Question 

My 83-year-old mother now lives alone since my father died. She stays in the home where they lived their entire married life together, and she is not about to move. That is all well and good. What I worry about is her safety. She is a tiny little woman that you could knock over quite easily.   

There have been a couple of break-ins in her town in the last ten years. One was recent and someone broke into the home of an elderly man that lives alone. He was robbed while he was away grocery shopping, so, he could not have been gone for very long.

Now I am wondering what steps she should take to protect herself and her home, as an elderly woman living alone. Are there things she should do that are different than what any single adult would do? Please advise. 

Answer 

No person is perfectly safe regardless of the location or environment. If someone is determined to harm you or enter your home, it is very difficult to protect against every circumstance, even if you live with someone else. The elderly though are more vulnerable as you noted due to physical constraints, and you are wise to look for ways to protect your mother. 

Generally, one does most of the same things for the elderly that everyone should consider to be safe in their home, they just take on greater importance as you age.   

 Here are a few ideas from simple and no cost, or inexpensive, to more complicated and costly. 

• Keep house doors locked at all times when home. A good number of us do not do this, commonly in small towns and suburbs. Most burglars enter through the front door, and a surprising number of individuals never lock their door. 

• Do not open the door to anyone you do not personally know, for any reason. Begging for help is the most common ruse used to lure an unsuspecting person to react. 

• Install motion sensing outdoor lighting. 

• Place timers or smart bulbs on indoor lamps to give the house a lived-in feel that you might not get with only one person living mostly in only one room. Have them turn on in rooms not frequently or never used by your mother. 

• A personal alarm device that you keep on your wrist at all times that notifies a contact person or authorities with the press of a button. 

• Obtain several air horns and place in key locations. The noise is deafening and might scare someone off. 

• Consider a home alarm system that connects to local authorities.   

• Get to know your neighbors to be of mutual support.

• Place cameras in key places in the home that can be viewed from a cell phone.

• Install deadbolts on external doors that only open with a key on both sides. Two locking systems are an even stronger option. 

• Keep a small canister of pepper spray on her keychain.

• Set up a doorbell that allows her to interact with the person on her doorstep without opening the door. 

• Ask your mother to take a self-defense course for the elderly. 

• Place an additional locking system on patio doors. 

• Keep the yard neat and the shrubs trimmed so that the front door is visible from the street. 

• Most importantly, visit your mother frequently and at random intervals. Leave your car parked outside if she has a driveway. 

Every measure you take to help your mother adopt safety features will provide an additional layer of security for her and peace of mind for you.