Suggestions for Large and Small Changes at Home

Here is an overview of home modifications and devices available from medical suppliers and contractors that can help aging seniors remain at home:

* Home entrance: addition of handrails, lower-rise steps or replacement of front stairs with sloped inclines or ramps. Installation of special lighting. Installation of exterior chairlifts that take a person from the ground to a porch or deck. Creation of a shelf for holding groceries or bags while the front door is opened.

* Interior: removing the lip in flooring between rooms and making sure corridors are passable. Widening doorways with special swing-back hinges that create an extra 2 1/2 inches for a wheelchair to pass through, or removing doors. Putting in flooring that is not slippery. Removing clutter.

* Interior staircase: installation of chairlifts, incline platform lifts or elevators.

* Bathroom: addition of two to four strategically placed grab bars near the shower or tub to help in rising from a sitting position. Adding a higher seat to the toilet or replacing it with a specially designed model 2 1/2 to 3 inches higher than a conventional toilet. Installing a barrier-free shower that allows a person to roll a waterproof wheelchair into place for bathing. Putting in a bathtub that will accommodate a special chair that allows a person to transfer into the tub or use a special tub chair that can be raised and lowered into the water. Replacing fixed shower heads with hand-held ones. Installing scald-free faucets to avoid burns.

* Kitchen: adding pullout shelves or baskets so that stored goods can be reached without a person having to bend. Creating a counter-top work space and islands with open space below so a seated person can sit and prepare food. Installing kitchen cabinets that can be raised and lowered with a crank mechanism or using a safe ladder-like step stool. Installing counter lighting. Lowering the sink so a seated person can reach it; replacing conventional faucets with single-lever faucets. Adding mechanism to secure stove-top pots and pans.

* Pool: installation of systems to transfer a person from a wheelchair to the pool and then lower him or her into the water.