For seniors and people with disabilities, the kitchen can be an unfriendly place. Sure, more people have accidents in the bathroom but the kitchen isn’t far behind. Here are some tips to make the kitchen safer and easier to use by making things accessible.

Buying the right refrigerator can make a big impact. Look for a water and ice dispenser on the outside. Doors should open all the way to 180 degrees so it’s easy to get to food inside and side-by-side doors are the best for people in wheelchairs because it’s impossible to reach a freezer that is on top. Also look for shelves that can be adjusted by turning a knob.

Customized extension drawers that pull out or a Lazy Susan make things easier to find and reach. Lazy Susan turntables can be bought at most home improvement stores and pull-out extensions drawers are fairly simple to install.

A Step Stool with a long handle is a safe way to reach items from cupboards. Look for a single step stool with a wide base to prevent falling ar tipping over. A sturdy handle gives something to hold on to for additional stability.

If you want to get a little creative, install electric kitchen cabinets that raise and lower at the touch of a button. When you need something from the cabinet, push the button and they lower to counter-top level. Push the button again and they raise up to their normal position. While ideal for wheelchair users, electric cabinets can be used by anyone in the family, even children.

An adjustable-height electric sink works in the same manner. Push a button and the sink lowers for convenient washing of dishes. Push the button again and it returns to counter level. Again, ideal for wheelchair users and children.

A good general rule to follow is keep food and frequently used kitchen items within reach. Heavy things should always be placed in lower cabinets and never up high.

Not everybody is going to add electric sinks and cabinets to their kitchen but it’s nice to know there are kitchen modifications available for those that truly need them. Consult with a barrier-free home modification specialist for ways to make your kitchen safer and more accessible.

Some call it a growing trend. Others say it’s a movement. The formal name is Visitability and its purpose is to make homes safer and easier to use for the owners and people visiting.

Visitability (visit-ability) is similar to Universal Design with fewer requirements, but the intent is the same. A home should be accessible for everyone – easy to enter, easy to move around in, and have a bathroom on the main floor.

To be more specific, a home is visitable if it meets the following requirements:

1. A zero-step entrance accessible from the sidewalk or driveway

2. Doors inside the home have 32-inches of clearance space for passage

3. At least one bathroom on the main floor of the home

The intent of these requirements is to make it possible for the homeowner or visitors to the home to easily enter and move around the home in a wheelchair.

Many new homes are being built with these requirements in mind, and they should be. Nobody knows how long he or she will live in their home or who will live there if they move out. By designing new homes to these specifications it ensures homes will be livable and visitable for everyone.

What’s more important is to realize how our population is aging. Baby Boomers are retiring and their numbers are enormous. People are living longer than ever before, well into their 80s and 90s. Making homes accessible to an older population is necessary.

If you aren’t old enough to need visitability requirements in your own home yet, you may have parents, grandparents, or friends who need the extra accessibility features that a visitable home provides. And if you plan to live in your home for the rest of your life, at some point you will need these features and certainly your friends who visit will need them too.

Adding a bathroom to a main floor where one doesn’t already exist is the most expensive and time-consuming visitability requirement to add. So if you’re shopping around for a new home for yourself or an elderly loved-one, look for a main floor bathroom.

To add clearance for widening doorways, a set of Offset Door Hinges are inexpensive and easy to install.

Adding accessibility to the entrance of a home with steps may not be as difficult as you think. Building a custom wooden wheelchair ramp is one option.

But if your home only has one or two small steps to clear, a suitcase ramp works well only when you need it. It’s portable and removable and can be transported in the trunk of a car.

Another option is a Pathway Ramp which can also be removed and stored when not in use.

The latter two solutions aren’t permanent but they will work when needed.

Visitability is something that most people don’t think about until they need it. And by that time it’s usually too late to do anything about it. If you may need to add visitability features to your home or the home of someone you know, it’s good to plan in advance so you’re ready when the time comes.

The Abilities Expo returns to Los Angeles this year and runs from Friday, April 15 thru Sunday, April 17, 2011 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Accessible Design & Consulting will be available all three days in Booth #441 so stop by and say Hi.

If you’ve never been to the Abilites Expo and have a disability or know somebody who does, you should really check it out for at least part of a day.

Manufacturers, vendors, and service companies are available to show off the latest equipment and gadgets for people with disabilities. This is your chance to see what can help you be more independent, try out products you’ve heard about and ask questions about products and home modifications.

We will have our most popular items on hand to see how they actually work up close (Toilevator, Collapsible Water Retainer, Transport / Companion Chair). We will also be available to answer questions about home modifications or schedule appointments.

We hope to see you there!

Abilities Expo Los Angeles
www.AbilitiesExpo.com/losangeles/

We perform hundreds of home modifications throughout the year and a frequently asked question we get during assessments is, “What is better, a home elevator or a home stairlift for getting upstairs?

