Aging In Place Directory

#30 - Home Modifications For Persons with Parkinsons

• Esther C Kane CAPS, C.D.S. • Season 2 • Episode 4

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Transforming homes for those living with Parkinson's is essential. We explore practical modifications that improve safety and mobility, ensuring independence and quality of life. The episode dives into challenges faced and solutions available to enhance living conditions.

• Discussing Parkinson's and daily living challenges 
• Home modifications to support mobility and safety 
• Importance of a safe entryway and living areas 
• Recommendations for bathroom and kitchen safety 
• Utilizing technology for enhanced living solutions 
• Encouragement to consult professionals for personalized assessments 

If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please leave us a comment here on this podcast. 


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Speaker 1:

Are you living with and or caring for someone with Parkinson's? If so, you know firsthand the challenges that come with maintaining safety, mobility and independence at home. Then today's podcast is for you. We're going to be talking about the kinds of home modifications that can help to make the home safer and make the tasks easier for everyone. So welcome to the Aging in Place Directory podcast, your go-to resource for aging in place solutions and expert insights on making homes safer and more accessible.

Speaker 1:

I'm Esther Kane, a retired occupational therapist and currently an Aging in Place specialist, and today we're going to go into an important topic home modifications for individuals with Parkinson's disease. Now, I probably don't have to tell you that Parkinson's is a progressive neurological disorder that affects everything from movement to balance coordination. All of these factors make everyday activities more challenging. However, with the right modifications in the home and for the person, we can help individuals with Parkinson's maintain independence and improve their quality of life at home. Of course, each and every single person is different. Symptoms are different for everyone, so hopefully some of these tips that I'm giving you today can help you in your situation. Certainly, let me know in the comments reviews. I'd love to hear what you're doing to make your life caring for someone with Parkinson's or living with Parkinson's easier. All right, so before we discuss modifications, let's first take a simple understanding of the four most common challenges that anyone or that people with Parkinson's face in their homes. The first is mobility issues, and this is slowness of movement, which is called bradykinesia, and muscle stiffness. Both of these make it much harder to navigate spaces. Balance problems because of the bradykinesia and muscle stiffness. It easily affects balance and increases the risk of falls Tremors Not everyone that has Parkinson's gets tremors, but it is fairly common shaking, which can easily make simple tasks like eating or dressing you know, managing any fine motor type of tasks difficult. And, of course, one thing you don't think about too often is the fatigue and cognitive changes that occur because of Parkinson's. These can make navigating the home overwhelming and frustrating.

Speaker 1:

Now that we have a better understanding of these four issues, let's talk about some of the things that you can do to make the home safer and make life a bit easier. We're going to start with the entryway. Entryway and hallways, actually, but a home's entrance should be safe and accessible. Now, if you only have one entrance to your home, obviously, then you can only work on that one. But if you have two or more entrances, then at least one of them should be accessible and that means a zero threshold type of entryway. So if you have to install a ramp or you know, flatten out the threshold so that there's it's not a bump, so you don't have difficulty pushing the wheelchair through the doorway. If you do use a ramp or install a ramp, I recommend one with railings because while you're walking, in case you never have to use a wheelchair, you'll be walking. Having the use of a railing for safety issues is extremely important.

Speaker 1:

You want to ensure that the doorway is wide enough to accommodate walkers, especially if you're using a large walker, if you happen to be a larger type of person and wheelchair, and I'm talking about a minimum of at least 36 inches you want to look into automatic door opening devices. Sorry about that. You want to use that to help you to open the door and, of course, lever style. Door handles are also very easy to open a door, to manage a door, not even if you I mean, of course, if you you have limited dexterity it's much easier to handle. But if your arms are filled, if you're carrying two bags or you, you know you're trying to push a wheelchair or whatever. A lever doorway is easy to use with your elbow to open that door. You can't do that with a round doorknob as easily. So I changed all my round doorknobs when I moved into my home years ago to lever style. It's definitely much, much easier, and this includes interior doors as well. You want to improve lighting, of course, to reduce the risk of steps, especially in hallways and most especially in steps, stairways, and you want to remove throw rugs and secure carpeting, if you have any, to prevent tripping hazards.

