Making Home Safe, Regardless of Age with Rev. Jim Luck

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[00:02:09] one might make to enhance safety and livability. If you're listening to our audio podcast, you can find these photos attached as a PDF file in the podcast show notes. We're so glad you're here today. I'm Karen Summey, your host, project manager at ACAP Community and an active family caregiver.

[00:02:31] I'm joined today by Reverend Jim Luck, a recently retired Aging in Place and Universal Design Specialist. Jim's been working with senior populations for over 30 years as a minister and therapist. For several years pre-retirement, though, Jim served as a certified Aging in Place Specialist offering in-home assessments.

[00:02:55] Jim was a speaker for an ACAP chapter program several years ago and shared excellent insight into ways to make the home safe for people of all ages. Welcome, Jim. We're so glad to have you with us today. Thanks, Karen. I appreciate the invitation. It's been good talking with you. And I think the other thing I would want the viewers to know about me is that I am an adult child of aging parents. My mom and dad are 78 and 81, respectively.

[00:03:24] So these issues are not theoretical for me. They're very real and ongoing. And also, I have a crazy knee disease in my left knee. And so mobility issues are a real issue for me. And I kind of already have to think in terms of what I can and can't do. And in the future, what I will and will not be able to do. So again, these are very real issues to me. It's not just theoretical. Thank you for that extra background.

[00:03:53] And I can relate to everything you just said. So we're going to have a really good talk today. All right. Let us dive into this. So many of us have heard the terms aging in place and universal design. From the standpoint of making sure the home is safe for a loved one, will you explain what the terms aging in place and universal design mean for older adults and their families? Aging in place is pretty simple, I think.

[00:04:23] But let me just tell you how I go about thinking about it. I used to have a converted garage that I use for an Airbnb rental. And so when I had that for that rental, I had to think in terms of what does this guest need? Comfortable bed, some nice towels, access to a good bathroom, soothing colors, comfortable temperatures.

[00:04:50] But instead of an Airbnb, let's think I was going to turn it into an in-law suite. Or let's think in terms of what my, if my dad were going to move in with me. I would just continue that sense of asking those questions about hospitality. So, for example, is the person that would be staying in there, if it's not on one floor, can that person navigate stairs?

[00:05:17] It's not very hospitable to have a space for somebody upstairs when they can't navigate stairs. I mean, it's pretty simple. What does that person need to live in that space for an indefinite period of time, whether it's months or whether it's years? So that's sort of the basic idea in terms of aging in place.

[00:05:40] What would a hospitable host offer for this particular guest's loved one, considering their particular needs? As far as universal design, that's a little, that's one that people may or may not know about. And I really think that, I'm going to pull up some pictures here in a second.

[00:06:03] But the idea with universal design is, we're going to have a feature of the home that works for a five-year-old and it works for an 85-year-old. It will make both of their lives easier in the long run. And I think with some of these pictures, you'll see that. So why don't we go ahead and pull up the first one, which is a large bathroom shower area.

[00:06:31] So one of the things that most people want to notice about this picture, that is part of a universal design bathroom, would be the faucets on the sink, which are not in the back where you have to like reach to get the faucet. The faucet's been brought up. So it's a little bit closer to the front.

[00:06:55] So whether you're five and trying to get up there or whether you're 85 and in a wheelchair, the faucet has just been moved a little bit to the front to make their life more easier and simple. It doesn't scream I'm handicapped. It doesn't scream I'm old. It just makes their life easier. Looks attractive. Yeah, I think this looks really, my perspective is this looks very modern.

[00:07:26] And there are a number of other universal design aspects to this from this is, again, more of a wet room concept. Last time I was in New York City, the hotel I was staying at had a wet room. So it was like all one room. And there's no obstacles getting from the main area into the shower area. You can stand in that area. You can wheel a wheelchair into that area.

[00:07:51] If you need to sit down, you can sit down over there on the right or you can use it for whatever the case. There's a hose there that's long enough that you can take the shower off and you can use it to wash yourself in a chair. Just a number of great features. Of course, there's no drawers right underneath one of the sinks so that a wheelchair can be pushed right up there.

