Buying A New Home And Spouse Has Dementia? 3 Tips On Choosing The Right Home For Them
If you are planning to buy a new home and your spouse has dementia, you must take some things into consideration before you start looking. This is because buying the right type of home will make things easier on your spouse, as well as for you. Below are some tips to help you get started with this.
Open Floor Plan
Someone with dementia can easily get lost and that includes getting lost in their own home. You can always keep your spouse in sight if you choose a home that has an open floor plan. For example, you can combine the living room, dining room, and kitchen in one open space. This is also known as a great room. This not only helps you but works great if the home you purchase is small.
Open floor plans also offer other benefits for you. For example, if you have children, you can keep a better eye on them, and if you like to invite friends over often, you can converse with them while you are preparing food.
Bedroom
The master suite should be large so your spouse has a lot of room to walk around. The carpet should be easy for them to walk on. For example, a carpet with long loops will be much harder to walk on than a carpet with short loops.
If the room has hardwood flooring, put a lot of rugs around the room so your spouse will not slip and fall. Placing a rug next to their bed for when they stand up in the morning is especially helpful.
Install motion sensor lights in the bedroom so the lights will come on automatically if your spouse gets up at night to wander.
Bathroom
A larger bathroom would work best to give your spouse enough room to move around. Having a bathroom attached to the bedroom will be beneficial.
A stand-up shower would be helpful in the bathroom. If they are still able to walk, it will be easier for your spouse to walk into a shower than to step over a bathtub. If they are wheelchair bound, you can put a seat in the shower for your spouse to sit on.
Install grab bars in the shower for your spouse to hold onto. You can place grab bars on the edge of your vanity to allow your spouse to be more independent, as well as around the toilet to help you spouse when sitting down and standing up.
Write down all the features that you want when it's time to buy a house and give this to your realtor. They can then use this list to find the perfect home for you and your spouse.