Speaker 1:

If you still if you like the look of a throw rug and I do to, you know, decorate a space like a foyer, dining area, whatever then consider exploring vinyl mats. That's what I replaced mine with, that's what I replaced mine with. You can get them at vmatathomecom that's V, like Victor matathomecom, there's hudsonandvinecom and then there's carolinacreekhousecom. Those are only three. There are others, of course. The only thing I say is just make sure that the mat that you get doesn't slide, that it's anti-slip. You want to check and make sure with that, and I've already converted multiple of my friends to VMAT at home and Carolina Creek House. And not only is it easy to clean, easy to take care of. But if you have pets, there's no issue about you know them having an accident in the home and it doesn't trip you up because they're so so thin. All right, so check them out, all right. So now we're going to move on to the living room and the bedroom.

Speaker 1:

Now the focus here is always on fall prevention, ease of movement and ease of access to items. So obviously you want to look at non-slip flooring, low pile carpeting or vinyl rugs to replace carpeting and throw rugs. All of these help to reduce the risk of trips and falls. One thing you can think of if you have tile floors. If you live in Florida, you probably have tile floors. I know when I lived in Florida, everything was tiled and you want to make them more non-slip. Have tile floors. I know when I lived in Florida, everything was tiled and you want to make them more non-slip. There you visit your Home Depot or Lowe's or Ace Hardware and ask about this non-slip product that you can put over a floor. You can put it over wood, tile, almost any kind of flooring, and it's completely clear. I don't know if it's clear when you actually apply it, but it ends up being clear and it does make the flooring more non-slip, so you may want to look at that. If that's, you know what you may need.

Speaker 1:

You want to use stable furniture with armrests to provide support when standing up, sitting down, and also, if furniture is by the wall, like a shelf unit or a china hutch or anything like that, consider using anti-tip devices to adhere the furniture to the wall. This is just in case the person or anyone happens to start falling and they're near that furniture. The automatic reaction is to grab something. So if you grab a wall unit and you fall, it falls with you or it can fall with you. So anti-tip devices can help to prevent that. You want to consider and I strongly would recommend to consider an electric lift chair. These are recliners that you can push a button or remote and it will slowly lift you up so that you can stand up easily and walk away from it, and then you can, when you come back, you can just lean up against it, push the button or the remote and it will slowly lower you down. So I think they're an excellent option. Think they're an excellent option.

Speaker 1:

You want to place frequently used items within easy reach to avoid unnecessary bending or reaching, and I always recommend and I use them every day voice activated assistance like Alexa or Google home for everything to control lights, to control appliances. You know all hands-free, all by voice you want to. There's so many things that these products can do and I will put a link in the description of the podcast to some articles that we have on seniorsafetyadvicecom about the use of Alexa and Google Home. I can't say enough about those products. I think that everyone should have one in every room of the house. I know a lot of people are hesitant because of privacy issues, but honestly, the safety factors, I think, outweigh the privacy issues. But that's just my personal take.

Speaker 1:

All right, the bathroom. The bathroom is actually one of the most hazardous areas for those with Parkinson's, so modifications here are absolutely essential. You want to install grab bars near the toilet, inside the shower and, if needed, install them along the wall on the way to the toilet, the shower, the sink, whatever. My mom had a long hallway when you entered her bathroom. It was a long hallway to get to the area that had the sink, the toilet and the shower and tub. Well, she didn't have a tub, so we installed grab bars along that long hallway to help her stay safe while she got down to that area, to help her stay safe while she got down to that area, and of course we installed the other grab bars as well.

Speaker 1:

You want to replace a walk-in shower. If it has a threshold, you want to replace it with a zero threshold or, if you can modify that particular shower with a threshold, if you happen to have a tub and shower, I do recommend to remove the tub and have a walk-in shower with a zero threshold. Either that or a walk-in tub. Although a walk-in tub does have a threshold. The only other option, if you have to have the tub there, is to use some kind of a tub bench that the person can sit on from the outside of the tub. As long as they can get their legs over the edge of the tub, then a tub bench is a good option. Of course, consider a shower chair, a magnetic handheld shower head, which makes it much easier to use, especially if you have the mount right there by the shower chair. And the reason I say magnetic is because the magnetic is very easy to put back on the mount and to take off. Otherwise you have to align the showerhead you know, specifically with the mount and clip it in there, it's much easier to use a magnetic one.

