Aging, Visitability, and Santa
Santa Claus has the right idea: visit people once a year.
-Victor Borge
Ya know Santa isn’t getting any younger…and to think, the old-guy has been climbing down chimneys for as long as I can remember. This got me wondering about the accessibility of our home—and more practically; how could we entertain guests with mobility issues?
“Visitability”
The aging in place movement embraces a concept known as “visitability” which is defined by 3 basic features:
1. One zero-step entrance, at the front, side, or back of the home
2. All main floor doors (bathrooms too) have at least 32 inches of clear passage space
3. A half bath, preferably a full bath, on the main floor
These elements will make your house a “visitability” home, allowing wheelchair or other mobility challenges to be accommodated.
With each passing season and the aging of our loved ones, the idea of “visitability” becomes a reality in our Holiday planning. The gift of receiving others into our homes is what defines the season and it’s where life-time memories are created. So accessibility to the home is fundamental to the experience of Christmas and New Years.
Accommodating Santa
Now, as for a jolly-aging-over-weight guy who has a weakness for soda pop, cookies and milk…I think he too would appreciate a zero-step entrance and wide doorways which would facilitate his girth—and that easy access bathroom might come in handy as well…after all it will be a LONG night!
My Gift to You: (Listen)
John Henry Faulk’s ‘Christmas Story’
See
“Visitability” defined
disaboom.com: Michael Graves
Darren Larson on Visitability
(photo howstuffworks.com)
Lorna Waterman
Hello. I am in need of some advice. My company offers a walk-in tub service to the residents of Arizona. I would like to learn more about how to meet their needs. Generally, when we are called, there has been a fall or a surgery that has threatened their independence and there is little else that we can do but to put up grab bars and widen doorways.
NAHB offers a program to be an Aging in Place Specialist, but it does not offer one in Arizona. I am not sure that this program is actually worth the bother as it focuses as much on marketing to the older demographic as it does to serve it. So I would like to be pointed in the direction of a program or a source of information that can educate me and make me more useful to my community.
Thank you.