What are your tips for staying independent at your own home?

thank you for taking the time to respond, i will show this to someone who might be able to do this exact thing! i have a metal/porcelain tub.

A tub chair is a lifesaver for me! I can sit down and still get clean. I can stand if I want. Think about it - safe and sturdy. Cost is about 100.00 but medicare pays about half.

My mother wants to stay in her home. We had a home health person from the county come to her house. He watched her move through what she would do on a typical day. His assessment was she was doing fine. He offered some suggestions to make things easier and we implemented them. She ( and I) feel much more confident

I am in total agreement with the shower chair post. Of course it only would work if you have a walk in shower stall. But if you do it gives me much more confidence taking a shower. We have a hand held and rain like shower heads but I don't even need to use the hand held one. I don't fear falling on hard tiles or craving thru glass anymore. They are inexpensive and sturdy and clean. Highly recommend

D had her friend sleepover in our home. She was amused that our home is good for aging in place. Haha! It’s all one level. There is a step between porch and front door and high thresholds between main rooms & bathrooms & kitchen (transition between wood and sheet vinyl flooring).

A shower chair can be very useful and allow safer shower/bathing.

When we built our house in 2004 we installed an elevator. Thank God. I must have one for just one floor. We welcome other folks handicapped come visit

Forgot to mention that D’s friend is an occupational therapist. She told D that our home is nice for aging in place.

When we had an OT for mom, we had her come and evaluate things we could do to help make mom’s setting safer. She lived at a SR community and we bought a frame for toilet so she had bars to grab and help her get down & up. We also bought a handle to help her get in & out of vehicles that hooked onto car door latch. We also bought a belt so that aids could assist her in getting up & down & walking without falling.

We are in our 50’s and are renovating our home. Thank goodness we are in a single story.

We hired a contractor that is working with us to widen our door ways to make them easier for a wheelchair and are removing doors completely where possible.

We are installing a handicapped accessible bathtub and making our shower accessible as well.

Another thing we are doing is getting toilets that are raised and are increasing the height of our countertops.

Hope it helps.

When I purchased my current home in 2015, I had to wait several weeks before it was finished, but this gave me the opportunity to specify much of the finishing items, including bathroom fixtures. I learned that "accessible" toilets can be anywhere from 14 inches to 117 inches from the floor to the top of the toilet itself. Standard toilets from years past were 12 inches from the floor to the rim of the toilet. The three inches, between 14" and 17" makes a huge difference in ease of use if you ever have back or lower extremity surgery, like a hip replacement. I had 17" toilets put in my new house. Including the added height of the toilet seat, they are nearly 18 " from the floor to the top of the seat. I really notice it when I'm in a public place and the "accessible" toilet is a 14-incher. I manage, but I'm also glad for the grab bar. So carefully consider the height of the toilets you are putting in. How to manage if you have small grandchildren visiting? Maybe designate one bathroom as a non-accessible one? Good luck and good wishes on all the changes you are making. You'll be very glad you did!

That's very good. In the kitchen, evaluate accessibility of commonly used items. We made room for a set of service, mug for ice cream, cereal, etc and silverware to be reached from the chair.

We also added a section of bar so a wheelchair will fit nicely to give us a 'normal' eating area. We especially use it when having messy meals like soup or spaghetti.