By Jim Doherty
1. What is the most dangerous room in the house?
The bathroom — especially for the elderly, who are restricted with limited reach and poor grip strength. The bathroom is the primary location for falls, resulting in fractures and death. The greatest danger in the bathroom is slipping and falling when entering and exiting the bathtub or shower. The confined spaces, wet slippery flooring, unforgiving hard surfaces and protruding fixtures all add to the resulting injuries.
2. How dangerous is it?
Thirty percent of hospital admissions of people over 65 are from falls in the home — mostly in the bathroom — resulting in 250,000 hip fractures or worse. Such falls are the leading cause of drowning at home among seniors.
3. How long for improvement to develop?
In the case of bathtubs — about 3,700 years. The earliest known bathtub dates back to the Minoan dynasty in 1700 BC, and its form is almost identical to those in use today. Bathtubs are still similar to the Minoan tub: The only difference is they are made of manmade materials and have flowing hot and cold water.
4. Why risk it?
We need to bath regularly. Physiologically, bathing cleanses the skin and removes foreign matters such as deodorants, powders, pollutants and dead skin. This prevents irritations and rashes that would otherwise promote infections. We need to keep our skin clean and healthy. Not to mention there are social standards pertaining to cleanliness, psychological benefits of feeling clean and improved self esteem in our appearance.
5. Is there something better?
Yes. Finally, walk-in bathtubs are available for the residential market.
No more fear of attempting to climb into a traditional tub. No more standing and trying to clean ourselves while holding onto a hot water faucet and leaning against a slippery wall or a glass door. Even with a plastic seat in the tub, many people stand up to soap their underside knowing full well that they have a balance problem.
Now you can walk in a doorway and sit in a normal height moulded seat. Then take a shower, hand shower or fill the tub and soak in total comfort and security. Push a button for airjet hydrotherapy to relax your muscles and improve your circulation.
These tubs come in many sizes and shapes to suit most any space available and options are customized to an individual’s needs.
Jim Doherty worked for three of the major tub companies before starting his own business distributing tubs through SecurityBath. Call him at 781-438-5216 or email at Jim@SecurityBath.com. Visit www.SecurityBath.com.
