As the years pass, our bodies age. Everything must age with time, that’s just the cycle of life, and it’s never too early to start thinking about proactive steps to plan for the future.
According to the DailyMail we start to age as early as our mid-20s. From our brain, our sight, our muscles, and even our eyes. While we can’t control the biology, we can control the environment we create. We’ve vetted top five things you can do to make your home more accessible and aging-friendly, whether it’s for yourself or a loved one.
Aging-in-Place on a budget Tip 1: Turn up the brightness
Most individuals — with corrective lenses or not — tend to have complications navigating in the dark. To avoid this, start to increase the lighting inside and outside your home, especially in stairways and hallways.
Perhaps you are starting to see vision loss for yourself and/or for family members. By adding another light or using brighter bulbs (be sure to check allowable wattage on each fixture when increasing bulb size) in your stairways and even some outside, you are able to increase your chance of preventing falls that may have taken place in dim lighting.
Aging-in-Place on a budget Tip 2: The wider the better
Have you ever stumbled coming through a door? Have you ever been on crutches or had a walker, and noticed just how small your walkway really was? If you or someone you live with has mobility challenges, you don’t want to regret not being prepared, as these smaller doorways make it harder to enter and exit rooms. Especially troublesome can be door thresholds — young and old may not be expecting them. An easy fix is an Amramp Adjustable Threshold Ramp provides an accessible solution for uneven thresholds and is available in 3 widths.
According to the US Census Bureau approximately 19% of the population is mobility challenged, which is almost 2 out of every 10 people you come into contact with! Create accessible places in your home for all by beginning to think about expanding your doorways, walkways, and hallways. This is also something to consider for aging parents’ homes, being prepared in case of emergency is the best solution always.
Aging-in-Place on a budget Tip 3: Give yourself a hand
As you grow older, you experience muscle loss, and as your bone density decreases, your sense of balance does, too. Loss of balance can make falls more common when walking up and down stairs or getting up from a chair. Adding grab bars and railings in the bathroom, stairways, and even hallways can assist in preventing loss of balance.
When you are older, injuries from a fall can take up to 10 years to fully heal; while individuals under the age of 30 can heal in a matter of months. This is why your safety is important to consider as you age. A simple grab bar or railing in the bathroom, where it is slippery, or stairs, or even outdoors can help prevent a life-altering fall.
Aging-in-Place on a budget Tip 4: Safety Routes
Do you need a solution to getting around your home safely and efficiently? For individuals who utilize a wheelchair, cane, walker, or other mobility support systems, it can be challenging to get from one point of the home to the other, indoors and outdoors, in a timely and safe manner. That is why it is important to look into the benefits of using and installing products such as modular entrance ramps, vertical platforms, and electric stair lifts.
For those with mobility concerns, it could be life-altering to install an entrance ramp with railings. The benefits of installing an entrance ramp are endless, they include:
- Getting indoors and outdoors easily and independently
- Increased safety for those with mobility challenges in case of an emergency such as a fire
- No-slip surface with Amramp’s modular unique open mesh modular ramp surface
In many cases, space is a big concern — perhaps not enough room to install a wheelchair ramp. In these situations, a vertical platform lift or inclined platform lift provides access to raised entries to and/or inside your home. Platform lift installation is quick and easy.
Residential and commercial vertical lifts and platform lifts are:
- Virtually maintenance-free
- Weatherproof for indoor and outdoor use
- Models range from 4 to 14 feet
- Battery back-ups available
Similarly to being able to get inside and outside, going up and down your staircase indoors or outdoors may be another accessibility challenge in your home. Installing a electric stair lift may be the solution to opening up the rest of your home to being fully accessible. This product provides a solution to an otherwise stressful everyday task. To be able to get to and from a destination in your own home should not be an obstacle to overcome each and every day.
Aging-in-Place on a budget Tip 5: Opening doors yourself
Accessing doors can pose a problem for many people: From those with arthritis to those with accessibility needs, it can become a daunting task. It may even become a chore to try to hold all your items while simultaneously opening up the front door or any door for that matter. Installing an automatic door opener can relieve some of that stress.
Automatic door openers can hold up in all weather, as well as still be locked with a key. The system does not require you to replace your door entirely but just adds an extra ability to your current door. This easy solution is friendly to all ages and accessibility challenges and can help your home become that much more aging-friendly.
For accessibility solutions for your home or business, contact Amramp’s accessibility experts for more information. Or schedule a free evaluation, call 888-715-7598.
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