[00:08:21] Good lighting is also in that shower area. And we're going to be talking more and more as far as good lighting and the importance of that. But those are some ideas or aspects of universal design. It would go beyond that. Again, is it on one floor?

[00:08:44] I had some clients who are in senior housing and their master bathroom has an 18-inch door. Oh, no. Yeah. Their walkers literally cannot fit through the door.

[00:09:04] And so even the door width, the hallway width are all things that somebody who was looking at the space from the perspective of universal design would keep in mind. It's not very hospitable to put seniors in senior housing with 18-inch doors. Right. And I can attest to that because I am fortunate to have some wider doors in my home.

[00:09:32] But, you know, when my parents needed some help from emergency medical services and that sort of thing, it was very difficult to navigate their home, and especially if they needed a gurney or anything like that and going around corners, all that sort of thing. So I'm very lucky to have those wider doors. And I appreciate you talking about the terminology of a wet room. I didn't quite understand where you were headed with that.

[00:09:59] But when I look at this photograph and understand, you can wheel right into that shower area without, you know, stepping over anything, stepping up or whatever. That is perfect. There really is only one issue with wet rooms, and that is you've got to keep the toilet paper kind of a little blocked off from the shower area. But short of the toilet paper, it is just a great space to have. It makes life easier for everybody.

[00:10:26] I'd say that's not too tough of a thing to overcome. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Let me show you a couple of other aspects of universal design that, you know, most people just wouldn't think about. And I'm going to go to this next slide. And, you know, kitchen drawer knobs. Most people don't think about these. But at least in my kitchen, I don't know if it's my particular height.

[00:10:56] I don't know if it's the cargo pants that I like to wear when I'm cooking. I'm the cook in our house. But the knobs on the drawers were constantly snagging my pants or constantly snagging my apron. And so you don't think about what happens when somebody with a bad leg gets snagged by a doorknob.

[00:11:24] And so universal design tends to move away from things like this. Also, you need a certain amount of tactile strength in your fingers to be able to use these. And so they're not very friendly or hospitable, arthritic hands either. So universal design is going to look more towards these sort of drawer levers, if you will.

[00:11:50] Now, I don't like the top one, the brassy one, because, again, I can still get snacked. I agree. So what, yeah, I replaced all of mine with something similar to the bottom two. It's flush. There are no corners. But even if I can't use my fingers, I can use my hand like this to pull open the drawer. If I really needed to, I could use a spoon to pull it open.

[00:12:17] But it makes it easier and it prevents those snags and tripping, if you will, from happening. It doesn't scream handicap. It doesn't scream old. But it's very functional. I can see where not having to clench your fist to grip a doorknob would be very helpful because a lot of people have pain from that kind of bending of the hand. So that is very nice.

[00:12:45] And speaking of that, you basically, for a traditional doorknob, you have to have, there's two motions. There is the grabbing motion and then there is the twisting motion. And for universal design, they do not use those sort of traditional round doorknobs. We're going to go toward more of a design that looks like this.

[00:13:10] Now, again, I'm not fond of the very top one because it has a sharper corner that can still grab a sweater or a jacket or an apron or, you know, whatever the case. The second one down, I like a little bit better because there's no sharp corners. It's at least smoother and rounder.

[00:13:33] But again, my particular preference would be more of the bottom left where the door handle curves in just a bit. So it is less likely to snag or grab anything as you're going in and out. And again, this increases safety without anybody really noticing that you're increasing safety, if that makes sense. Yes.

[00:14:05] Again, staying with the sort of being kind to arthritic hands. Certain light switches can be hard to see, hard to even grab. And so with the light switch on the right, I can turn that off with the back of my hand. I can turn it off with my elbow. I can turn it off with my nose or my forehead. It's easy to turn that on and off.

[00:14:33] I don't have to use this to be able to do that. So universal design. Any questions about that or comments from you, Karen? Yes. From a cost standpoint, do the left and right switches, are they comparable in cost? Absolutely they are. And they're getting closer and closer all the time.

