If an elderly person doesn’t understand the need to wear shoes or skid-proof slippers to avoid slips and falls, then what can be done?

How the heck did this thread get resurrected?

I am astonished at the jump to extreme solutions I'm seeing here. Yes, the local Area Agency on Aging is a great resource. So is your local Community Action agency. If he has a Medicare supplement, they may have case managers who could arrange for a safety assessment in the home. His primary care doc is another good resource. My husband's PCP has been very on top of safety issues and offered many ideas for resources. In our area the local Lions Club is a good resource for installing things like hand rails. There is help! None of this is to say that perhaps he should no longer be living alone; it simply seems like a rush to a decision.

One other option may be house sharing--finding someone, perhaps a nursing student, who would live there in exchange for a certain number of hours of responsibility for some well-defined chores. It sounds as though this gentleman does not need someone to do personal care at this point.

Dada forgets to put on (non skid) shoes. Immediate solution. Hire someone (a neighbor perhaps) to come over twice a day, morning and night, to put on and take off shoes for the dad, preferably a pair of shoes that is hard for the dad to take off.

Short term solutions. Install carpet through out the house, non-slip rubber mat in shower/bathtub,have dad wear a fall alert pendant.

Dad forgets to put on sboes to walk safely. This is a sign that his cognitive reasoning is slipping. What else does he forget? How about turning off stoves? Locking doors?

He needs long term solutions.

Long term solutions. In addition to the short term solutions, hire caregivers to be with dad during the day until he goes to sleep. Or move dad to Assisted Living.

Good luck to your neighbor and his/her dad.

That will be a good idea if you want to convert your house into a nursing home. Falls in the elderly population are pretty common. As a matter of fact, a fall has been the cause of death in many cases.

If an elder is 'forgetting' to wear socks & falling on a regular basis, to me it's indicative of cognitive impairment/dementia. If that's the case, living alone is not a good idea. Even if dementia is not at play, being that he's fallen 3x in 9 months with injuries resulting, he should not be living alone! Installing cameras will only show you that he HAS fallen, once he falls. While nothing will prevent an elder from falling in the first place, if he were living in Assisted Living, for instance, there would be carpeting on the floors instead of hardwood (in most cases) making it a safer environment overall. My mom's AL had handrails in all the hallways, too. Showers were equipped with all the bells & whistles required for safety, too.

An Occupational Therapist is the one to hire to come in to do a safety assessment to see what changes need to be made to make the elder's home better for him. I'm surprised one wasn't sent home as an after care plan when he broke his hip. A senior case manager can be hired; Google it for details. But in reality, living alone becomes a safety risk at some point for most seniors in general, especially if cognitive impairment is a factor, and when they are prone to falling.

That said, my mother fell 95x living IN Assisted Living and then Memory Care AL. So there is no way to prevent it, depending upon what the cause of the falls are to begin with. Sometimes it's pure stubbornness at play (I don't NEED a walker!), sometimes it's dementia and forgetting they can't walk, which was the case with mom, and sometimes it's loss of balance issues, etc. Yes, AL makes it safer in general for the elders, but there isn't 24/7 caregivers to watch them, and even if there was, falls STILL can't be totally prevented, unfortunately.

Wishing your neighbor the best of luck finding the appropriate living conditions to suit his needs

A simple and immediate fix would be to replace all the socks with ones that have non slip soles. Since these sometimes are not the best fit to wear with shoes a few pair of regular socks could be kept in a separate place for when he needs them.

That many scares is telling you he is not able to live alone or at the very least someone should check in with him several times a day.

Their Area Agency on Aging might be of help. They can assess what help is needed and see if the dad qualifies for any services. This is all fine and good BUT it will not help dad remember to put socks and shoes on or slippers.
If he is living alone he probably should either not be alone or have help in the morning at least getting dressed and ready for the day.
If dad is cognitively impaired with other respects that is another reason he should not be alone.
Their doctor cold also order a Physical Therapist to assess him and determine if 1) the house is safe
2) there are no trip hazards
3) does he need a walker, and if he has one is it being used properly and hopefully each time it is needed.

(there are hospitals that have programs, classes that teach fall prevention wit the hope to minimize falls)