Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Generation gap closing: Teens helping seniors to safety-proof homes

For information on the home safety program:

Those interested in having their homes assessed may call the Senior Advocacy Of' fice at 455-7051.

Anyone wishing to volunteer with the Volunteer Center may call 892-2323.

For people such as Evy Hannelius, living alone at 71 can often be dangerous.

After watching a neighbor recover from hip surgery, a result of an injury incurred after falling off a ladder in her garage, Hannelius said she has learned not to try anything that may put her safety at risk.

"So far I have been lucky, but there are a lot of things like this that as you get older you won't be able to do," Hannelius said.

Starting in January, Hannelius and other seniors will be able to request help from a group of teenagers who work with the Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada. The teens are working with the Lowe's Home Safety Council to train teen volunteers to assess problems and help fix seniors' homes.

The teens, who were trained by Lowe's Pros, will make an assessment of the house, looking for certain things such as smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, nonslip mats, hand railings and other items needed to prevent accidents. The teens were taught to look for electrical, mechanical and plumbing problems, John Faulis, a Lowe's Pro said.

"We tried to teach the kids about any hazard that could happen in the homes, even the simplest thing, like plugging too many cords into one outlet," Faulis said. "A lot of seniors forget the basics, like having a cable running across the floor that they could trip on."

The teens were very attentive and asked a lot of questions during their training, Faulis said. He said they covered quite a bit of information.

"This is my first time working in home improvements, and I am excited about helping out," Christopher Lee, a teen volunteer said. "You are making a difference in (seniors') lives when you are improving their homes."

Falls are the leading cause of injuries and deaths among seniors, according to the National Safety Council. They reported that one in three adults 65 and older falls each year. Falls resulted in the deaths of 9,300 people in 2000, the majority of whom were older than 65.

Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center's emergency room each week cares for 10 to 20 seniors who were injured at home.

Fran Smith of the volunteer center realizes that her volunteers will not be able to prevent all accidents, but she hopes installment of permanent safety enhancements will minimize risk. In the future, Smith said, she would like to see a service that would assist seniors in day-to-day activities, such as changing ceiling light bulbs and moving heavy boxes. For now, home enhancements are all they can fund.

Once the teens have assessed what the homes need, they will work on installing any missing items and fixing any hazardous areas, Smith said. There is a budget of about $100 per house and they are hoping to work on about 35 houses next year, Smith said.

"This sounds like a great deal for a lot of women, like myself, living alone," Hannelius said. "It's nice that they check your house. Who knows what I might have done wrong?"

The group of 10 teens plans to kick off the event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 21. Five teens have been trained by Lowe's Pros, and they will teach the other five, in addition to any others.

Lee said that many of his friends were already involved in the volunteer center, but that they are always looking for and recruiting as many people as they can to help with all of their community projects.

"We look for who really wants to help, who is most dedicated and not those who just want to put it on their resume," Lee said. "This project is very different than other community projects because we get to interact with the people we are helping, so it should be very rewarding for the volunteers and the seniors."

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