Don't Burn Your Money

Residential accessibility does not always have to be expensive. It doesn’t even always involve structural remodeling. Wow! Isn’t that good news? Who wouldn’t want to save money these days? Spending money you don’t need to or spending it unwisely is almost as bad as simply just putting it in the grill and lighting it on fire! What a waste!

Money is important. At Home Access Solutions we know that, and we respect our customer’s budgets. We save people money because our designs are based on a person’s goals, abilities, and medical condition and we have the experience and knowledge to offer a range of solutions, some of which are really inexpensive.

When it is desirable or necessary to make structural changes, it is important to build in the space you need for your mobility equipment and your transfer style. For example, we recently worked with some people who were planning a bathroom remodel for a person with a progressive medical condition. They had no experience with wheelchairs yet and just weren’t able to imagine how the chairs make corners. They’d received a design from a person skilled in building that would have actually made it more difficult to pass into the bathroom, and they would have paid for a shower base that would be much easier for her to step in now, but would not allow a transition to a roll-in shower. That would have meant another painful decision in the future to either make another modification or do without a real bath. At Home Access Solutions we think spending money on modifications that don’t match your abilities and mobility equipment is like watching your money go up in smoke.

We also believe that there are also too many people who waste money through inaction. Too many people decide that access or access equipment is too expensive before they get the real information they need. They quit before they even begin! If you think about it, not spending money by doing nothing at all when you need to make some changes to make your home safer or easier to use, isn’t really saving money. I challenge you to compare the cost of an accident that might result in a hip fracture or a head injury to the cost of reasonable accessible design. It is a great bet for us when the access design might not even require remodeling.

For example, a bath slider is a useful piece of equipment that can save the cost of a bathroom remodel and doorway widening. The user can get into it in a bedroom or other location where there is room to move around. The slider is 22” inches wide and passes through even those tiny little 24” doors that are still so common on bathrooms. The slider is attached to a stand sitting in the bathtub. The caregiver locks the rolling base and tub base together creating a bridge into the tub and then slides the seat over the bridge. If you have some interest in a bath slider, give us a call. The equipment works, but it is large. You’ll want a professional familiar with the equipment to see your bathroom or view a floor plan of the room to make sure it will work for you.

Just recently we worked with a family who thought they would have to replace the entire tub with a barrier free shower. Unfortunately the cost of that remodel was too much for them to tackle right now. Rather than continue with the dangerous transfers they were doing - literally pulling the man of the family up off the tub floor, we provided them with a tub bather system. Replacing the glass shower door and frame with a curtain rod and curtain, providing a hand held shower and the tub bather system and training was right around $500. That is a low price to pay for privacy and dignity in the tub and removing the daily hazard of one person pulling another off the tub floor!

So don’t burn through your money on un-usable modifications or through doing nothing at all. We urge you to share these stories with people who need to know that there are so many options to solve access and safety problems around the home and that it is possible to do it economically. The key is working with a professional who listens to your goals, knows about equipment and access remodeling, and who is willing to keep your budget in mind.

To see more on these systems check out our flyers on them.

Bathroom Safety

What do grab bars and footballs have in common? Actually both are attempted by amateurs, but professional application requires knowledge and skill. That may be a stretch, but hopefully we captured your attention and you will read on about grab bars which we know most people don’t find nearly as exciting as watching their favorite team in action.

People aren’t usually excited when we suggest that they may want to install a grab bar or two. They believe that a person needs to be totally infirm, or older than they are, in order to need a grab bar. We hear statements like “ Well, I don’t want my bathroom to look like a gas station”, “I don’t want to affect the value of my home”, or “When I need one, I’ll have my brother Bobby run over here and put it in.” We don’t believe that grab bars have to look horrible, they don’t detract from value or beauty when done properly, and we have burning curiosity about how a person is going to anticipate the exact moment of need and get “brother Bobby” over there the day before they fall. We know grab bars installed after the fact aren’t nearly as life saving as those thoughtfully installed well before the need arises.

