Aging in Place

I wondered if this was anything like running in place, only slower. Slower I hope, since I’m already getting older and I probably should have been thinking of ways to make aging in place easier a while back. Actually aging in place is a choice that most folks that are getting older are making. It means that they choose to age in their own places, their own homes. In order to do it more easily they have some things to consider before they reach an age when they find it harder because of income or physical restrictions to make accommodations and changes to a home that might have been perfect when they were younger to a home comfortable enough to age in place in later in life. If your home has stairs you may want to make sure you have a ground floor laundry, bathroom, and bedroom to make aging in place easier and safer. Helping take care of my father-in-law well into his nineties helped give me some perspective on this. In the bathroom grab bars were a necessity and a shower with a low or no threshold was important too. I added a shower seat and hand held shower head and that really made things easier. When making the choice to age in place it is also important to consider wide doorways (in case you ever need to get a walker or wheelchair through) and good lighting throughout your home. Then there are other conveniences to consider like a dishwasher drawer and counter tops and cabinets at convenient heights so you can minimize bending and climbing, which I have long disliked, the climbing especially, as a vertically challenged individual. Even though I’m not quite ready to age in place, I'll admit at least I’m beginning to think about it.