The difference
Same visit. Different lens.
This is the same twelve-category assessment, at the same price, with the weighting shifted. A general fall risk assessment asks whether someone could trip on the stairs. A dementia-focused one also asks whether they could leave the house at 3 a.m. without anyone knowing, whether the stove can be left on, and whether the bathroom is findable at night from the bedroom door.
Tell us which focus fits on your free call. There is no separate product and no premium — the assessor simply knows what to weight before walking in.
What is examined
The areas that change with cognitive decline.
Wandering and exit security
Every exterior door and its lock type. Whether a lock can be operated from inside without a key in an emergency. Door alarms or chimes. Gates, fences and the state of the yard. Basement and garage access. Windows at ground level. Where someone would go if they left.
Kitchen and stove
Whether the stove has an automatic shut-off or could take one. Knob accessibility and whether covers are warranted. Kettle and small-appliance auto-off. Storage of anything that should not be eaten or drunk. Sharp items and their reachability. Fridge contents management.
Wayfinding and orientation
Whether the bathroom is visible from the bed. Contrast between floor, wall and fixture — a white toilet against a white floor is genuinely hard to locate. Signage or labelling where it would help. Mirrors, which can be distressing in later stages. Patterned flooring, which can read as a change in level.
Medication storage
Where medication is kept, whether it can be reached unsupervised, and whether a double dose is physically possible. Locked storage options. Separation from anything that resembles it.
Night-time routes
The path from bed to bathroom in the dark, measured and lit. Motion lighting. Obstacles along the route. Bed height and transfer. Whether a fall at 3 a.m. could be discovered before morning.
Emergency response
Whether help can be summoned from the floor. Whether a personal alarm would be worn and used. Posted emergency contacts. Smoke and CO alarm placement and whether the sound would be understood and acted on.
For the caregiver
Written to reduce the load, not add to it.
Families caring for someone with dementia are usually not short of things to worry about. They are short of a clear sequence. The report ranks every finding by safety impact per dollar, so the answer to “what should we do this weekend” is the top of a list rather than a judgement call at the end of a hard week.
In the published sample, 10 of the 112 findings cost nothing to resolve. With dementia in the picture the no-cost and low-cost items tend to matter disproportionately: a lock reversed, a mirror covered, a kettle replaced with one that shuts itself off, a contrasting toilet seat for under $40.
The report describes the home, not the person. No cognitive assessment is made and no stage or diagnosis is recorded.
Scope
What this is not.
This is not a clinical or occupational therapy assessment, and it is not a diagnosis or a staging of anyone's condition. It offers no medical opinion and no view on whether someone can continue to live at home — that is a decision for the family, with clinical input.
If an occupational therapist is involved, or Alberta Health Services is planning a discharge, the report is built to be handed straight to them. It provides the environmental measurements they would otherwise collect themselves. How the two compare →