When Aging In Place Makes Sense?
For many families I have worked with, aging in place is right when your mom or dad can still live safely at home with the right support and modifications in their house.
As care needs increase, the question isn't whether they can stay home, but whether staying home continues to provide the best quality of life.
If you are sure the time may be right for your mom or dad, Start here
Simple Answer:
Aging in place makes sense when your parent can continue living safely at home with the right support, home modifications, and realistic expectations. The goal isn't staying home at all costs. It's choosing the living situation that provides the best quality of life.
Situations Where Staying Home and Aging In Place Often Makes Sense
To your mom or dad, their house likely represents independence, comfort, familiarity, and decades of memories. It makes perfect sense that the first choice is often to remain there for as long as possible with the right conditions in place...
Life Is Working Well and they are relatively independent and can safely be in their house because they still…
Manage medications,
Eat healthy meals regularly,
Paying bills on-time, and
Keeping the house reasonably maintained
The House Needs Some Changes even if your mom or dad is capable of most things, there are some difficulties remaining if…
Stairs are more challenging,
Cooking becomes daunting,
Unsafe bathrooms, or
Mobility has become an issue to complete tasks
Safety Is Becoming a Concern and the house is the main culprit of your mom or dad’s safety difficulties, especially with…
Repeated slips and falls,
Leaving the stove on after cooking,
Wandering and getting losts, or
You, as the caregiver, are feeling burnt out
Caregiving Is Becoming Too Much that has forced you to become the primary caretaker and be responsible for tasks like…
Grocery shopping for mom or dad
Cleaning the house even after they did,
Getting them to leave the house, or
Managing their nutrition and medications needs
This is a perfect time to start the discussion about the possible eventual move. It can get them used to the idea
Together, you can
Signs It Might Work to Stay Home
The opportunity is the best chance to do some minor modifications to the home with their partnership. This is especially true when…
Strong support systems around them to help with some modifications, both physically and monetarily.
Safe layout in place to prevent expensive overhauls to the house.
Cognitive stability to prevent your mom or dad to get confused and agitated
Willingness to adapt to the modifications in the house and the good possibility it’s only temporary.
Starting the conversation is the best first step
One of the most important modifications is getting additional care and support by bringing in professionals, visiting your mom and dad more often, and even planning social events with friends and family.
What A Lot of Families Get Wrong
When working to modify a house for a mom or dad, the renovations and modifications can get expensive and some are not convenient.
The biggest thing that I’ve encountered when this is an option is the lack of reality with things like…
Let’s prepare
•Overestimating safety
• Ignoring future decline
• Avoiding planning
Don’t give into the temptation to think this is long-term option.
Where the House Fits
Your mom or dad’s house has evolved through the years. It may have been…
All of these great changes have made the house adapt. This is no different as you modify the house for your mom or dad as they age with things like
The home causes confusion because their memory and reality no longer line up.
Installing ramps to replace small steps in places like front porches and garages.
Putting grab bars in the bathroom and installing walk-in tubs and showers because these are the most common places people fall. .
Improving lighting with motion-sensor lights, and making suyre there is enough light in places like hallways and staircases.
All of these are relatively inexpensive and do not necessarily take away from the home’s value.
Because this is temporary, it’s a good time to understand what happens to the house
big enough for newlyweds
starting a family
welcoming grandkids
Before you start swinging a hammer, you need to create
A Simple Pathway
Identify risks
Modify the right places in the house
Reassess regularly for needed changes or severity of needs
Check out the more in-depth Right-Sizing guide
Or
Explore some of the options in Denver
What to Do Next?
You don’t need to figure out everything today.
Instead, take the first step to get clarity and or you may already know, so it’s time to Start Here