Improving Home Safety and Ease of Mobility – Aging In Place

Tips For The Accessible Home

By Patricia Moore 

Accessibility to a home–both indoors and out — is important to help people of all ages maintain independence while ensuring safety and security.  Simple changes and upgrades to a home can help loved ones stay in their homes and familiar environments longer.

The best indoor flooring options for more secure mobility

• Flooring can help mobility. Wood and ceramic tile floors are much easier to walk on than thickly padded carpet.
• Safe flooring features, including low or no thresholds (use a beveled strip for heights of 1/4 inch or more), nonslip and non-glare surfaces such as cork flooring, and low-pile carpets or rugs should be considered.
• The first floor needs an accessible bedroom, bath, kitchen, living area, and laundry room with 42-inch-wide hallways and a minimum of 32-inch-wide doorways. Swing-clear hinges can be installed to widen openings.

How to “illuminate” the interior of the home to provide maximum-layered lighting with minimal effort

• Task lighting is important for brightening workspaces. Exterior walkways, porches, halls, and stairs also should be well lighted.
• Lighting features should include dimmers located 18 to 48 inches from the floor.
• Lamps, recessed ceiling lights and wall sconces can also direct more light.

Increasing the safety features in bathrooms, one of the leading areas of the home for falls or accidents.

• Thoughtful changes go a long way toward making bathrooms safer and accessible.
• Many bath products today are functional and stylish. For example, grab bars now have multiple uses – they may double as a towel rack and provide the security of a grab bar.
• A zero-threshold shower with a built-in transfer seat aids those with mobility concerns.
• Add non-slip bathmats to help avoid falls and scald-control faucets to protect against burns.
• A handheld, adjustable showerhead with a side bar makes the configuration more flexible.
• An ADA-compliant toilet (chair height) with side transfer space is easily used by those with mobility concerns.
• Wall-mount sink that works with a chair or wheelchair
• A vanity with open cabinetry underneath can be used by anyone.
• Textured floor tile with a 5 PEI rating is more durable and slip resistant.

Innovative, do-it-yourself access ramps that make home access “more accessible”

• The most important aspect of home accessibility is being able to safely enter and exit your home.
• The designers at Lowe’s created a truly innovative, do-it-yourself ramp system that is simple AND attractive, which can be tailored to fit the exact needs and style of your family and home – right down to the type of lumber used, the railings and accessories. You can even create your ramp to fit a right-hand turn if you need it. Go to www.lowes.com/ramps for more info.

Ideas for landscaping and gardening, one of the most enjoyable and therapeutic activities for all ages

• Once your ramp is in place and accessibility needs are secured, add personality and customization to the space by tackling a few home gardening projects.
• Landscaping around the ramp will not only make the ramp a stylish accessory to your home’s exterior, but is also an enjoyable hobby for everyone.
• Know your body’s weak points and focus on getting the best tools to save that body part first.  Gardening tools sold as “ergonomic” are only good if they fit YOU.
• Tools such as hoes and rakes should have long enough handles so you can stand upright to use them.
• Tools should be well-balanced and as lightweight as possible.
• They should be easy to use, have wide handles, and a padded or thick grip.
• Keep tools sharp and in good shape. Sharp spades and trowels reduce the amount of effort needed to dig.  Use a metal file or whetstone to sharpen the.

More info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCTGv9dtuvs

 

 

Patricia Moore, world renowned Gerontologist and Designer, is well known and respected for her work traveling throughout the United States disguised as an elderly woman. Pattie’s mission and experiment was to determine how elders were, and are, viewed in society and provide them with solutions to help them manage common obstacles many of us don’t understand. She was named by ID Magazine as one of The 40 Most Socially Conscious Designers in the world.