If you ask an emergency room physician what keeps them up at night regarding patients over 50, the answer usually isn’t rare diseases or shark attacks.
It’s gravity.
Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death for adults 65 and older. According to the CDC, one out of every four older adults falls each year.
While the physical toll is obvious, the financial toxicity of a fall is often overlooked until the bill arrives. A bad fall often leads to a hip fracture. That single injury can trigger a cascade of costs — from deductibles and copays to the massive expense of retrofitting a home or moving into assisted living.
You spend decades building your savings. You shouldn’t lose a chunk of it because of a loose rug.
ER doctors frequently cite specific household items as the culprits behind these life-altering accidents. Here are three things you should remove from your walking paths immediately, and what to do instead.
1. The problem with throw rugs
Interior designers love them. Doctors hate them.
Small, unsecured area rugs are arguably the number one hazard in the home. It is incredibly easy to catch a toe on a curled edge or have the rug slide out from under you on a hardwood floor.
If you have throw rugs in high-traffic areas like the hallway, kitchen, or at the top of the stairs, the safest move is to get rid of them entirely.
If you absolutely cannot part with a specific rug for aesthetic reasons, secure it. Don’t rely on the cheap rubber backing that comes with the rug; it degrades over time. Buy heavy-duty, double-sided rug tape or a high-quality non-slip pad and anchor that rug to the floor as if it were glued there.
2. Extension cords across walkways
In our connected world, we have more devices than outlets. This leads to a web of charging cables and extension cords snaked across living room floors and bedrooms.
This is a classic tripwire. It is easy to overlook a white cord on a light carpet or a dark cord in a dim room.
Walk through your home and audit your outlets. If you have to step over a cord to get from the couch to the kitchen, unplug it immediately.
Relocate the lamp or the device closer to an outlet. If that isn’t possible, run the cord along the baseboard and secure it with cord clips.
You can also buy cord covers that lay flat against the floor, reducing the tripping profile, though removing the cord entirely is always safer.
3. Low-level clutter
We all have “that spot” where things accumulate. It might be the pile of shoes by the door, a stack of magazines next to the recliner, or pet toys scattered in the hallway.
When you are carrying a laundry basket or groceries, your line of sight changes. You aren’t looking at your feet. That pile of mail or the dog’s chew toy becomes an invisible hazard.
The fix here is free. Adopt a zero-tolerance policy for floor clutter in walking zones. Baskets, bins, and shelves are your friends.
If an item doesn’t have a permanent home off the floor, it needs to be donated or trashed.
The financial reality of a fall
Preventing falls isn’t just about avoiding a cast; it is about protecting your net worth.
The average cost for a hospital stay after a fall is over $30,000. If the injury requires long-term rehabilitation or precipitates a move to an assisted living facility, the costs skyrocket. Medicare generally does not cover long-term custodial care.
That means the money comes out of your pocket.
Taking an afternoon to declutter your floors and roll up those throw rugs is one of the highest-ROI moves you can make this year.
Illuminate your path
Once you have removed the obstacles, make sure you can see the runway.
As we age, our eyes need more light to see contrast and depth. A shadow in the hallway can look like a step, or a step can look like a flat surface.
Install automatic nightlights in your hallways, bathrooms, and kitchen. You can buy simple LED plug-ins for a few dollars at any hardware store. They turn on automatically when the sun goes down and cost pennies a year to run.
It is a small investment that keeps you on your feet and in control of your financial future.
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