Accessibility for Seniors

This past weekend I met with some dear clients who are trying to make their condo into an "aging in place" environment. The goal is to help clients maintain their independence and dignity by being able to live in their own home and care for themselves.

When they purchased the condo, they thought through some of the issues they would face down the road. It is a ranch style condo, so it should be easily adaptable. At least we hope so.
Already we have had a handrail installed outside the front door, to make the 2 steps easier to navigate. A ramp may not be an option in this community, so we are hoping the handrail and the front, and the grab bar at the garage entrance will be sufficient.

The latest issue is the bathroom. It seems Mrs. dear client is having some mobility issues.
A bathtub can be difficult to get in an out of. Even with a grab bar, there is a significant amount of upper body strength required to get out of a tub from a sitting position.

The next obvious place to adapt is the shower. They are fortunate enough to have a separate tub and shower. There is a shower pan in the bottom of the shower, meaning that it is not a roll in shower, so there is a 4" threshold to step over. I think this is manageable if we can install grab bars for stability.

Currently there is just a single lever handle that controls the volume and temperature of the shower, and a single showerhead that is about 6' above the floor. In order to make this work better for Mrs. dear client I am researching an adjustable height showerhead. Mrs. does not like to wash her hair in the shower, so we need to be able to adjust the height of the head so that her hair can remain dry. A handheld showerhead is not something she is interested in because if you do not have a firm grip on them, they can take off and spray everywhere. It sounds funny, and may even look funny, but if it happens to you it does not feel funny. So my preference is an adjustable height showerhead, typically this is a showerhead mounted on a tall rod.

We are hoping to avoid a major bathroom renovation at this time. I am researching options that can use as much of the existing plumbing as possible while giving the clients the functions that they require.

I will let you know how this one turns out. Here's some of my thoughts, share yours.
-MaryBeth