Here’s the deal. All people, at any time of their lives reach out and grab things when they start to fall. A grab bar is simply something designed to be grabbed. It stays put when you grab it as opposed to a towel rack or a walker, or the corner of a dresser. A grab bar used for balance instead of something unreliable like the corner of a sink, doesn’t contribute to the risk of falling. Also, who says grab bars need to look medicinal and drab? If that is your choice, fine! We like to use colors to compliment décor as well as increase safety, by making them easier to see. There are over 180 colors we can use with Best Bath System grab bars. We have a client who recently chose a red which matched her wall paper border, but it inspired us as it also matched the color of many Nebraskan’s favorite football team! Now that is an exciting grab bar!

Grab bar color can really be fun and functional, but you also need to keep two other things in mind to make a grab bar actually work for you. We provide professional grab bar installation, but we are often see the results of mistakes people make thinking that selecting and mounting a grab bar is a simple process.

Here is our critical rule number one: Make sure that the grab bar is securely mounted to some structure in the house or with newer technology blind fasteners designed for grab bars. Knowledge and skill with various blind fasteners and blocking techniques allow you to be able to work with critical rule number two.

Critical rule number two: You must put the grab bars where they are needed based on the individual’s abilities and what they are using the bar for. This seems like a simple concept, but you wouldn’t believe how many homes we walk into where the decision for grab bar location was based solely on where the home-owner or handyman could find studs. A grab bar isn’t magic. You have to reach it easily for it to really be any good. Your therapist or our access designers can help you decide placement based on your mobility, height, strength, and how you are using the device while you move.

So, join us as cheerleaders for bathroom safety! Share the news and this video with people who need to know about grab bars – that is everybody! Remember the best time to install is before you need it, give some thought as to where a bar really needs to be placed for maximum effectiveness, and get it installed properly. If you are into color whether to enhance safety or to match décor or your favorite team colors we encourage you to go for it!

Clients Sharing the News

Did you get your message in a bottle?

If someone asked me, what is one of the biggest mistakes that people make when it comes to accessibility and safety in their home, I would have to say that it is simply not getting started. No one wants to hear the message about home modifications until they actually need it “yesterday!”

We meet people at health fairs, on the street, or they are referred to us. All too often they actually limp up to us or use mobility equipment like a cane or walker, or have already fallen, and when we talk about using equipment or making changes that would increase safety or reduce effort, they tell us “Oh that is great, but I’m not at that point yet.” We hear it so often and we’ve talked about creating staff T-shirts that say -When is “That Point”? We know, we know. No one would get that message either. Sometimes we feel like we are shouting out a message that no one wants to hear or perhaps we have a message that is doomed to be lost for years, just like the old message in a bottle.

We know that it is human nature to believe that we are never going to change; we won’t be the ones that have the horrible accidents; and we won’t be the ones whose spouses, parents, or children need us to learn the skills of nurses and therapists. As humans, we believe this right up until the moment that our worlds start to fall apart. We also know that people don’t want to make changes because they don’t know what to do or they don’t know who to turn to for good advice.

There was a great study done by AARP and other organizations that addressed what people wanted to do and what they were actually doing about aging in place. AARP study If you read through the study you’ll see that it confirms the things we see at Home Access Solutions every day. Much larger numbers of people believe they will be living at home all their lives than the smaller numbers of people who are actually taking action to make that dream a reality.

We often work with people facing big problems and our job is to help them find a way to make their home safer, accessible, and easier to live in. Though we’d prefer to help people avoid crises by planning ahead, we think we do a pretty good job of helping clients through crisis by coming up with practical solutions. Our clients think so too. Most of our new work comes from referrals from clients and the health professionals who work with them.

We hope that you will listen to the testimonials from our clients and check out the things people have shared for our web site. Link to testimonials What we really hope is that their comments will motivate you to be among the few who truly prepare for aging in place and that if you ever need the help, you will remember to search out people like us and companies like Home Access Solutions. Accessibility Remodeling and Adaptive Equipment can help you keep going and living life to the fullest.