[00:14:58] You know, everything I've shown you so far is going to cost less than $30 basically. Great. Thank you. Jim, it looks like so far we've talked about bathroom areas and just general wall areas and that sort of thing.

[00:15:23] Are there primary areas in a home or apartment that people really should be paying a lot of attention to and possibly modifying to make them safe as a person is aging? Sure. There are kind of three main areas that I look at when I go in. And, of course, I'm going to look at stairwells. I'm going to look at bathrooms. And I'm going to look at kitchens. And we're going to talk about those things and go into a little bit more detail.

[00:15:54] But starting kind of back and then, more generally speaking, and then going toward those areas, I want to share just a few of my concerns when I'm going in. Okay. One particular household asked me to come in and to do an assessment. And I was like, sure, you know, tell me a little bit about what you're looking for. Well, you know, we're having some trouble with falls. And so we'd like to discuss with you some ways to prevent falls. Excellent. I'll be there.

[00:16:23] And I walk into the house. And this is essentially what I find. Now, I'm exaggerating a little bit here, but only a little bit. I am amazed at the number of homes I entered where the space from the bed to the bathroom was an obstacle course.

[00:16:53] Even if you could see perfectly well and even if there was lots of good lighting, it was an obstacle course. One of the best and cheapest things you can do for your home, whether it's a stairwell or whether it's a kitchen or whether it's a bathroom, is just to tidy up, to get rid of things.

[00:17:18] I am constantly looking for a three to four foot area around the person walking that is obstacle free. That costs you nothing to do. So I really just can't encourage that enough.

[00:17:41] The second thing I just want to talk a little bit about is that when I go into a home, I usually find something like this. Even if it's obstacle free, the light is frequently more yellow. No. Curtains are pulled. And it is simply, it is hard to see in this space.

[00:18:10] One of the things, you know, I would do is that I would deliver lift chairs, you know, the chairs that help you get up. By the way, I would always ask, can you tell me how wide your doors are if I'm going to be delivering this lift chair to you? But we would deliver lift chairs, which requires some basic assembly. And also I would install stair lifts to get you up and down the stairs.

[00:18:37] And my partner and I just learned the hard way that we always had to bring with us headlamps and then other lights that would sit on the steps for us to work. Because we knew, chances are, there will not be enough light for us to work. And if there isn't enough light for us to work, chances are there's not enough light for you to walk down the stairs.

[00:19:04] So again, what is the best and cheapest thing you can do for your home? Besides just tidying up, changing the lights, getting new lights, switching the LED, increasing lights. Lights are absolutely going to be your friend. Right. You know, in this photograph, it's not even clear to me what that doorway is. Is it open? Is it closed? What's behind it?

[00:19:34] Absolutely. You can't tell. So it seems like it's a pretty black space and the other side of the room as well. So those are very good points. And I certainly encourage people switching to LED because what I have discovered this past December to my sorrow is that even just a short time with running Christmas lights and that sort of thing gets very expensive.

[00:19:59] So it actually saves money to switch as well as being brighter and more efficient. Yeah. A couple of things here. And this is just part of the joys of aging. And I say this as a 58-year-old. At 58, I have less. In our eye, there are rods and cones. I have fewer rods in my eyes than I used to have.

[00:20:29] It's just a biological reality. And the more rods I lose, the more depth perception I lose, and the more light I need to do basic things around the house. I can fight it all day long, but I still have fewer rods than I had 30, 40 years ago. So biological realities, we need a little help.

[00:20:58] I don't know how well the viewers can see this particular graph, but it kind of shows you what you need for a hallway in terms of the amount of lumens when you are in your 20s. And that number is 21. And when you're in your 60s or approaching 60, we're up to needing about 86 lumens in that same space. And when we get up to 80, we're looking at needing about 129.

