N ot sure how to help your folks “age in place?”
Don’t know the cost of universal design features?
The Washington State Aging in Place Coalition sponsors a free Aging in Place Resource Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Center House at Seattle Center.
Not only will there be exhibitors demonstrating ways to better accommodate seniors who wish to stay put, there will also be an educational forum covering home modification, financing and real-life experiences from people who are successfully aging in place.
“The highlight for me will be a panel of homeowners who have made the decision to stay in their homes, addressing the steps they have taken to make that possible,” said Susan Duncan, a housing consultant whose Bellevue-based company, Adaptations, helps families with accessibility and design questions.
Adaptations was instrumental in organizing National Aging in Place Week Nov. 7-13. Special programs with been-there-done-that senior panels also are scheduled in nearly a dozen cities, including Minneapolis, Boston and Los Angeles.
The Puget Sound event is sponsored by the local Area Agency on Aging, the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association and the Aging in Place Council.
National Aging in Place Week has two objectives:
* Build lasting coalitions of business professionals in communities across the United States to assist homeowners with pursuing their long-term care needs.
* Organize educational activities to highlight programs and support services – including health care, transportation and housing – that enable seniors to stay in their homes.
Local coalitions include geriatric care managers, occupational therapists, architects, interior designers, remodeling contractors (including those who have obtained the certified aging in place specialist designation), home health care companies, insurance companies and brokerages, and reverse mortgage lenders.
“We timed Aging in Place Week to encourage families to think about this topic before they get together for holiday visits. As families gather to celebrate the holidays, it’s a perfect time to discuss livability issues,” said Peter Bell, president of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association.
According to AARP, the organization formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, nearly a quarter of Americans 45 or older say they or someone they live with will have trouble maneuvering around their home in the coming years. A survey by the group – the United States’ largest organization for those 50 and older – showed that fewer than 10 percent of the nation’s approximately 100 million housing units have features to make them universally accessible.
The survey also revealed that 90 percent of people older than 65 prefer to remain in their homes, but as they age accessibility problems can become an issue and make their goal unattainable.
Cassy Franklin, a local event coordinator, reverse mortgage specialist with Seattle Mortgage and a certified senior adviser, said one of the goals is to help the community filter through the mass of fragmented information now available for seniors in the Puget Sound area.
Duncan and other independent counselors are campaigning to make all homes visitable by seniors. The essentials for visiting – and for surviving in your house with a temporary disability – are simply to get in an out of the house and be able to use the bathroom.
Steps at most entrances of a home stymie people who use wheelchairs or walkers, or are impaired by stiffness, weakness or balance problems. Wheelchair users often are stopped – by inches – from fitting through the bathroom door in a friend or relative’s home.
For visitability to become reality, three modifications need to become common:
* One zero-step entrance.
* All main-floor interior doors, including bathrooms, have 32 inches of clear passage space.
* At least a half-bath, and preferably a full bath, on the main floor.
The term universal design now has several definitions within the housing industry. One of the goals of National Aging in Place Week is to clarify the term for consumers, builders and remodelers so it truly becomes universal in homes built, or modified, for all homeowners.
According to North Carolina State University’s Center for Universal Design, the term is defined as “the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. The intent of universal design is to simplify life for everyone by making products, communications, and the built environment more usable by as many people as possible at little or no extra cost. Universal design benefits people of all ages and abilities.”
For more information about National Aging in Place Week, go to www.ageinplace.org or www.homemods.org
Tom Kelly can be reached via e-mail at news@tomkelly.com
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