55% of seniors falls happen inside the home, and many are preventable with modifications. 69% of seniors say that technology helps them stay independent. And 24 million Americans are unpaid family caregivers, which could mean an adult child or a spouse. One of the things that we are seeing is that the spouse gets so stressed out taking care of a loved one that they end up dying before the loved one does. Living in a place where there's less stress, more functionality, makes things easier. Aging-in-Place specialist Paul Kocharhook, President of Pathway Design + Construction, joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders podcast to share examples of universal design: reducing clutter, improving safety, accessibility, and using technology so that we can continue to live in our homes as we age gracefully.

For example, Paul says, "We've had homes where we have, say, one spouse that is blind and one is deaf. If there's a fire in the home, how do we adapt to both of those issues. One can't see a strobe light, and the other one can't hear the alarm. So we're putting in combinations, strobe light plus the audible noise, or sometimes it's even vibration. If they carry their phone around with them on a consistent basis, or they might have some sort of a device that they also have with them, that might just notify them of an issue within the home.

"I've heard from clients, 'I don't want a ramp in the front of my house because I don't want to make myself noticeable to somebody driving by who would then potentially take advantage of me.' How do we how do we use technology that's available to us to put a lift in the home? Get us down to the garage level, or something like that, because you still want to keep your car in the garage, right?

"We talked about induction cooktops, or locations of dishwashers. Bending over as you get older is not as easy. When there's two of you living in the home, then you don't need that big dishwasher. So we do a half dishwasher, and that's raised up, so that it's high enough so you're not having to bend over to pull your dishes in and out. It's fantastic for somebody in a wheelchair as well. Makes it very accessible.

"Are there other things that we've done for technology wise – different types of outlets. So if you are in a wheelchair, sometimes [an outlet] isn't where you can access it easily. We can drop them into drawers or countertops now, as opposed to a back wall. Touch faucets are pretty awesome as well. You don't have to manually turn knobs, we can just touch it and turn it off and turn it on. And those are fantastic whether you have a disability or not. You're [preparing] chicken in the kitchen, you don't want to touch the faucet, so you just touch with the back of your hand."

Pathway Design + Construction is a residential remodeling company that serves the Greater Seattle Puget Sound region in the state of Washington. With a speciality towards aging in place, Pathway tries to help you continue to evolve and live in your home long into the future.

Visit PathwayDC.com or call 206-937-4809 for more information. If you're in the Seattle area, mention Answers for Elders to get a free consultation. Paul will come out, check out your home, make sure that it is safe, and talk about different potential projects, whether for now or in the future.

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Mentioned in this episode:

Chateau Retirement

Chateau Retirement

Walk to End Alzheimer's

Learn more about the Walk to End Alzheimer's at https://www.alz.org/walk.