straightforward guide to making your home safer and more fall-resistant.

Our aging and caregiving resources keep you informed so you can Live Your Way. Search our Resource Database for local services, read the latest newsletters to learn how we’re supporting older adults, listen to Inside The Senior Alliance podcast to hear about the latest aging issues, or search our calendar to join us at an upcoming meeting.

 

We bring together essential tools, guides, and support connections—from legal services to dementia fact sheets—designed to ease the caregiver journey. Whether you’re seeking information, camaraderie, or practical tips, this hub serving Northeastern Michigan offers compassionate and comprehensive resources to help you thrive.

Our services are designed to make aging easier, healthier, and more supported for individuals and families across Western Michigan. Explore options that include caregiving support, home-delivered meals, transportation, and other vital resources.

Most houses and apartments are designed for young, able-bodied adults and don’t meet the needs of older residents or people with disabilities. America’s housing stock doesn’t fit a rapidly changing and rapidly aging population.

That’s where the AARP HomeFit Guide comes in. Our free, 36-page, fully-illustrated publication (available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese) features smart ways to make a home comfortable, safe and a great fit for older adults — and people of all ages.

 

Our Home Safety Assessments look at potential safety issues, both inside the house and out and are available to anyone in the community. The assessments are conducted by a Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS), trained to accommodate the needs and safety of older adults and people with disabilities who want to stay in their home. We provide a report that includes suggested modifications and our Information and Referral staff can help you with resources to assist with any changes that may be needed.

Many older adults prefer to stay in the comfort of their own homes—and with the right adjustments, it’s both possible and practical. This guide explores affordable, impactful home modifications—like grab bars, improved lighting, and accessible fixtures—along with tech options and local support programs to help you age in place safely and confidently.

Tri-County Office on Aging (TCOA) serves Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham counties and the cities of Lansing and East Lansing. Our mission is to promote and preserve the independence and dignity of the aging population with a variety of programs and services.

This is a program provided directly by Region IIIC Area Agency on Aging. It fulfills clients’ wishes to remain in their own home by arranging in-home long-term care services when they are at risk or in need of nursing home placement.

 

The Area Agency on Aging Region 3A provides services directly, and through contracted providers to serve older adults and caregivers in Kalamazoo County. This includes home delivered meals, home repair, respite service, transportation assistance, medical equipment, and more! Services are funded by the Older Americans Act, State Funding, and the Kalamazoo County Senior Millage.

The Caregiving Haven is a one-stop source for guidance, tools, resources, and connections that empower caregivers and their loved ones to focus on enjoying a fulfilling life together.

Senior Preferences is a free, all-inclusive resource guide produced by Jackson Publishing Co. that compiles a list of community organizations and local businesses catering to the needs of senior citizens.

Senior Preferences serves as a reference tool for professionals who influence senior decisions daily, including physicians, social workers and discharge planners. We make it easy for out-of-town family assisting with care to access area resources by publishing each edition digitally.