Hoarding and the Elderly
Flickr by Random McRandomhead
In an earlier post (“Fall Prevention” posted by lmcgowan on January 14, 2009), I provided readers with an overview of the many risk factors associated with falls in the elderly and a list of things they can do to prevent such falls. As we learned in that post, clutter can be a real concern. According to ReadersDigest.com, clutter “places hoarders and their families, especially the elderly, at high risk for injuring themselves in a fall.”
The Reader’s Digest online article also stresses that ”dust, mildew, mold and rodent droppings commonly found in extreme clutter can irritate allergies or lead to headaches or respiratory problems like asthma for hoarders and their families. In some cases, home maintenance suffers, so individuals may endure freezing winters without heat and sweltering summers with no air conditioning.” There have even been extreme situations in which “hoarding endangers not only the residents but also neighbors and firefighters, who face greater risk of injury and death when battling clutter-fed flames. It can become a financial threat to communities as well. Making a hoarder’s home safe and habitable can be staggeringly expensive, and hoards can’t always pick up that tab.”
A recent article on Martha Stewart’s website explains that:
- - “1.4 million Americans suffer from chronic hoarding & clutter.”
- - “People burn 55 minutes a day looking for things.” and
- - “80 percent of what we own we never use.”
She provides her site visitors with some excellent ways to eliminate and handle clutter in their homes.
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[...] an issue that we have addressed before on our blog (See our February 3, 2009 post, entitled, “Hoarding and the Elderly.” This post stresses the importance of ensuring that seniors have a safe, clutter free [...]