Speaker 1:

You want to replace traditional faucets with touch, touchless or lever style types of faucets to make it easier to use a raised toilet seat or a tall toilet with armrests to simplify sitting and standing. Of course, the armrests would be the grab bars and, of course, non-slip mats inside and outside the shower or the bathtub. Those are all the least modifications to make. Lighting, of course, is extremely important in a bathroom. You want to make sure that there's enough lighting and if you're redoing a bathroom entirely, if you're gutting it, I would recommend a heated floor, especially if you live in a northern area. It's much easier on the person to have the heated floor, especially if they're walking in, you know, barefoot on that area. I know that's. One of the best investments I ever made was to make my bathroom, uh, to put in a heated floor. But, um, I did have it gutted. It raises the electricity bill very minimally and it doesn't cost as much as you might think. At least it didn't used to. I don't know about these days. All right, so let's go on to the kitchen.

Speaker 1:

In the kitchen, the modifications need to focus on reducing strain, you know, making it easy to access things and enhancing safety. You want to arrange commonly used items at counter height. You want to arrange commonly used items at counter height, so this could be anything from a blender to coffee maker, toaster, so on. You want to use pull-out shelves in there to make things easier. You want to. For Parkinson's, what may help some are weighted utensils, adaptive kitchen tools, meaning with larger handles for a better grip. Those can help some individuals with Parkinson's. So check those out.

Speaker 1:

And then I want to talk to you about induction cooktops. I'm getting an induction cooktop. I'm replacing my gas cooktop with an induction cooktop, and I'm going to give you six great reasons why you should consider doing that as well. First of all, induction cooktops use electromagnetic technology to heat only the cookware. So you do need certain types of pots. They have to be flat on the bottom.

Speaker 1:

You can check to see if it's induction safe, the cooktop that you have. But it's certainly worth it because it heats only the cookware and it keeps the cooking surface cool to the touch. So if you were to accidentally trip, you know you automatically put your hand down. If you happen to be in front of the cooktop, you would automatically put your hand down on the cooktop, you wouldn't burn yourself. This is particularly important for older adults who may have slower reflexes, even reduced sensation in their hands. You know, rigidity, it's just a safety factor that you can't deny. It's a wonderful safety factor. You can't deny it. It's a wonderful safety factor. Also, many induction cooktops come equipped with automatic shutoff features. That means that the safety mechanism detects when a pot or a pan is removed from the cooking surface and then the heat is turned off automatically. So this is great for anyone with any cognitive decline. You forget to turn off the stove, it automatically turns off.

Speaker 1:

Induction cooktops tend to cook as quickly as gas cooktops. I know a lot of my friends with gas stoves say oh, you have to go with gas. It cooks so quickly and then it stops cooking as soon as you turn it off. But induction cooktops do the same. So this reduces the time seniors need to. Anyone needs to stand and monitor cooking. You know this works well if you're experiencing fatigue and it also, you know, because you're not standing there for a long time. It reduces the risk of accidents.

Speaker 1:

Replacing a gas stovetop with an induction cooktop means that you're not producing any. You know, contributing to indoor air pollution, not producing any harmful fumes. This is especially true for seniors or anyone who has respiratory issues or, for whatever reason, are susceptible to poor air quality. I know for me. I just feel safer not to have a gas item in the house. Plus, also with the gas cooktop you have to have your your vent on while you have it on, while you have the stove on, and that, of course, is very noisy. It reduces, you know, the ability to listen to anything else. While I'm cooking over the stove with a induction cooktop, which is essentially an electric cooktop, you don't necessarily have to have the vent on unless, of course, you want the smoke and so forth to, you know, be let out. Hopefully you're not smoking a lot. What you're cooking is not smoking a lot.

Speaker 1:

Another reason, another strong reason for myself that I wanted the induction cooktop was because it's a smooth, flat surface. It's easy to clean. Gas cooktops have a very heavy grate. You know the large metal grate over it. Those are not light, they're difficult to clean. It's not an easy item to maintain. So with a smooth, flat surface like an electric cooktop, it's much, much easier to keep clean and to maintain the induction the. Also, induction cooktops offer a more precise and even heat distribution, and this can help to undercook food or to overcook food, which any of these can obviously lead to foodborne illnesses or smoke-related hazards, anything like that.

Speaker 1:

I love induction cooktops. I think they're an amazing product. I know they cost a little bit more, but if you have the means to get one, I strongly would recommend it. And yeah, I don't think you'll be upset, and in addition to that, it's a great addition to the house for resale if that is to come in the future. Another product that I think is very good in the kitchen is sturdy seating, some kind of counter height seating that is sturdy, non-tip, all of that to make it easier for meal preparation. Either that, or set up some kind of meal prep station at the kitchen table so that anyone with Parkinson's can sit down while cutting vegetables or doing whatever it is that they're doing, to prepare a meal, making a sandwich, anything like that.

