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There is a growing push to provide and promote in-home services such as home healthcare and aging-in-place due to the significant cost savings for insurance companies and the government. Baby boomers and seniors often prefer to stay in their own home rather than go to a nursing home. People tend to stay healthier and recover from illness or disease when they remain in their homes.
According to Wesson Builders, baby boomers represent 28% of the population and their aging parents over 65 represent another 14%. Meeting their needs and making their homes fit their new situations is often described many different ways: accessibility remodeling, aging-in-place, barrier-free renovations, universal design, etc. No matter the term, there is one common goal – to keep seniors in their own home in a way that enhances their independence, safety, comfort, and quality of life.
In a study conducted by AARP, 62% of respondents over age 45 reported that they, a spouse, or a parent had difficulty walking, bathing, climbing stairs, or getting in and out of a bed or a chair; had knee and hip problems; or used a cane, walker, wheelchair, or electric cart.
Bonnie Wolke, owner of Wesson Builders, explained that her company has witnessed this growing trend and recently began carrying products from AKW, designed to created flexible style design solutions in the bathroom area, focusing on barrier free showering and bathroom safety solutions.
“AKW has more of a multi-generational approach to people of all living in the same home,” Wolke stated. “In the US that push is basically just starting. Everyone wants to stay in their own home and have a better quality of life than in a nursing home. We are trying to enable people to do that safely and inexpensively.”
AKW uses a particular blue for many of its products – such as grab bars and shower seats – because it’s the last color to be lost visually in the aging process, according to the company.
The central focus of the barrier free products is the preformed shower pans for tiling or vinyl floor applications. For example, a bathtub can be pulled out and replaced with the Tuff-Form shower pan to create a true level entry shower with no step or curb. The Tuff-Form with built in slope top drain is only 7/8” thick and can be placed directly on the floor joists and tiled over for an efficient installation.
With AKW’s wet floor system, a special membrane protects the entire bathroom floor.
Wesson also offers door widening, wall removal, grab bars and handrails, adapting kitchens, and wheelchair ramps
According to Wesson, many homeowners are starting to look ahead to their older years and considering universal design in their plans earlier in life.
Wesson works with home health agencies, occupational therapists, and rehab centers. Discharge planners and case managers assess the needs of the client by evaluating the home safety problems and needs. Often this involves home modifications for accessibility to ensure a positive transition back into the home. This may involve full bath renovations for handicapped access such as adult height toilets, accessible sinks in vanities, showers level with the floor, shower seats, and half-height caregiver shower doors. Converting a tub to a shower is often the most needed renovation, according to the company.
Wolke explained, “We are going to be putting in a bathroom system in Waterville. We suggest to customers that, if they’re going to be remodeling the bathroom, they go with something accessible. People are becoming more open to that and thinking ahead with a zero clearance shower instead of a traditional curb shower.”
She noted that, five years ago, home additions were much more prevalent. However, with the current economic conditions, additions are no longer greatly increasing the value of a home.
“If you want to maintain or increase the value of your home, focus on your bathrooms and kitchens,” Wolke suggested. Though, she noted that homeowners should consider keeping at least one bathtub in their home to maintain resale value as well.
Wesson is also starting to focus more on commercial applications of its services in assisted living facility, rehab center, and skilled nursing facility renovations.
Wolke concluded, “No matter where people spend their later years – their own home or a facility – it is important that the proper products be in place for safety and an enhanced quality of life. That is why this new line of AKW bathroom solutions is so valuable for both the residential and commercial setting.”
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