[00:21:29] That's a five times difference. That's very drastic. Between your 80s. It is drastic. And so it's just, again, part of the biological realities of aging. And then you get to something like cooking and a kitchen counter. In your 20s, you need 404 lumens to see what you're doing, especially when you're dicing that onion.

[00:21:54] And when you're in your 60s, you're up to 1,614 to see that onion that you're dicing. That's a big difference. We really do need to think in terms of increasing those lumens in our living area, in our eating area, in the bathroom area, stairwells. And we'll get to that in a second. Lighting.

[00:22:17] The kitchen is really interesting because not only can you not see, but you're dealing with sharp objects and hot objects and a lot of things that create dangerous situations. So it's good to know that we really need that kind of lighting in the kitchen. Absolutely. There's some neat things that are coming out these days, too. I really like these. These are LED lights.

[00:22:43] That are actually part of the cover that goes over an electrical outlet. It requires very little installation. You can get a six-pack for $100 or perhaps a little bit less than $100. But again, in terms of bang for your buck, I really like these. The light just points down. You don't even have to necessarily turn on lights in the hallway.

[00:23:10] But I think it just adds a little bit of help in those areas when we are walking. That's also very good for people who don't have a lot of extra outlets in their home. So you don't have to use up the outlet space itself for the light. Yep. That's great. Absolutely.

[00:23:33] I want to go back to kind of the issue of depth perception as far as our eyes. But go back to one of those danger areas, which are stairwells. So I'm going to go to the next picture. And again, I don't know how well you can see that top picture. That is an actual home. That is Carol's home. She's in her mid-80s.

[00:24:02] And as I'm looking at that top picture, as an aging employee specialist, I don't like that top picture at all. There is a major step down there about halfway up the picture. The molding on the side of the wall tells me a little bit about that. And there is a slight difference in the direction of the grain. But I know to look for it. And there's lights on.

[00:24:31] And my eyes aren't too awful yet. But if you have somebody that's 85, your rods in their retina, and it's night, and they don't have full bright lights on, making that first step is going to be problematic. The stairs just get worse from there because they're curved stairs. And essentially, the left half of those stairs are all but useless.

[00:24:58] But for my point now, you can go to Lowe's Home Depot, and you can get colored tape now. And this colored tape is absolutely fantastic because you can kind of start marking those particular steps so that even if you've got that eyesight that doesn't show you the depth perception, you can still see that red tape. Or you can still see that black tape.

[00:25:28] You know that there's a step right there. So tape is really cheap. Falling downstairs is not very cheap at all. Right. So, you know, colorful tape can be your friends. Let's stay with stairwells for a second. Again, in terms of contrast, increasing contrast

[00:25:54] contrast so that we keep up with those decreasing rods in our eyes. I think this picture on the left and the right at the top shows you exactly what contrast does. You can see exactly where those stairs are. And then you compare it to the right and to that carpet. And it's not quite as clear on the right as it is on the left.

[00:26:22] Personally, I would put another handrail on the stairwell to the left. I don't particularly like the lighting, but at least the person walking can see where those steps are quite readily. Right. Now, with the advent of LED, they're really doing some crazy stuff now as far as you can put LED strip lighting under the stairs.

[00:26:50] So that even at night when you're walking upstairs, it's quite easy to see that contrast in the bottom picture with the lighting there. I really like the idea of lighting the steps. I really like the idea of putting the tape strips down. While the left photograph has more contrast because the top of the step is black and the, what do you call it, the riser part of it is white.

[00:27:20] Correct. I can see where that's very helpful going up the steps. But when you're coming down, can you really see the color change? I agree. I agree. This picture, I think, is just helpful because you can instantly see the contrast. But you're right. Going down would be a quite different reality. Mm-hmm. Yes. Great.

[00:27:45] So in general, just in terms of lighting, replace those light bulbs. Use LEDs or consider fuller spectrum bulbs because they're going to increase that contrast. They increase clarity while also decreasing glare. Avoiding lamps that you can see the light bulb.

