The bathroom is the most dangerous room in a house due to tight spacing, throw rugs that cause one to slip, and getting oneself up/down or in/out of the commode and shower, Medical Supply or Adaptive Aids company can help to reduce the risk of accidents in the home while increasing the quality of life.
Many senior centers and non profits give safety classes around the USA, as well as provide a consult with your family. Often, a checklists will be provided on what to look for in a home.
Schedule a free home assessment and receive a report of “next steps” to make your loved ones home is a safer place. Often, Medicare or Medicaid will pay for the cost of adaptive equipment if prescribed by a doctor.
Services
Once your assessment report has been received – you will have a better understanding of where to begin. With the bathroom, consider the following items for safety:
- grab bars, shower seats
- raised toilet seats
- floor to ceiling poles
- special lighting for long hallways and dark or tight corners
- furniture that better accommodates the space
- Make sure the bathroom has the following products available at all times:
- bandages, skin creams, and a wide variety of medical products
- incontinence supplies
- adaptive clothing
Specialization
Aging in Place contractors and Design/Architects will together to create larger entry ways, walk-in-tubs, easily accessible grab bars, and increased lighting in your bathrooms. Find professionals that have worked in collaboration with each other before.
Preparation
Before contacting the experts, survey your senior loved ones’ home. This includes:
- Check their ability to get around in their own home.
- Do they walk up/down stairs easily?
- How are they in sitting and standing on their present furniture?
- Are they on special oxygen or other types of equipment?
- If so, is there a power source in place to run it if there is a power failure?
- Experience how they navigate the bathroom? Do they have enough room to move around with a walker or wheelchair?
- What is their ability to dress and shower themselves?
- check to see if they have a good supply of first aid and personal care products.
Consult with a physician to write prescriptions for appropriate items for Medicare reimbursement.
Evaluation
- Is a free consultation provided?
- Will you collaborate with contractors, physicians and others required to successfully complete the project(s)?
- Where are the items purchased? Are they in stock, or will there be delays?
- Provide references.
Bathroom Safety Radio Show Segments
- Non-Slip Floors, Stairway Handrails for a Safer Home
People don’t necessarily know what aging in place is, and what kind of simple changes can be most impactful to make our home safer for ourselves and for aging parents when they visit. Aging in Place specialist Paul Kocharhook, the CEO of Pathway Design & Construction, joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to share adjustments we can make to our homes, from DiY projects to more complex upgrades. Paul also talks about sustainability.
Regarding the simple changes, Paul says, “I would say adding handrails, like getting in and out of the house, adding a second handrail to the stairs. We have more control over one hand versus the other as we age, or we have some sort of medical condition, whether it’s a stroke or something else. So what is your stronger side? As you’re going down the stairs, maybe you have a handrail on the right-hand side, but going up maybe you don’t don’t have one. Well, let’s add a handrail to the other side of the stairs. Just so you have the ability to go up and down safely on both sides. Sometimes that gets forgotten about, just having that safety measure in place.
“We talked a little bit about grab bars, bathroom spaces. Those are those are great in showers. Whether you’re five years old or 105…
Suzanne said, “There’s a surfacing that you can put over your existing tile.”
Paul says, “It’s a roll-on product. We clean your shower floor and then we roll the grip onto the floor. And it’s super durable, and it helps immensely in bathroom spaces. We’ve even done it in walkways outside, we’re a little concerned about slippery areas. We’re even using it on stairs. If you’ve got wooden stairs in your home, just adding that because if you’re walking in socks, those stairs can be just a little bit slippery.”
Suzanne adds, “And it doesn’t affect the the look of your tile at all. I actually use that product it in my own shower, because it was a little slippery when we first moved in. I have a shower mat, but the mat is not big enough. So we did get that product, and it was super easy. That’s a DIY thing you could easily do.”
Paul adds, “If you have an existing bathtub and slipping in that bathtub is a potential issue, this is a good alternative, to help buy you a little bit of time.”
Suzanne asks, “You can convert a bathtub, pull the tub out and create a walk-in shower. That is not that’s not a structural change for the most part, is it?”
Paul answers, “No, it’s not structural at all. These units, we drop these in there. We make them, we can customize it. If you have a weird-sized bathtub, we can customize it to fit in the exact space that you have.”
Visit PathwayDC.com or call 206-937-4809 for more information. If you’re in the Seattle area, mention Answers for Elders to get a free consultation. Paul will come out, check out your home, make sure that it is safe, and talk about different potential projects, whether for now or in the future.
- Making Your Home Safe When Aging Parents Visit
Baby Boomers are redefining retirement, and many, as long as they’re able, want to keep living in their homes. Yet as they get older, one accident could change their future and shatter their dreams. So if you want to age in place, if you have parents that want to age in place, this program is for you. Paul Kocharhook, the CEO of Pathway Design & Construction, joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about keeping our home safe as we get older.
Paul says, “Nobody wants to hear that they’re aging. And so I try to turn that conversation, about making it safe. How can we make your home safe for you? Or making it safe for parents who are going to come and visit? Because we have a lot of parents that come from out of country, for some of our clients, and they’ll stay for the summer. So how do we make that bathroom safe for them, to be able to manage while they’re here?”
He adds, “When I started remodeling homes… we were starting to do remodels on bathrooms, and kitchens, and additions to make spaces better for homeowners. But some of the pieces that were missing were that thinking about more long-term. So, thinking about a bathroom as an example, there was there was a lot that we could do on the on the front end to prepare the homeowner for the future, where we don’t have to add things right now, but everything’s prepared.
“So we did a fire restoration for [an elderly couple]. Half of their home had and caught fire, and so we were building it back, and they wanted us to put the house back as it was. I said, ‘There’s things that I can do now, not included in the insurance estimate, like I can put backing in your shower. You’re telling me right now you don’t need grab bars. But I can put backing in your wall right now, so that when the time comes, we can add those grab bars whenever you want.’ They were insistent that, no, they were able to manage in their home as it was before, and they’re going to continue to manage in the future.
“Lo and behold, three months after we gave them their house back, they were calling us to add grab bars in the shower. [Now] it’s not as easy of a task to do, when we’re having to retrofit versus having all the backing in the walls that’s hidden behind there, when we’d just be adding screws.”
About grab bars, Suzanne commented, “In 2023, we moved into a new house, and when we toured it and we walked in the bathroom, there’s all these grab bars in the shower, and there’s a walk in-tub. I looked at my husband and I said, ‘Honey, this is for old people.’ Here’s me, you know, the expert. And he looked at me, and he kind of giggled and he said, ‘Honey, we are old people.’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t need all these grab bars in the shower.’ Guess what? I use them all of the time. And I don’t even realize that I’m hanging on to it when I’m turning around in the shower because of the slippery surface, and I’m glad they’re there.”
Visit PathwayDC.com or call 206-937-4809 for more information. If you’re in the Seattle area, mention Answers for Elders to get a free consultation. Paul will come out, check out your home, make sure that it is safe, and talk about different potential projects, whether for now or in the future.
