Geriatric Care: Services and Hazards for Older People Living at Home

This article discusses the Australian Association of Gerontology and their services for older people, including outpatient and inpatient geriatric and rehabilitative management services, home support services, and specialized healthcare programs. It also explores the potential safety hazards and risks for older people living in their own homes, such as slippery floors, inadequate lighting, and unstable furniture, and provides strategies for preventing and minimizing these hazards.

Running head: GERIATRIC CARE 1
OLDER PEOPLE AND CHILD YOUTH
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Date

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Question 1: An organization that informs the support and protection of the Older
Person
The Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG) is a multidisciplinary membership
of government administrators, researchers, academics, service providers and consumers. It is
a voluntary, non-profit organization made up of professionals who have interests in
understanding and management of the impact of aging in the Australian Society. AAG
informs and provides a wide range of health services to the older people (Coles et al., 2013,
pp.40-45).
Some of these services include; outpatient and inpatient geriatric and rehabilitative
management services, Home Support Services such as Community Aged Care Packages,
respite services, psycho-geriatric services, palliative services of care, residential aged care
services and specialized healthcare programs that are meant to ensure independence of the
older person in the community hence promoting longer duration of stay (Karlsson et al.,
2013, pp.747-762).
The organization provides financial support and training programs to the older people
to increase their knowledge and understanding of aging in the society. AAG aims at
improving, promoting and protecting the wellbeing and circumstances of older people in
Australia by reaching out to them in the society and ensuring ease of access to regular
medical attention and check-ups. The organization addresses issues such as home safety,
dementia, nutritional patterns and hygiene which are key aspects of people’s health (Coles et
al.,2013, pp.40-45).
Question 2: Risks and hazardous of older people living in their own homes
In the home environment, there are potential safety hazards and risks which occur as a
result of interaction between the elderly and the environmental /physical stressors

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(Pfortmueller, Lindner, and Exadaktylos, 2014, pp.275). The elder have an impaired balance
hence they are at high risk of experiencing home safety risks and hazards. Some of the
potential hazards in a home environment include; slippery floors, the presence of staircases
without side handrails, loose rugs, inadequate lighting, obstructed walkways and unstable
furniture (Fernandez-Caballero et al., 2014, pp.348-355). These hazards expose the elder to a
greater risk of slips, falls and trips which are attributed to trauma and injuries to the elderly.
Other safety hazards in a home setting are fires, burns and chocking (Berland, Gundersen,
and Bentsen, 2012, pp.452-457).
To prevent and minimize these safety hazards, a comprehensive home assessment
would be one of the most effective approaches (Moyer, 2012, pp.197-204). Implementation
of strategies such as proper lighting in the home environment, use of stable furniture,
ensuring dry floors in the house and the bathrooms and installing handrails on the staircases.
Clearing the walkways and removing any loose rags from the walking paths would also help
in minimizing safety hazards at home hence preventing the risk of fall and other associated
injuries (Gershon et al., 2012, pp.51-59).

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References
Berland, A., Gundersen, D. and Bentsen, S.B., 2012. Patient safety and falls: A qualitative
study of home care nurses in Norway. Nursing & health sciences, 14(4), pp.452-457.
Coles, T., Byles, J., Dow, B. and Tavener, M., 2013. Advances in gerontology research and
education: Perspectives from the Australian Association of Gerontology. Australasian
journal on ageing, 32(3), pp.40-45.
Fernandez-Caballero, A., Latorre, J.M., Pastor, J.M. and Fernandez-Sotos, A., 2014,
December. Improvement of the elderly quality of life and care through smart emotion
regulation. In International Workshop on Ambient Assisted Living, 45 (4), pp. 348-355.
DOI:10.1002/erv.2570
Gershon, R.R., Dailey, M., Magda, L.A., Riley, H.E., Conolly, J. and Silver, A., 2012. Safety
in the home healthcare sector: development of a new household safety checklist. Journal of
Patient Safety, 8(2), pp.51-59.
Karlsson, M.K., Magnusson, H., von Schewelov, T. and Rosengren, B.E., 2013. Prevention
of falls in the elderly—a review. Osteoporosis International, 24(3), pp.747-762.
Moyer, V.A., 2012. Prevention of falls in community-dwelling older adults: US Preventive
Services Task Force recommendation statement. Annals of internal medicine, 157(3), pp.197-
204.
Pfortmueller, C.A., Lindner, G. and Exadaktylos, A.K., 2014. Reducing fall risk in the
elderly: risk factors and fall prevention, a systematic review. Minerva Med, 105(4), pp.275.