[00:28:09] Instead, use sort of torch years that cast or project light, but you're not looking at the light bulb. It's really amazing what just changing the color of the walls will do. Dark walls are just going to absorb more light. It can require up to four times more light depending on the paint in your room. Also, glossy paint is going to increase the glare, whereas matte paint is going to reduce glare.

[00:28:39] And then with those lamps, they need to be reachable as far as the switches go. And if they're not, there's the old, you know, clap on, clap off. You can have an electrician wire the outlets so that the lights are turned on by a light switch rather than going to the actual lamp.

[00:29:01] Or there are all sorts of Wi-Fi programs now where you can put the lighting on your phone and control it from there. Or even voice control. So technology can help with some of that as well. I showed you one example of the lighting under the stairs. You can also put that on kitchen cabinets and increase your lighting under kitchen cabinets.

[00:29:29] Most homes I go into, the curtains are closed. I'm all about opening up those curtains and getting some good natural light in there. And, of course, those outlet covers with the nightlight. So, again, lighting is your friend. I'm happy to say we've implemented some of these changes and they have been life-changing. And so these are perfect. And, yes, my first action every morning is to open the curtains.

[00:30:00] Let that light shine. And, again, Karen, you haven't spent any money yet when you open the curtains every day. And yet you've made your life psychologically and your physical safety increase by doing that. Yes. These are great. I want to stay with the contrasting colors but move away from stairs and just even go to something like a bathroom. So, a shower.

[00:30:27] I went in one home and the bathroom floor was white. The four-inch rise into the shower was white. The bathroom floor was white. And then the bathroom walls were white. There was no contrast at all in that particular bathroom, which makes it more of a safety hazard. What I like about this particular picture is that seat.

[00:30:54] You can see that black seat just starkly contrasted against the white wall. And even though the floor isn't a huge difference of color from the walls, there is a difference of color. There's also no lip, no ledge as far as the shower. So, there's no stepping up to get into this. So, a nice use of contrasting colors to increase safety.

[00:31:23] And you've got that safety as far as not having to step up. And again, these changes might cost a little bit more. But we're not talking about necessarily hiring a plumber. We're not talking about re-plumbing, you know, the pipes. And that's where the real cost of plumbing comes in.

[00:31:46] So, these are, again, more modest means as far as cost but increases your safety. These are also great tips for people who are even building a home or thinking of building a home. Just go ahead and put these things in in the first place. Then you don't have to do the remediation later on. And your home will be useful to you for a longer period of time. Absolutely.

[00:32:14] You know, Karen, I get really frustrated at times as an assessment person coming in and trying to help. This one couple, they had just bought this house. And it was about as senior unfriendly as you can get.

[00:32:34] But narrow doorways, poor natural light, lots of steps, master bedrooms, you know, on a different level from the kitchen. And, you know, why weren't you thinking about these sort of needs when you bought the home?

[00:32:57] But if you're going to be designing your home, I would really encourage the viewers to talk to the contractors about whether they are familiar with universal design. Some people with the Aging in Place certifications just do assessments like I did. But some contractors are certified an Aging in Place specialist. And those are the sort of people that you want to work with.

[00:33:25] If you're thinking about doing some remodeling and the contractor doesn't know anything about universal design and hasn't ever heard of the CATS Certified Aging in Place Specialist designation, you probably want to look somewhere else. You can go to the website for AARP or you can go to the NAHB website. That's the National Association of Home Builders.

[00:33:52] And you can find a list in your particular area of people who have this training and this certification. So by all means, whether you're buying or building, keep some of this in mind. Absolutely. Let's move more toward, we got the shower here, but let's stay in the bathroom. That's one of those three areas that I mentioned.

[00:34:20] One of the things that I've noticed over and over is that people will start to fall and they will grab for the towel rack. The towel rack is not going to help you. Chances are the towel rack has just been installed into drywall and it can support the weight of a towel, but it cannot support the weight of a full-grown adult. Some people don't like the way grab bars.

[00:34:50] There's a whole series of grab bars that are rather elegant looking. And in reality, these towel racks are grab bars. They are not installed into drywall. They are installed into the studs of the wall. So these top two, if you were to go grab that towel rack, you would possibly stay up because it's going to be secure to that wall.

