Well, it’s finally arrived: the end of the fall leaf season. While there are certainly still some leaves clinging to the trees, most of them are off and that means it’s time to consider having them cleaned from your elderly loved one’s yard and home. This is a senior home safety activity that is often overlooked, even though it shouldn’t be.
You might be sitting there thinking that it’s no big deal. Leaves are all over the place, and your mother doesn’t even go outside into her yard much anymore, and certainly won’t be likely to get out there during the winter, so why bother, right? Well, in actuality, when leaves are on the ground, eventually the blow to areas that collects them, such as around the house and along walkways that are close to the house. When that happens, then leaves are going to gather on the surface of the walkways themselves.
Now, imagine that there are a pile of leaves on the walkway outside your mother’s home. It rains, they get wet, and they get slick. Then the temperature drops overnight and where you would have had traction, you suddenly have sheets of ice that can cause serious problems for anyone, your mother included.
Then, of course, you have gutters on most homes. These gutters tend to trap tons of leaves and twigs during the fall seasons and when they do, this can clog to drain pipes, causing water to back up when it rains. This might not seem like a big deal but when the water can’t drain away, not only will it back up and begin to rot the eves, but it can cause ice to form, and icicles can become long and thick during the winter. These can pose any number of risks, especially when they begin to break off due to their extreme weight.
Even though you might not do much about the leaves on your property, when it comes to your elderly loved one, you should take some time to do the right thing and ensure that they are safe and those that come to their home, either to visit or to check on them, are safe as well. Cleaning the leaves after they’ve fallen from the trees is one of the best senior home safety tips that you’ll get. And one that you should seriously take to heart.
