A dementia-friendly home is not a renovated home. It is a home where the small details that the disease has made dangerous — the stove, the front door at 3am, the stairs the person now misjudges, the medications in the kitchen drawer — have been quietly adjusted so that daily life can keep going without a crisis. This hub gathers our guides on the changes that matter most, and on the medical events that show up first as a fall, a sudden confusion, or a behaviour change at home.
Start here
- When “I want to go home” happens at home — what it usually means and how to respond.
- Falls in older adults and the brain-bleed risk caregivers should know about
- Why daytime sleeping changes — and the safety signal it sometimes is
Practical home safety adjustments
The most useful home-safety adjustments are usually the smallest. Practical, low-cost changes — nightlights along the path from bed to bathroom, removing throw rugs, locking the kitchen stove’s gas valve, putting medications behind a single locked cabinet, installing a doorbell on the front door — close more daily-risk gaps than any single big renovation. We are expanding our home-safety content; for now, the Alzheimer’s Association maintains a solid checklist and the National Institute on Aging publishes a room-by-room one we routinely recommend.
Medications kept at home
- An intranasal seizure medication families are increasingly using at home
- A nebulizer drug approved for home use and how it changes COPD care
- What happens when long-term acid-blockers are stopped abruptly
Cognitive testing you can do at the kitchen table
When a fall, a change, or a sudden confusion is a medical emergency
If someone with dementia falls and hits their head, even a minor knock can cause delayed bleeding inside the skull (a subdural hematoma). Symptoms can show up hours or even days later as new confusion, increased sleepiness, a headache, or one-sided weakness. If any of those appear after a fall — even an apparently minor one — treat it as an emergency department visit, not a wait-and-see.
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The articles linked from this hub are informational and not medical advice. See our Editorial Policy for how we research and review content. Last reviewed May 30, 2026.