[00:35:18] But again, I can't tell you how many people have a towel rack directly opposite of the toilet and they think that's going to help them get up. No, it's increasing your risk of falling and hurting yourself rather than decreasing. So again, you can't really tell. I don't think those are grab bars up at tight. Just really nice towel racks that also are grab bars.

[00:35:46] Of course, getting in and out of bathtubs are a huge issue. There are a couple of ways you can get around that. This one on the bottom, one side of this bench goes in the bathtub. The other side of this bench goes on the floor. But what I like about this is that even if the individual using it does not have a lot of mobility or ability to scoot themselves, this particular seats on a roller.

[00:36:16] And so you can kind of help push that person into the bathtub or pull them out, or they can just scoot with a little bit more ease themselves because of these rollers. Again, not a very expensive item. It doesn't require installation by a professional, and yet you've increased your safety getting in and out of the bathtub with that particular bath bench.

[00:36:41] It's good to know that it's not that expensive because it seems more sophisticated than most ones I have seen. So it's a very interesting design. It's really not. I don't know the particular price on this one, Karen. I do know it's a double digits price for this. Wow. That's great. Yeah. Now let's go into more of the triple digits as far as some things for bathroom. But again, compared to the price of certain retirement and nursing homes,

[00:37:11] it's still a far cheaper option. I don't know how well folks can see the pole that's at top. That pole is a tension rod, if you will, that is safely secure between the joist and the ceiling and the floor. And there's a handle that can rotate 360 degrees.

[00:37:39] And so depending on the placement of the pole, this particular man can use the handle in this position to help get himself off the toilet. And then the handle can be lifted up, rotated and move toward the bathtub, put back down and locked. And now it can be used to get in and out of the bathtub.

[00:38:05] So again, a relatively, relatively inexpensive item that requires relatively little installation. That's going to significantly increase your safety in the bathroom for both the toilet or for, in this case, the bathroom.

[00:38:25] One of the things that when my wife and I own a store that we only sold one of for the five years we were open is we only sold one toilet lift. And I have to admit, I never quite understood why that is the case. You can see the toilet lift down at the bottom. It essentially functions just like a lift chair where it slowly lowers you down into a seated position.

[00:38:54] And it slowly lifts you up from a seated position. For a while there, my mom is currently in memory care. But before she was moved to memory care and dad was still taking care of her, I tried desperately to get dad to think about buying one of these. Why? Dad, I know you don't like talking about these things,

[00:39:22] but how are you holding mom up and cleaning her at the same time? I don't see how you're doing that, dad, especially without risking hurting yourself. That's what the toilet lift does. Somebody alone, it can help them just to get up. Or if you're caretaking, it can hold them basically in position while you help clean.

[00:39:48] I think these are relative godsends that are less than $1,500. They are easy to install with it for anybody that knows how to use a screwdriver. I really like these. Very nice. That's a very good explanation, too, of how those might be used. So thank you for that. Thank you.

[00:40:15] What I'd like to do is just talk a little bit about kitchens. And I wish I had put these on two different slides. So sorry about that. The top kitchen is actually a kitchen that I went into. The individual there was in her late 70s, leg issues. And she gets around pretty well, but she certainly cannot stand for any length of time.

[00:40:45] And one of her main complaints was she needed help figuring out what to do in the kitchen. Karen, do you want to take a shot at just noting some of the things you see on that particular picture, if you can see it? In the top? On the top, correct. A person that cannot stand will be having a hard time reaching things in the upper cabinets, for one.

[00:41:14] Also, the surfaces themselves for the countertop are probably a bit too high. There's nowhere for a walker or a rollator or a wheelchair or anything to get underneath the countertops. So you're having to extend your reach. The controls on the range would probably be difficult to reach as well. Absolutely. Especially for the oven.

[00:41:42] Yeah, those are some things I can see. Now, the oven is all but unusable because she couldn't figure out a way to sit and open up the oven door at the same time. Now, if she had lots of money and she did not, you can get some ovens now that open out horizontally, you know, rather than down.