There are many factors that dictate the decision of choosing between a home elevator or a stairlift for independent living. Many people naturally assume that cost is the biggest factor, and sometimes it is an issue, but other times the cost can be pretty similar when you examine all the variables.

A curved stairlift for the home

Our experience shows that it depends on the nature of the disability and how it will change in the future.

Some disabilities change very slowly and may not progress much in the next few years. Some actually get better through rehab.

Others, like ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), will change dramatically over time. A stairlift may help initially when symptoms are minor, but as the symptoms change and a wheelchair is needed full-time, the stairlift becomes more of a hassle than it is useful.

Sure, installing a home elevator is more expensive than installing a home stairlift. But the extra expense of the elevator is worth it when you factor in things like wear on the user and caregiver, efficiency, and comfort.

If the user can walk and only needs some help getting up and down the stairs, a stairlift is a very good solution. But if a wheelchair is needed full-time for getting around, an elevator will start to look more appealing.

Building the shaft of the home elevator

Consider the full-time wheelchair user. You roll up to the stairway at the bottom of the stairs, do a transfer to the stairlift, go up and transfer to another wheelchair upstairs. This means two wheelchairs are needed (one for each floor), possibly two transfer boards, and maybe a caregiver to help with both transfers. This can be time consuming and hard on the user and caregiver.

With a home elevator, only one wheelchair is needed, no transfers or transfer boards, and no wear and tear on the user or caregiver. Just roll into the elevator on one floor and roll out when you reach the other floor. Safe, simple, and convenient.

Considering the expense of two wheelchairs and transfer boards, the cost of a home elevator looks better. If the stairway has turns and a curved stairlift will be needed, depending on the number of turns, the home elevator may be fairly close to being the same cost as the stairlift.

Because every disability and home layout is unique, it’s important to consider all of the factors before deciding on which will work best. Whether you need a home elevator or a stairlift, it’s important to find the best solution for your needs, not only now but in the years to come.

If you’re considering a home elevator or a home stairlift, give us a call Toll-Free at (866) 902-9800.

Angie’s List Magazine
February 24, 2011
By Jackie Norris

With her mother confined to a wheelchair after suffering a urinary tract infection that nearly claimed her life, Sabrina Wurf knew the time had come to ask for help.

Her 76-year-old mom, Angie’s List member Barbara Wurf of Los Angeles, suffers from myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare bone marrow disease that causes her to be prone to infection. In early 2010, she landed in a hospital’s intensive care unit with the urinary infection. Instead of going home upon her discharge, the hospital sent her to a nursing home because her two-bedroom bungalow needed revamping to make it handicapped accessible.

That’s when Sabrina contacted Angie’s List for help. “She needed a safe environment,” Sabrina says. “The project was overwhelming.”

Photo courtesy of Tracy McCubbin | Sabrina Wurf (left) says her mother is now able to use a walker, and the new ramp gives her more freedom.

The Angie’s List Wishmakers program enlisted the help of Frank Najafi, owner of highly rated AARDVARK Property Hazard Analysis in Los Angeles. Najafi tested the Wurfs’ 1940s home for lead paint on the walls and asbestos in the linoleum flooring. Once everything checked out, Najafi cleared the way for other service providers.

Since Barbara could no longer climb the steep stairs to her old bedroom, Tracy McCubbin, the owner of highly rated dClutterfly in Los Angeles, turned a chaotic den into a relaxing first-floor bedroom. “The job took three full days,” McCubbin says. She purged the den of more than a thousand books, moved in new furniture and also helped reorganize the Wurfs’ garage. “It was about more than getting organized – it was about making the home safe and comfortable.”

To add finishing touches to the bedroom, Joe Rivero of highly rated J R Construction in Los Angeles donated his handyman services, and helped move bookshelves and hang pictures.

Because Barbara’s illness requires her to go to UCLA each week for blood transfusions, Adam Fine, the owner of highly rated Accessible Design & Consulting in Santa Monica, discounted and installed a modular ramp system. “The ramp allows Barbara to be as independent as possible,” Fine says. “I think it also helps reduce stress for Sabrina, since she’s given up her life to care for her mom.”

Angie Hicks, the founder of Angie’s List, says more seniors are aging-in-place these days, which adds another element to their grown children’s care-taking tasks. “Through the Wishmakers program, we were able to give the Wurfs the help they needed as well as peace of mind, knowing they were receiving help from highly rated companies in the Los Angeles area,” Hicks says.

Barbara couldn’t agree more and is flourishing in her updated surroundings. “Sabrina couldn’t have done it all herself,” she says, adding she enjoys her new bedroom and is glad to be back in her home of 45 years. “I’m grateful to Angie’s List, the service providers and the equipment they provided. It will continue to make my life much better than it would have been otherwise.”

