When it comes to accidents, area rugs are the trampolines of the senior citizen set. They are Things One and Two, living at Grandma's house, and occasionally doing that funny trick where One gets on his hands and knees behind her and Two gives her a push from the front. They take down people who shuffle when they walk, or those who are losing their muscle memory for things strewn around the floor in the house. Yet, to many seniors, a spread of area rugs is like soil, a porous, permeable, water-holding unsung hero, underfoot and essential to their survival. 

Though I've never set foot in the actual clinic of the orthopedic surgery practice that I "manage," I do overhear my husband ask patients over 75 if area rugs were present during unfortunate incidents in which they "took a fall" (people under this age are still allowed to "fall down"). "Yes," they chuckle, "but what would you have me do, remove them?," as they lean over to the person who drove them to the appointment and give a little elbow nudge, plus a "what an idiot!" eye roll.

So protect your loved ones and and roll up their "dare-ya" rugs during the dark of night, or while they are in the bathroom. Then, and this is important, remove and destroy them in a scorched-earth approach. If you simply put them in the basement, they will reappear, as though they've grown back.