[00:42:09] But when she was there at the stove, she didn't have enough upper body strength to sit at the side, open up the oven door, and then be able to reach inside and to pull out whatever was inside while in that very awkward position. Yes. This was also a person who did not have, you know, a lot of extra money.

[00:42:33] She is not the sort of person who would be able to do a huge kitchen remodel. So I've always seen assessments a little bit. I think I may have mentioned this to you in our pre-recorded conversation. Assessments are a little bit like Rubik's Cube. You can kind of get one side of the cube, you know, good. But then you've messed up the other side.

[00:42:56] And so figuring out their budget and their abilities and the particular physical parameters of like a kitchen, it was a bit of a puzzle sometimes. For this particular kitchen, she lived by herself. She wasn't making large meals at all. And so I recommended basically a couple of things.

[00:43:22] I essentially recommended let's just unplug the stove. You can't reach those controls anyway. You're increasing your danger of burning yourself. So let's just stop thinking in terms of using that oven. You also, you can't reach the microwave. It's too far up there. You can't reach controls. You can't stand to pull something out.

[00:43:47] So you've got basically an oven and a microwave that just don't function. So tell you what, let's unplug the stove. Let's just make the stove and let's clear out some of this stuff. Let's tidy up a little bit so you have some room. And let's get you a microwave and a small toaster slash air fryer that looks more like a microwave.

[00:44:14] And let's just put those two things right beside each other, essentially where the stove is and right there to the right of the sink. You can reach it. You can reach the controls. You can open it down while staying seated. And again, you're not fixing for 20 people. You are fixing something just for yourself. So you've increased your safety. You've increased your ability to live alone.

[00:44:41] You've increased your ability to eat better. And I don't know how much, I mean, a nice air fryer toaster oven's costing, but it's not, relatively speaking, that much. Microwaves certainly aren't that much any longer. And it just became, it got it a little bit closer. I doubt she ever spent the money. She could have. But you mentioned those shelves, those cabinet shelves.

[00:45:08] You know, you can, if you can reach those shelves, open that up. And then the shelves can kind of fold down so that they become easier to reach. I've seen those. That's a possibility. But just kind of a typical example of a kitchen that may not look that bad, but from a universal design perspective, it really is.

[00:45:36] By the way, going to universal design in kitchens, dishwashers are just awful because you've got to like bend way down to pull stuff out. And so in universal design, you're basically putting the dishwasher on a bit of a stand and you're lifting that up so you don't have to bend down.

[00:45:59] Likewise, in universal design homes, the electrical outlets are also taken off the floor, essentially, and moved up. So you don't have to bend so far down to plug up things and to unplug things as well. Well, let me just interject here a minute. Yeah, please. And let's go back to something you talked about just a little bit earlier. And that was, you know, it's great to have these things in a home.

[00:46:24] It's great to make these modifications that we are able to do for the amount of money that we have. And I've heard a lot of stories, and I could tell stories myself, about resistance to using some of the things that are available in a home.

[00:46:42] Even if we make the modifications, even if we make them safer and better in our homes, sometimes there is a hesitation to use them or even refuse to use them at all for whatever reason. Can you talk a little bit about the emotional barriers to using the resources in the home?

[00:47:04] I would love to talk about that because our store that we had, the main obstacle for selling certain of our items was, I don't want it. Second obstacle was, insurance is not going to pay for what I don't want. So now I really don't want it.

[00:47:31] And even, by the way, if people don't know this, I mean, I wish this were different. Medicare pays for a lift chair. It pays for 60% of the price of the motor. Right. Not 60% of the price of the chair or the material or the frame. It's 60% of the price of the motor. So I don't want to feel old, and insurance isn't going to pay for it, so I don't want it.

[00:48:03] I don't know if you can see this or not. This is my hearing aid. And I am 58 years old. And I am not happy about having hearing aids. But Jimbo has a choice. I can either listen to music like I want to listen to music. But to do that, I have to have the hearing aid.

