Assessments:

Home Safety Evaluation: Once a person has had a fall or a “close call fall” it is highly recommended that they have a home safety evaluation. Why did you fall, or almost fall? Your environment should be your safety zone.

Aging In Place Consultation: Thoughtful consideration of what future accessibility needs may be will save significant cost over the long term, especially if it means having to redo a brand new shower. By making purposeful guided choices, clients can ensure that they will have an elegant and accessible home already set up to recuperate in the event of an unexpected situation.

Due to the rising cost of facility care, the lack of freedom over one’s daily schedule and the health risks associated with living together in large groups, more and more people are looking ahead and choosing to Age-in-Place.

Assist and Expedite Discharge from nursing home or hospital: Surgeries such as joint replacements, back surgeries and bone fractures require short term use of durable medical equipment for the recuperation phase. Ideally, the environmental barriers are addressed prior to discharge to avoid caregivers from feeling overwhelmed and stressed.

Inspiration Session for Family: Are you looking for gift ideas and ways to improve a current situation to improve ease and safety in the home? Finding the perfect gift for Mom and/or Dad is not easy. Parents likely do not want more “stuff” — they often already have 50 years of memories piled up in your old bedrooms! Instead give them a gift of beautiful grab bars or a safe chair with wheels and brakes they wouldn’t normally buy for themselves!

Home Mobility VT can help you sharpen your activities of daily living at home.

ADL: Activities of Daily Living are the activities that you do in your home everyday and are often activities that we take for granted. An Occupational Therapist (OT) is a medical professional who is trained to help people participate in every day activities (occupations) especially after a person is feeling medically compromised for one reason or another. This could be due to a chronic medical condition, aging, or an acute new medical situation that makes daily life activities challenging.

Falls are the leading cause of unintentional injuries among older adults, both fatal and non-fatal, in the U.S. and Vermont.

 The average cost of a fall in Vermont is $30,000. My goal is to help you make your environment safer, easier and more enjoyable by breaking down various activities (showering, dressing, cooking, etc.) that you do everyday and to determine what simple modifications can hopefully help prevent a fall!

According to the CDC, these are the 10 physical risk factors for falls:

1. Weakness
2. Multiple Medical Issues
3. Difficulty Walking
4. Use of Medications
5. Vision Issues
6. Foot Pain/Foot Issues
7. Nephropathy
8. Instability
9. Dizziness
10. Incontinence

Equipment can help make your home more accessible and easier for you to live in for years to come. Home Mobility VT can recommend a variety of accessibility products to help make your home easier and more enjoyable to live in.

Minor home modifications can include:

• non-glare light bulbs
• hand rails
• grab bars
• toilet frame
• elevated toilet seat
• shower seat
• tub bench
• long handled shower head
• grip surfaces
• visual marker cues
• bed bars

More Extensive Modification include:

• ramps
• stair glide
• platform/stair lifts
• walk-in Tub
• comfort toilet
• home elevators

ARE YOU PLANNING TO REMAIN IN YOUR OWN HOME as you grow older?

55+ years old is not too young to begin planning your home for Aging In Place. There are many beautiful adaptations that can be made in your home early to prepare for safe and comfortable living as you age.

Are you finding it more difficult to manage some daily tasks in your home? Do you or your family and friends have safety concerns about you living alone? As abilities diminish during the normal aging process, families and other caregivers must offer more assistance to allow an elderly person to live a safe and independent life at home. An occupational therapist will work with you to ensure that recommendations to increase independence and safety are specific to your wants and needs, skills, environment, budget, and other criteria. The following tips come from occupational therapy practitioners who work with older adults to help them stay in their homes.

Your home is the most important consideration to remaining independent. Home Mobility VT can show you how to get it ready for later in life, starting today. Aging in place means supporting a person to age in their own home. This may mean minor home adaptations and identifying supports that allow “young seniors” to live in their own home safely and independently for as long as possible.  

At Home Mobility VT, a primary focus of the evaluation and services are:

• Identify challenges that clients have developed while aging and determine if their home still “fits” them and their needs
• Education/recommendations to modify the home environment in order to minimize the impacts of those challenges, starting with basic and simple solutions, (example: installing a grab bar).
• Create adaptive solutions to safely perform basic daily activities.

How to Make & Pay for Home Modifications to Enable Aging in Place is a frequent question asked. Financial assistance programs are available to assist with home modifications with the senior population. Understand your financial options for home modifications to enable aging in place.

Are you or is someone you care about planning to have debilitating surgery? It is very important to consider how the precautions ordered by the surgeon will effect life at home. Will you be able to access the various rooms in your home? Will you be able to get into the bathroom to use the toilet or shower? Will you be able to access items in your kitchen? By planning ahead you can feel confident about returning home after surgery.

