Setting up a home means you have to keep a lot of things in mind including the needs of your family members. After all, home is where we all seek comfort at the end of the day. However, things don’t always go as planned. A sudden illness can make our lives harder and is fairly unavoidable so it’s best to stay prepared. In that case, creating a recovery room at home can help you get through a tough time and can make things a bit easier.
It’s not that you have to allocate an entire room of your house. You can turn any of your rooms into a recovery room at a time of need. For example, if you are in a situation where keeping someone in quarantine is crucial, a recovery room can make things easy for you. Not only does it make things easier to manage for the patient, it can also keep your family members safe. That being said, it is not difficult to create a recovery room at home, you just have to follow certain steps.
Uplift the comfort
The very first step to creating a recovery room is to make the room more patient-friendly. In other words, comfortable and tidy, which can help a patient to recover quicker. For example, keeping bright-colored paintings or photos in the room can be bad as these can be excitable whereas the patient requires relaxation. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t keep any paintings or photos in the room. But bear in mind, anything that causes discomfort to the patient should be kept out of the room. Apart from that, the color of your bedsheets, curtains, and floor mat should feel comfortable to the eyes as well.
Lighting and temperature
Be sure to pay extra attention to lighting when creating a recovery room at home. Not only does it play a vital role in maintaining an adequate sleep cycle for the patient, but there is no substitute for good lighting. A recovery room should also allow for adequate sunlight during the day. Sunlight increases metabolism in our body and provides a variety of nutrients including vitamin D. You can use blackout blinds for your window or heavy and thick curtains. These should be enough to block out street light or any bright light that might try to come through the window and ensure an uninterrupted sleep. And during the day, just pull the curtains aside to let light in.
Maintaining a comfortable temperature in the recovery room is key. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have an air conditioner. Just try to keep humidity at bay. We have an excellent article regarding how to reduce humidity at home, in case you need some understanding of the matter. Also, try to consult a doctor if you need to because making the room comfortable for the patient is the main goal here.
Make the bathroom more functional
It is really important to have a bathroom near the recovery room. It is even better if you have an attached bathroom. You can increase the functionality of the bathroom by installing grab bars. These help reduce the chances of getting into an accident. Also, try to understand the needs of the patient. Install a toilet riser or add a bath chair if necessary. Also, lay a non-skid mat on the bathroom floor for increasing safety further. Make sure you have all essential items such as toothpaste, and toilet tissue in abundance.
What to keep and what not
At the time of creating a recovery room, try to keep unnecessary items out of the area as much as possible. These can limit mobility greatly and sterilizing all of them can be a daunting task. That is why it is better to rid the recovery room of unnecessary items. In addition, keeping electronic items such as a smartphone, TV, gaming device, or laptop in the recovery room might lead the patient to use them extensively. This can have a negative impact on the patient it’s best to not keep them in a recovery room.
However, there are some essentials that you must keep in the room. For example, an alarm clock can help remind the patient when it is time for him/her to take the medicine. Furthermore, a water bottle, medicine, fruits, and other essential things should be kept near at hand. If necessary, keep a crutch or wheelchair in a place where the patient can reach easily. Moreover, if the patient needs strict supervision, you can install a monitoring device as well.
As you can see, creating a recovery room at home is not that difficult. You just need to stay aware of certain things. Follow the steps we mentioned above and you should be able to turn any room of your house into a recovery room in no time.
