Home Security Tips for Seniors:

Many seniors enjoy living on their own or with a loved one. However, statistics show that the elderly are at high risk for crime inside the home, mainly burglary. Below are tips that guide seniors to having a safe home at all times.

1. Many times old windows and doors begin to rot and make it difficult to lock. Make sure each door and window in your home can be properly locked and secured. If possible, consider looking into a home alarm system that is connected to your local police station.

2. Never leave a spare key under a front door mat or in a mailbox. This is generally where they are hidden, and the first place where burglars tend to look.

3. Make sure you have adequate lighting outside the perimeter of your home, including the street. Additionally make sure your home address is clear and visible from the street. This will make sure that your house can be easily found in case of an emergency. 

4. Become friendly with your neighbors and let them know if you will be away from home for a few days or an extended amount of time. Kindly ask them to keep an eye out for any strange or suspicious activity on your property while you are away.

5. Before letting a service worker in your home (such as utility workers or even policemen) check his or her identification card and call the company to make sure it is scheduled. Do not open the door or let anybody into your home without verifying it first.

6. Inside your home keep all your valuables in a safe place, such as a fire-proof safe. If you choose to keep items like passports, jewelry, and large amounts of money in a safe make sure you remember the code or have a spare key. Never leave any valuables out in the open, such as on a dresser. This will prevent easy theft in case of a burglary.  

7. Still keep your money in your mattress? You may want to think twice about that and keep in safely in a bank. In the homes of the elderly burglars generally look in the mattress of the home where lo and behold they find lots of cash. Keep your money safe!

Following these few tips will ensure each elderly person will have a safe and happy home!

Be HIPAA Safe and Shred Your Medical Documents | Beach Terrace Care Center

 Medical documents, bank statements, credit cards and papers with personal and revealing information tend to pile up and fall under the radar. Letting one of these crucial pieces of personal information slip away into unknown hands has potential for extreme danger. When your private information gets into the wrong hands it usually leads to identity theft, money loss, and lots of stress. With such strict HIPAA laws, it can even be illegal to not properly dispose of medical documents.

Although nowadays much identity theft comes from information that is stored digitally, there is still a great possibility of your information been stolen from physical papers and documents. So what can you do to make sure your private documents don’t end up in the wrong hands? Shred them! Shredding your documents systematically and routinely can clear the anxiety of losing personal information to the likes of identity thieves. This is something Beach Terrace Care Center takes very seriously.

Make it a habit to shred all of your excess and leftover documents every one or two months, depending on how much paper you accumulate of course. If you do not have access to a shredder many office-supply stores have a secure and reliable way to shred your documents, and some companies will even send a shredding truck to your home. In terms of digitally stored information, backing up the data on a hard drive and removing the obsolete waste is also a preventive measure. Shredding companies will also deal with your hard drives as well. Make shredding all your health documents a habit to ensure your private information is read by your eyes only!  ​