Growing Need for Homes Designed for Aging in Community

Lifespan Home Modifications was founded 15 years ago in the state with the fastest aging population per capita and no retirement communities: Alaska. Like the rest of the country, residents assumed they would retire and remain in the same home and community where they raised their families. But as the stark realities of Aging in Place emerged, the growing need for homes designed and modified specifically for low maintenance, safe navigation, aging eyesight, home healthcare, cognitive changes and other age-related factors became obvious.

Lifespan Home Modifications joined with visionary individuals and groups to lay the groundwork for expanding the variety and quality of housing options for older adults who want to remain in their home and community as they age.

As cohousing communities experience their own members transitioning from fit to frail and from independent living to intensive interdependent living, now is the time to plan for the future. As cohousing members evolve to include communities of caregivers, it is time to design common and individual residential spaces that make assisted bathing, toileting, grooming and dressing easier for caregivers and those receiving care.

Lifespan Home Modifications sees the “Aging Better Together” conference as an opportunity to support cohousing communities that are intent on helping their members to age in community. We hope to learn more about each unique community and how our experience in designing homes for all ages and stages of life can help. Come visit our exhibit table at the conference to continue the conversation.

Over the years Lifespan Home Modifications has collaborated with, worked on and contributed to innovative projects by:

* training OSHER Lifelong Learning Institute members on universal design building and remodeling techniques for their own homes

* working on a grassroots movement to build a non-profit retirement community in a town where retirees had few options available for remaining in their community

* helping to found the local “Village to Village Network” affiliate

* writing monthly home modification columns for the Older Persons Action Group statewide newspaper

* being the first company in the state to offer Certified Aging in Place Specialist services

* publishing guidelines for constructing assisted living housing in remote villages where keeping elders in the community is a priority

Karla Mathewson Zervos, Founder

Lifespan Home Modifications

“Home improvement for independent living”

(800) 993-1798 / (907) 457-5433

www.homemodification.com

Category: Aging in Community

Tags: Aging, Design, living in cohousing, Senior

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