View original article at Angie’s List Magazine
http://magazine.angieslist.com/assisted-living/articles/l-a–companies-donate-services-home-accessible.aspx

For more information about making your home safer and more accessible contact:

Adam Fine
Accessible Design & Consulting
866-902-9800 Phone

Adam@AccessibleConstruction.com E-mail

www.AccessibleConstruction.com Web Site

Age in Place Design Challenge: Adding a Pocket Door to Create Space
by Adam Fine

One of the biggest challenges to designing for aging-in-place is the use of space – or rather, lack of it.

This is especially true with the bathroom. Many older homes have very tiny bathrooms which makes it difficult to use a wheelchair or walker to get in and out of the bathroom.

“We often see bathrooms that have doors which open right against the toilet making it impossible to use a walker in the bathroom,” says Adam Fine of Accessible Design & Consulting.

A great solution is to replace the door and adjacent wall with a “pocket door” which slides in and out of the wall. The entire wall becomes a sliding door and creates a larger opening to the bathroom allowing plenty of space for going in and out.

This larger opening aids caregivers and users, especially those that require a wheelchair or walker for getting around their home. The pocket door creates space where there wasn’t any before.

If there isn’t enough wall space to create a pocket door, the next best alternative to creating space is to reverse the door so that it opens to the outside instead of the inside of the bathroom. Swing-Away Door Hinges are another great way to add space. They are very inexpensive and can add up to 2-inches to the doorway opening.

Adam Fine is the founder and president of Accessible Design & Consulting, Inc. specializing in residential & commercial accessibility assessment, ADA consulting, and Accessible project management.

Read it Online at AIP Home

A Transport Chair, sometimes called a Companion Chair, is an easy and convenient way to run errands, go to the doctor, pharmacy, or store.

Standard wheelchairs are bulky and heavy and difficult to put in the car. Caregivers have found that a lightweight Transport Chair is much easier to use when there isn’t a long day of sitting.

Transport Chairs provide freedom to go more places and do more things.

We’ve tried many Transport Chairs on the market and this one is our hands-down favorite.

Find out more at:
www.accessibleconstruction.com/services/scooters/transport-chair.html

Two of the most popular products for roll-in wheelchairs showers are a perfect match for each – a Collapsible Water Retainer & Weighted Shower Curtains.

The Collapsible Water Retainer (shower water dam) collapses when a wheelchair rolls over it into the shower. It pops back up creating a barrier to keep water in the shower and off the shower floor.

Weighted Shower Curtains have weights that keep them low and in place and they bump up against the water retainer that creates a better seal than conventional shower curtains at keeping water in the shower.

Because these two items work so well together, we offer them as a combo at a reduced price versus purchasing them separately.

Details here:

www.AccessibleConstruction.com/services/product-bundles/bathroom-bundle-2.html

One in every three adults over the age of 65 falls each year. Among this age group, falls are the leading cause of injury death according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Not all falls are fatal and in 2009, there were over 2 million non-fatal falls.

Regular exercise programs greatly reduce the chances of a fall. It promotes balance, a healthy body, bone and muscle strength and most importantly, brain fitness.

Periodic reviews of medications and eye exams also help to decrease the incidence of falls by reducing dizziness and maximizing vision.

Don’t forget calcium and vitamin D for your diet. Ten minutes a day of sunlight is a great way to boost bone strength.

Our business is making sure the home is safe and there is so much that can be done to promote safety in the home.

1. Make sure rugs and appliance cords are tacked down and out of the way of pathways.

2. Clear walkways of tools and other items that may cause a fall.

3. Repair loose steps inside and out and install iron railings near stairways.

4. Add grab bars inside the shower and near the entrance to the shower, next to the toilet, and even near the door leading into the home from the garage. Grab bars are inexpensive yet provide so much safety.

5. Use a cane or walker/rollator.

6. A Handybar or Car Caddie Strap make it easier to get in and out of cars.

7. Raised Toilets reduce stress on arthritic knees and joints.

8. A Super Pole can be used in any room in the house and aids in getting in and out of bed.

9. Stairlifts are a great way to make stairways safer and they can be installed both inside and outside of the home.

10. A couch cane can be used in the living room as well as lift chairs.

A complete home assessment is the best way to find out how YOUR home can be improved. If you’re in the southern California area, give us a call Toll Free at (866) 902-9800 for more information or visit our website at: www.AccessibleConstruction.com

A Portable Bidet takes the convenience and fun of a bidet and makes it portable.

See why so many people enjoy Portable Bidets:

• Two independent arms for washing
• Water temperature control
• Hot air dryer
• Heated seat
• Fits easily on existing toilet

If you’re looking for something more permanent we also have a Deluxe Bidet with Wall Mount Remote.

Both models are available on our website at: www.accessibleconstruction.com/services/bathrooms/portable-bidet.html