Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - Switch suggestions needed for elderly resident

I've been doing a lot of maintenance and upgrades for an 86 year old elderly woman, who is slowly becoming more and more physically and mentally disabled. I've upgraded the kitchen and garage lighting by installing bright fluorescent lights, and installed some ceiling swag lamps for reading. The current problem is is that she forgets/doesn't care to turn these ceiling swag lamps off when they're not being used. She leaves them on pretty much 24/7, wasting electricity and she's not good about learning to turn them off. The swag lamps plug into a switch controlled outlet. What is the best solution here to get those lights off when not in use? I thought about an occupancy sensor (manual turn on, automatic off), but thought if she falls asleep while reading and is motionless, the lights might go off*, and she'll eventually wake up and "freak out" in the dark and not be able to find her way to the switch. Then I thought about a basic motion sensor switch, which would be great at night, but it seems like that it would just come on and off all day everytime she or the resident housekeeper walked through the room in the daytime when the reading light isn't needed. Not a great energy saver and kinda annoying. Now I'm leaning toward some kind of programmable timer switch that will turn off the lights after her bedtime, but operate as a normal switch during the day. Can't seem to find the perfect solution...you guys got any ideas?

* Maybe I'm wrong on this. Will an occupancy sensor switch still stay on if someone is in the room, but extremely motionless (like sleeping)? I know some detect based on temperature, so maybe the occupancy sensor idea will work afterall??!!

* Maybe I'm wrong on this. Will an occupancy sensor switch still stay on if someone is in the room, but extremely motionless (like sleeping)?No, if it doesn't see motion, it will turn off.

You are faced with a tough situation as each method has its' problems with this situation.

the last thing you mentioned; the timer; would you still not have the problem of if she fell asleep and did not actually go to bed, the lights would turn off and she would be in her chair in the dark? still a problem there.

Maybe you could use the timer situation but along with that have a nightlight on a photo cell so when the main light turns off, the nightlight would still provide some illumination if she fell asleep in the chair.

Still have the problem of limited light for her to head to bed and with the timer, unless you get real fancy, she would not be able to turn the main lights back on at all.

Don;t know. Tough situation.

Saving energy is a good thing but considering the limited options I don't think the cost of forgetting to turn the lights off would be worth worrying about.

If these were compact fluorescents it would matter even less.

The added security having the lights on and the cost of timers or other gadgets would also offset any increased energy use.

If anything, switch to more energy efficient bulbs. Just make sure they light up bright quickly. Some elderly have limited vision. Many elderly prefer to leave some lights on at night. They watch TV or read and fall asleep with TV and lights on. They do not like to wake up in the dark, especially if they need to go to the bathroom or the kitchen. Many elderly have interupted sleep patterns and are up and down much of the night. Leaving lights on at night is very important for elderly coping with confusion.

Addressing safety issues should be of greater importance. Grab bars by the toilet and in the shower are very important. Make sure traffic areas are clear and uncluttered.

For effects of vision changes in the elderly: http://hubel.sfasu.edu/research/donia/impact_of_low_vision.htm

Yeah, I like what you guys have to say. I think I'll switch the bulbs to CFLs and be done with it. Too much risk, otherwise, plus I don't want any injuries on her part to be because of me.