Cleaning in Aged Care Facilities | Challenges & Useful Solutions

An Old Age Home or Aged Care Facility is a retirement home for those who are not able to take care after a certain age. The residents of an Aged Care facility have health concerns and might need help for handling and carrying day-to-day tasks. This includes activities that range from eating, drinking, and toilet-related tasks. All these activities typically result in creating a bit of leftover and spillage, and spoilage, that needs to be highly taken care of.

Old-aged people have low immunity levels and are highly prone to catching infections and falling ill. Thus, cleanliness is of utmost importance in Aged Care facilities. Understand and learn the challenges of cleaning old age homes from the expert cleaning perspective.

Daytime cleaning is a mandatory

• Cleaning services during the daytime are critical for the healthy functioning of any aged care facility.
• Understanding the significance of daytime cleaning is very important. It ensures smooth movements for the inhabitants without any obstacles. This results in zero accidents resulting from wet floors, slippery surfaces, and so on.
• Daytime cleaning is often preferred by a majority of aged care centers. This avoids tripping and falling of residents over power stations and wires.
• You need to set up a regular routine for cleaning with the right expertise to carry out efficient cleaning.

Don’t miss out on decluttering!

• De-cluttering the doorways and hallways is necessary to avoid elderly inhabitants from any dangerous falls.
• This helps to experience easier movement throughout the place by reducing fall risks. Reducing the clutter enlarges the existing space.
• Memory impairment is one of the common issues faced by old-aged people. Decluttering can make aging in place with less confusion with sorted belongings in the right place.

Use natural disinfectants

Most of the cleaning products or chemicals contain toxic substances. These harmful products can cause asthma and other respiratory illness for aged people. Natural disinfectants are the perfect substitutions for these products. Unlike general chemicals, they do not irritate or cause any allergies for elderly residents. They can be used for cleaning frequent touchpoints like handles and light switches. Ensure to keep all the rooms ventilated while using any type of cleaning product.

Waste management

• Aged care facilities are located in closed spaces. As stated earlier, if aged care facilities are not kept clean, they might pose a high risk of health-related issues for the elderly.
• It is critical to manage human as well as medical waste in the most effective manner.
• Comprehensive cleaning is significant for ensuring bacteria & microbe-free environment. This type of setting is ideal for the elderly.
• Moreover, we need to understand that these facilities are generally run with limited budgets and not-for-profit setups. Hence you need to avoid inappropriate cleaning practices.
• Look out for competitive cleaning companies with affordable packages to meet your requirements.
• Disposal of clinical wastes produced by age care facilities should be carried out with proper planning and implementation.

Compliance with Environment & Safety standards

• All Aged Care facilities are routinely audited to check the safety of the environment in which they live. The audit & compliance teams measure the safety of the location with frequent visits.
• These facilities are key requirements to meet higher cleaning clean standards. Hence it is of utmost necessity to conduct excellent cleaning services throughout the year without fail.
• Failure to meet the requirements can have severe consequences on the operation of the facility itself.

Accidental interference by residents

• Aged care facilities often serve dementia patients. Such residents often do not recognize the difference between safe and unsafe settings.
• So, it is critical to supervise the cleaning equipment along with chemicals used during the cleaning service.
• Hire an expert workforce who are highly experienced in this field. They assist to be completely on toes when it comes to being vigilant. Plus they keep tracking of the cleaning service to ensure zero casualties or accidents, keeping your residents free of any worry.

Private possessions

• Cleaning staff needs to be mindful of keeping back the things they encounter while carrying out their tasks.
• Elderly people often have attachments to certain things and their privacy should be respected.
• Few elder people get sentimentally attached to their possessions. The memories of these treasured possessions give meaning to their life.
• Most of the aged care facilities encourage to keep such personal belongings with the residents.

Conclusion

Creating a safe environment for senior citizens is not that easy. But you can achieve it through proper planning and securing the best professional cleaning service in town. You can now carry out the safety challenging tasks efficiently. The possibility of infection outbreaks can be reduced by knowing the hotspots of bacterial surfaces. Providing the best cleaning services to the aged care facilities can help in serving them with the highest quality care. A safe environment that mitigates the risk of any injury or harm can create a homely vibe for the elderly.