Older adult falls are increasing and, sadly, often herald the end of independence,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Healthcare providers can make fall prevention a routine part of care in their practice, and older adults can take steps to protect themselves.”

“With more than 10,000 older Americans turning 65 each day, the number of fall-related injuries and deaths is expected to surge, resulting in cost increases unless preventive measures are taken,” Frieden noted.

It is critical that Vermont older adults remain safe in and outside their homes. Home Mobility VT’s goal is to ensure a safe return home following surgery and hospitalization by preparing in advance.

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ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT MOM AND DAD AT HOME? ARE ONE OR BOTH OF YOUR PARENTS finding it more difficult to manage daily tasks in the home? Do you worry about the health and safety of a parent living alone? As abilities diminish as part of the normal aging process, families and other caregivers must often help the older person obtain the assistance needed to maintain independence and live safely at home. An occupational therapist works with the person and family to ensure that recommendations to increase independence and safety are specific to their wants and needs, skills, environment, budget, and other criteria. The following tips come from occupational therapy practitioners who work with families to help older adults stay in their homes. (AOTA)

Home modifications are defined as environmental interventions aimed to support activity performance in the home. The goal of Home Mobility VT is to help create cost effective design solutions for both current and future needs of individuals that allows them to focus on their abilities instead of their challenges.

An Occupational Therapist specifically trained in home modifications can provide you with solutions to create an accessible and functional home.

Through remodeling and modification, you can have a home that helps improve your daily life. It can make your life easier and more enjoyable. Home modifications are physical changes made to one’s home to accommodate for the changing needs of the elderly or disabled, to enable aging in place.  As we age, our mobility and physical strength diminish and many aspects of a home that were once functional become difficult. Home modifications can be as simple as changing water faucet handles from knobs to levers or as comprehensive as the construction of an accessory apartment or elder cottage on the property. These modifications should be focused on supporting activity performance in the home. The goal for Home Mobility VT is to create cost effective design solutions for both current and future needs of individuals that allow them to focus on their abilities instead of their challenges.

Occupational Therapists are health care professionals who utilize evidence-based practice, research, scientific evidence, and a holistic perspective to promote independence, meaningful occupations, and patients’ functional ability to fulfill their daily routines and roles. Occupational Therapists are the only professionals recognized by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) to make recommendations for home modifications for persons with disabilities.

Occupational Therapists are experts at understanding the interrelations between a person’s abilities, personal needs and interests and their environment. We are passionate about designing beautiful accessible living spaces for individuals with various needs and abilities that promote safety and independence. OT’s have a strong understanding how an individual functions in her/his space which is essential in making recommendations that will enhance function and safety in the home environment. OT’s use person-centered focus to ensure that any modifications made to a home will meet both current and future needs. An assessment by an OT will save money in the long run by helping to avoid mistakes in product selections and design solutions. Accessibility is the name of the game and the key to enjoying your home as you progress in life!

As your loved one prepares to return home after time spent in rehab or the hospital, is their home ready for them? Is it set up appropriately to meet their needs? The burden of managing a patient’s care in our complicated healthcare system is felt most often by the spouse of the patient or the children of the patient. This responsibility can be very stressful for both the spouse and adult children who may still be trying to juggle work with caregiving. It can be almost impossible to manage if the spouse has their own medical issues that limit their mobility or have memory issues that make understanding and retaining information difficult. Here are some things to consider:

1) Are they a new cane, walker or wheelchair user? Is the space they will be living in safe for them to access with or without a new device?

2)    Is the walkway cleared to allow them to enter into their home safely? Will they face challenges getting in/out of the home from the car to get to appointments?

3)    Is the home well lit? Some minor changes can be made to keep an individual safer at night.

4)    Do they have the necessary equipment set up in the bathroom? Are you hearing terms thrown around like: DME, tub bench, grab bars and so on? Will your loved one benefit from having these items in place prior to them returning home?

5)    Will they be set up to live on the main level or will they have the need to access upper-level floors in the home? Will they be able to do this?

6)    Does your family member need to have the fridge stocked for when they arrive home?

7)    Is the family local or out of town? Is there the need to have professional help set up the environment? Re-arrange furniture (as minimal as possible so as not to disrupt accustomed routine but enough to allow for safe ambulation). Alleviate some of the caregiver stress and demand?

There are many things to consider when trying to help a person come home from the hospital, rehab hospital or a nursing home. Things that might not be in your wheelhouse. Or they are in your wheelhouse but you live too far away to help.

Home Mobility VT is prepared to help meet this need. I am an Occupational Therapist. I can evaluate the living space, make recommendations and follow through with helping your loved one through this important process.