Can Stair Lifts Improve Your Mobility Without Breaking The Bank?
Stairs become a serious obstacle for seniors. They’re steep, slippery, and one of the biggest risks hiding in your home – falls are the leading cause of fatal injuries in seniors, the National Council on Aging reports.
If you’re a senior who’s looking for an easier way to continue living at home, you need to consider installing a stair lift. This simple addition can keep you safe from dangerous falls, give you more freedom and independence, and won’t cost you your entire retirement savings.
Here are just a few of the benefits of stair lifts.
Stair Lifts Make It Easier to Live at Home
Aging makes even the simplest and smallest tasks more challenging. As seniors know, it becomes tough to navigate your very own home, as pieces of furniture and second stories or basements become obstacles. A stair lift, however, can help you easily get up and down any set of stairs at home.
A stair lift is a motorized chair that can be attached to the wall of any staircase. In order to climb your stairs, all you need to do is take a seat in the chair, strap yourself into the safety belt, and press a button. Stair lifts can take you both up and down stairs, and you won’t have to lift a finger.
These motorized lifts make it incredibly easy to skip the stairs and traverse your home easily. You won’t need to deal with difficulties like aching joints that struggle with stairs, unsteadiness that could lead to a slip, or stairs too steep to climb or descend.
Stair Lifts Prevent Dangerous Falls
One of the biggest threats to seniors’ safety is falling down at home. As Aging In Place explains, the number of seniors who fall and injure themselves at home is high, and this number is made even higher thanks to stairs. Even if you think your home is safe and a fall isn’t going to happen, you need to face the potential danger: elderly individuals, especially those suffering from painful conditions like arthritis, should view their stairs as one of the most dangerous places of their home.
A fall could happen at any time – and it could seriously injure you, if not kill you. And a stair lift can reduce the risk of falling, keeping you safe, secure, and alive. If you feel dizzy or weak, a stair lift can safely transport you. If you’re unsteady, trip, or simply miss a step, a fall could be deadly. Yet if you have a stair lift, you won’t need to worry about tripping or missing any steps.
Stair lifts take all of the danger out of climbing or descending a staircase. You’ll let the lift do all of the work, avoiding any obstacles and safely delivering you to exactly where you need to be in seconds. And should anything happen, many of today’s stair lifts feature battery backups so your stair lift always has power, even during emergencies or electrical outages.
Stair Lifts Give Seniors More Independence
As aging takes it toll and it becomes more difficult to tackle simple tasks, seniors often lose quite a bit of independence. If you’re finding it hard to use your stairs, your loved ones might recommend help – and many seniors often end up in senior or assisted living facilities when they can no longer live alone safely. Instead of sacrificing your independence or giving up your home, you can choose to have a stair lift installed.
A stair lift can help you move around your home safely with no need for extra help or a new living environment. Instead of worrying yourself and your loved ones, choose a stair lift. This single addition can put everyone’s mind at ease and ensure you live safely.
With a stair lift, you won’t need help to get up and down stairs. By reducing your need for help and eliminating the need for around-the-clock care or the watchful eye of another person helping you, you can live freely and still accomplish everything in your very own home – giving you added comfort in your golden years.
Stair Lifts Are an Affordable Addition
In addition to their many other benefits, there’s another compelling reason to consider adding a stair lift to your home: it doesn’t have to be a costly expense.
According to Paying for Senior Care, the average purchase price of a stair lift costs between $1,200 and $4,000. That one-time cost gets you a stair lift that will last for years and can be fitted to your unique staircase.
If that price isn’t in your budget, there are ways to save. You can look into Medicare coverage for some of the expense. Paying for Senior Care notes that, thanks to new changes to Medicare in 2018 and 2019, more at-home care and equipment are being covered, giving seniors the chance to potentially save on items like stair lifts. Medicaid may also help reduce the cost of a stair lift; it just depends on what kind of coverage your state offers and if stair lifts are an accepted purchase.
Additionally, installing a stair lift in your home will help you avoid even more expensive options. Without a stair lift, you’ll likely need the help of a caregiver to navigate your home or may need to move into senior or assisted living. These options are both very expensive, totaling thousands of dollars each month. A stair lift can eliminate these costs entirely for a number of years, saving you in the long run.