Speaker 1:

All right, the next thing I want to talk about. The last thing, is technology Technology. These days, we are so, so fortunate to have so much technology at our fingertips. I can't even imagine what 10, 20 years from now is going to look like. Not quite the Jetsons, I don't think, but almost, I think I hope. Anyway, some of the technology products that I can recommend are motion sensor lighting, and this reduces the need to fumble for switches. I have motion sensor lighting on my stairway and in my garage. I think those are the easiest places to have and the most the best places to have motion sensor lighting. Smart home systems like Alexa, google Home, anything at all that allows voice or control or controlled by an app and I'm talking about things like lights and thermostats, home security doors, anything at all that you can use to access the home and, better yet, if it has an app and a family member can also have access to that, just in case something were to happen. They can access your home. They can control your thermostat.

Speaker 1:

You know my mom-in-law. In her 90s she had been living in her condo in South Florida for several decades and in her 90s the thermostat in her condo went kaput so she had to have it replaced. They replaced it with a brand new thermostat which she could not learn to use. She just had a very difficult time learning how to use it, and I remember one time I called her up and her voice sounded all muffled and I asked her what was wrong and she said she was speaking to me from under the covers. I said why are you under the covers? She says because I'm freezing. I said why are you freezing? Now, mind you, my mom-in-law kept her home at 95 degrees plus, and even then she was wearing sweaters, so anything to her was cold. And so when I asked her why was she freezing, she said because she couldn't figure out how to turn the heat on on the thermostat. So, the poor thing, I had to call somebody to come to her condo to fix that for her, and even though they showed her how to do it again, she just had a difficult time remembering how to do it. She was so used to the old one.

Speaker 1:

So it's nice to have someone else be able to control something for you if you can't. Medical alert systems, of course, are extremely important. I mean, this provides peace of mind for everyone, and I'm not talking. I'm talking about, of course, medical alert devices you know, like Life Alert and things like that, but also the Apple Watch has a fall detection feature. But also know that the device you know, alexa devices can also help someone to call out for help, because you can use Alexa devices like a telephone and if you have the Echo Show Amazon's Echo Show, which is an Alexa device with a screen, then you can use that to speak to someone else with an Echo Show on like a FaceTime. You know it's video to video. And also the other person with the Echo Show can drop in on your Echo Show and use that as a video monitoring device. Now you can use Alexa devices as a telephone to a regular telephone. I can call a regular telephone from my Alexa device, but with the Echo Show you can use it as a video monitoring and then also as a video to video call, which is always nice to actually see people while you're talking to them. And it's all encased in the same device that has all those other amazing Alexa skills.

Speaker 1:

Again, I'm going to have a link to seniorsafetyadvicecom below to all the articles we have on Alexa devices and all the great things that they do. I would strongly recommend to consider engaging the help of an occupational therapist or a certified aging in place specialist to assess your individual needs and to recommend personalized solutions, not only for the person that has Parkinson's in the home, but also the home itself. Obviously, every single person with Parkinson's is going to have some. You know of the symptoms that we equate with Parkinson's, but every single person is different and also every home is different. So they look at everything from flooring to furniture to walls, to how the person moves in the home, what rooms do they use and how do they use those rooms and safety devices throughout. They use those rooms and you know safety devices throughout. So consider asking your physician for a referral, for an occupational therapist for a home safety assessment, or contact a local certified aging in place specialist to come to the home and give you a home safety assessment. You know those are the best ways, obviously in addition to everything that I've been telling you, and they would be telling you all of these same things, plus some, you know, individualized to your particular home.

Speaker 1:

Well, I hope you found this episode helpful. Be sure to subscribe to the Aging in Place Directory podcast. Check out our website aginginplacedirectorycom for more expert advice on aging in place and also to locate aging in place specialists in your area. I'm working very hard to get as many aging in place specialists to sign up into the directory. Of course, if you have questions or topics you'd like us to cover, you know. Leave us a comment here on this podcast. I look at it every single day to see what else, what other issues we can cover for you to make your life easier and safer. Thanks for listening and until next time, stay safe and stay independent. Take care.

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Esther C. Kane, CAPS, C.D.S.

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