Living Safely, Aging Well: A Guide to Preventing Injuries at Home

As safety expert Drago wisely points out, “how safe a person is depends on how he or she functions in and interacts with the immediate environment.” In her latest book, Drago (From Crib to Kindergarten: The Essential Child Safety Guide) discusses aging, its associated injury risk, and offers avoidance strategies. She explains physical changes in vision, hearing, balance, smell, taste, touch, and the awareness of core body temperature, as well as cognitive changes, including age-related dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Having described the frailties of the characters, Drago then describes the places that are most dangerous—kitchen, bedroom, workshop, car—and counsels readers on the risks, both single and synergistic with age-related changes, that each holds for falls, burns, asphyxiation, poisoning, or accident. Finally, the author provides an extensive set of illustrations showing how to mitigate risk and prevent injury, lists of “what to do,” and contact information for outside agencies and organizations, such as the AARP. This is a wonderful resource for anyone thinking about how to increase the safety of the home to allow for independence as people live longer. 27 b&w illus. (Jan.)