[00:48:30] Or I can get rid of the hearing aid and get rid of music. I want my music. I want to be able to hear my voice when I talk to them on the phone. When I first put my hearing aids in, the only way I know to describe it is it's like I saw another color. It's like the whole world just got a bit brighter for me. And I'm like, this is awesome. I don't want it. I don't like looking old.

[00:49:00] But I love my hearing aids. So that's me, my story. And I've also got here my cane. So I mentioned earlier, I have this crazy knee disease that I've been dealing with for over a decade now. I'm fine. But I have mobility issues. I adore traveling. It's I, my wife and I, we just love traveling. So Jim has a choice.

[00:49:30] Jim, you can look old and have your cane and travel. Or you can not look old and stay at home and not travel. And I just had to get rid of my pride because I want to do that travel. I want to go places. I want to explore.

[00:49:53] And I'm willing to pay the price of looking like I need a cane so that I can keep traveling. I'm also a minister. And a couple of weekends ago, you know, I literally spent a good chunk of the day doing two things. One, installing a ramp system for her husband because he desperately needed it.

[00:50:22] And when I wasn't kind of working with the guys to install the ramp system, I was trying to decrease her anxiety about how it looked to the neighbors to have this ramp system outside the house. And it was like, honey, I love you. You need to stop worrying about the neighbors and to start worrying about your husband.

[00:50:46] Because you have a 30-inch rise on brick steps that he can no longer get up. And so you can either worry about your neighbors or you can help him get into the house in a way that is healthy and helpful for everyone. I'm sorry you don't have a choice. Well, I'm sorry that is your choice.

[00:51:14] I'm sorry you can't have it both ways. But you have to pick. Yes. Are you going to choose your husband or are you going to choose your neighbors? And I kind of hate putting it that way, but it is the obstacle to staying at home. If our goal is independence, if our goal is staying at home as long as we can, there are certain things we have to use. Right.

[00:51:40] And I know some people also use money when the real issue is psychological. But let's just take, you know, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The cost for assisted living where my dad is at, where my mom is at, it starts at $8,000 a month.

[00:52:03] For $8,000 a month, I can install two stair lifts inside of somebody's home. Or I can install a pretty major ramp system just with one month's fee to a home. I can do some pretty major modifications. So I don't know if that starts to address what you were asking, Karen. It really does. And I appreciate that so much. You know, life is a matter of choices.

[00:52:33] Mm-hmm. And in my household, my husband has said many times, well, can we afford that? And my response is, we can afford that as much as we can afford a fall in the house that's going to take us to the hospital, make us pay hospital bills and doctor bills, and all the pain that you're going to endure for having fallen. Yes.

[00:52:59] And all that comes with that, or we can just buy this, and it will make things so much safer. And so we have come to understand that you have to put things into perspective that way. And you have given us so many great insights and tips, and I wish we could just go on forever and ever, because I know you have a lot to impart. But we're going to kind of wrap up now, and I want to thank you so much for what you have given us today.

[00:53:30] And I want to thank you, our viewers and our listeners, for being with us today. Hopefully this information has been helpful for you and for your older adult loved ones. And finally, we also want to say a big thank you to Pace at Home in Newton, North Carolina, for sponsoring all of our Community Caregiver podcast. We hope you found our inaugural First Fridays with ACAP Beneficial.

[00:53:59] You can view the replay through our ACAP Community website at www.acapcommunity.org, or find the audio podcast as part of the Mesh Network of online shows and podcasts. We record one new episode each month, addressing a wide range of topics related to caregiving and advocating for older adults. You'll find our podcast on any platform where you listen to podcasts or on our website.

[00:54:26] While you're on our site, we hope you'll take a few minutes to learn more about ACAP, about our free educational programs, and our local community efforts. And if there are other topics you'd like us to address on First Fridays Lunch and Learn, please leave that for us in the comments section of our YouTube video, or by emailing info at acapcommunity.org. Stay well, everyone, and bye for now.