May

27

Aging In Place: Kitchen Function, Improved Usability Part 1

Filed Under Aging In Place / Aging At Home, Home Maintenance Tips | Leave a Comment

Usually, clients who update their bathrooms are the first to look at Design for Aging In Place, but in the next month or two, we’ll be renewing kitchens for two new clients. They both want to incorporate the latest ideas and technologies for Aging In Place, while keeping costs down as we go. One will be a complete remodel, the other, a modification.

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So, I set out to check in with some of my CKD friends, and others in the know, on exactly what parts will keep our new designs Accessible, with Water Sense EPA plumbing, the latest Title 24 Energy Standards, and as ‘green’ as possible (without simply ‘greenwashing*’).

Pullouts and Drawers:  If you reface, replace base cabinet shelving with roll-outs. If you are putting in new cabinets, make sure to put in as many pullouts and drawers on the bottom as possible. This also will also maximize your storage capacity. Susan Serra at www.TheKitchenDesigner.org suggests using sliding wall doors rather than flip ups on upper cabinets for seniors.

Add a swing-out or Lazy Susan:   Accessorize any un-fitted corner cabinets. Corner cabinets can be hard to access, especially those “blind corner cabinets” that are a black hole into nowhere. Both Rev-a-Shelf and Hafele make wonderful, well-priced after-market parts that can be used in upper and lower corner cabinets to make them more accessible. I love the “Le Mans” Blind Corner Cabinet from Hafele. Check out how it uses space!

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Use Drawer Pulls, not Knobs. If you take your client shopping, let them handle the different types of knobs and pulls, and you will see them start to naturally defer to the easier-to-grip pull. Sometimes the drawer or door will have to be fixed with putty and painted, or maybe the pull will have a nice back plate. If your client has arthritis or another debilitating illness that effects the use of their hand movement, this will be a real contribution toward a successful remodel.

Next: Part 2: Appliances, Faucets, Sinks and More.

May

18

Aging In Place: About Aunt Jacquie

Filed Under Aging In Place / Aging At Home, True Stories | Leave a Comment

p10000461Sometimes Aging In Place is so difficult, no one can help, and no one can hear your cries for help. That was the case for Aunt Jacquie, a dear and wonderful woman who wanted only to be seen for who she was, a “dinkum Aussie’ at heart, born in Australia, daughter of the American Counsel General, and a very well travelled young woman. Her youth was full of world travel, and she very much enjoyed her outings to dude ranches and other spots of historical interest in the United States and other places in the world. She had lived her professional life as a nurse, and in their later years, lived with and cared for her own parents till they passed.

jdoyleon-the-rocksAn intervention in late Fall of 2008 brought the illness to light, and some radical, and other gentle, steps were made to begin to bring her out of it. But, it was too late. Jacquie was already slipping away. The hoarding had disguised her own real illness, a combination of cancer and lung diesease, that, soon after January, had her visiting doctors to no avail, and her eventual collapse and hospitalization.

The best part of it was that Jacquie never had to go back to the trailer where she had lived out her days of confusion, buying the same 6 or so things every time she went to the store: Kitchen Matches, Plastic Wrap, Spices, toothpicks, cat food, and beer. Stacks of things piled up, unused (except the cat food). She had taped all the windows and doors shut with duct tape. She didn’t throw anything away. Underneath all the weird trappings of her later years, we found the treasures of her life, the things she had saved. We found a community of Catholics that knew her and loved her in the local parish. We learned of a priest who chatted with her regularly and who also suffered from depression. In him Aunt Jacquie Doyleshe had found solace.

I am so grateful for the hospice workers, nurses and caregivers who took such good care of Jacquie while she rode out these last few months. The care they gave her, the clean sheets, hair washing, baths; every day she became more beautiful, it was hard to not take  a picture of her as she looked more youthful as she fell in and out of sleep.

If you have a relative you have not seen in a while, if you know someone who is elderly had you think is a habitual nester, take the time to check in on them. Don’t be put off by their initial “no no no, you can’t come in.”  Go in, take a chance, do something nice for them. You will be so happy that you made even a little bit of difference.

Jacquie, we love you!

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