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Stairs are always a fall risk, and range of motion deteriorates as we age. Knee joints and cartilage. Pain issues. Equilibrium and necessary medications can all affect a persons ability to navigate any stairs safely.
IMO..I would suggest to find one level accommodations. Event then, look at them needing accessible showers, grab bars placed accordingly, zero level door thresholds, for wheel chairs and walkers. Higher toilet seats to help them stand back up.
I hope you find what they need.
Stairs are one of those things that are hard to change... sure you can get the seat mounted rail that can work for moving a person.
My friends bought a condo and the deciding factor was the master suite is on the ground level... upstairs they have two more bedrooms and a full bath... they use those rooms now in their mid 70's... one is an office and the other a guest room.
My new neighbors of 14 months are older 74 and 84 and they bought a bank owned home with three levels and very steep drive on a hillside...
They just put it up for sale... the 84 year old husband started having hip problems and the stairs are agony now...
I couldn't believe they did buy but 14 months ago they both were in great shape... really!
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 02-05-2014 at 10:37 PM..
Thanks OhioToCO for sharing your problem with us!!
Stair lifts are the best solution for this inconvenience. This will help alot to your parent to move easily and access all the places in home without having any mobility issue.
Stairs are always a fall risk, and range of motion deteriorates as we age. Knee joints and cartilage. Pain issues. Equilibrium and necessary medications can all affect a persons ability to navigate any stairs safely.
IMO..I would suggest to find one level accommodations. Event then, look at them needing accessible showers, grab bars placed accordingly, zero level door thresholds, for wheel chairs and walkers. Higher toilet seats to help them stand back up.
I hope you find what they need.
Yes, not only range of motion but also muscle strength and balance deteriorate with age. However, the deterioration of those three things can be drastically slowed by regular stretching, weight workouts, and balance exercises such a yoga. I do recognize that there is no absolute guarantee in life, and I am not arguing against people prudently planning for the future by getting a "no stairs" house, condo, or apartment.
However, even if we already live on one level, the benefits of working on one's range of motion, muscle strength, and balance are enormous. For one thing, falls are less likely, and older people still fall even when stairs are not involved. Right now, as I am about to turn 70, I am better in all three categories than I was when I retired from full-time work at age 61 and a half. Zest for living is a precious and valuable thing whether one has a house with stairs or not, and one very important part of zest for living is retention of one's physical abilities.
It's an amazing blind spot in modern American life that most people appear not to realize that they have a choice to slow down the aging process drastically. They just accept their deterioration as a normal part of aging when actually it's not, at least not to the extent we think; the deterioration is, however, almost inevitable if we combine aging with INACTIVITY.
Let me repeat that I am aware there are no absolute guarantees in life and that some medical conditions can lay us low despite all our best efforts on the activity front. There is no magic, but there are things which work for most people.
For a number of reasons, a single level home is best for your parents to age in place. There is the obvious in terms of probable future problems in negotiating stairs with the associated fall risk.
Also, if everyone is on a single level, then it makes it easier for people to check on each other when someone is not feeling well.
What's more, if your parents ever require in-home medical care, or assistance with housekeeping, or bathing, the lack of stairs might be welcomed by these providers; some of whom may themselves be older.
I speak from experience since my mother lives in a 3400 sq ft home, but all of the bedrooms are upstairs. When my father was alive and they were both still ambulatory, I moved them downstairs to their first floor family room.
The setup was perfect.
Some of those "unexpected things" of aging happened. They both suffered serious health problems and then required wheelchairs. Luckily, by then, they were sleeping downstairs and didn't seem to miss the upstairs at all since everything they needed was on the first floor.
Living on the first floor, means that my mother's doctor, who is still in great shape at 70, doesn't have to climb the steps when he visits (Yeah, he makes routine house calls about once every six weeks ). One of her home care attendants is also older and can chat with my mother, and do the laundry, all on one level. Another attendant cleans the house and visits with my mother. The attendants can easily confer with one another. Another attendant is just there in he evenings to give her medication, serve her the dinner made by an AM attendant, wheel her to the toilet and keep her company. She spends her time in the first floor den watching TV and taking on the phone. Still, she is close by on the same floor should my mother need her, and my mother finds this to be comforting.
Being on the first floor also means that my mother gets to see what is going on outside (not much beyond an occasional passing car, or jogger); and she can see the flowers, trees and small animals in her backyard. She loves it!
All in all, I would second the others and say a single level setting is best.
When, I move my parents here, they bought a brand new ranch home with a full basement. We made sure to design it so the washer and dryer connections were moved to the main level. I did install grab bars in the steps to the basement, the showers and the bath. As they got older, all this became more of a necessity.
I am now older and I have a ranch with a full basement. I have grab bars in every place where there could be a problem. I now have severe arthritis and my planning was smart.
Those condos with the outside steps are for young people who think they will never grow old.
Developers do build many more new homes as multi-stories because the lots are smaller; buyers want bigger homes and they perceive the larger multi-stories as more prestigious. If you look at older neighborhoods, there are many more small ranches which were enough for the past generations. If I was a senior, I would look into some of these well maintain older neighborhoods and downsize, literally and figuratively.
These older small ranches may even be more economical than buying a condo because some condos have excessive association fees. Many of the older developments do not have homeowner associations, so no fees. You can easily hire for outside maintenance, snow removal etc. and can be much less than condo association fees. Also, you will be in full control. You will have more privacy and perhaps even more capital gains when you sell.
As we grow older our legs get weaker and balance and stability can become a problem. My wife cannot climb stairs now because of weakness in the legs. Her mother fell down some stairs and died 3 days later from a shock to her body/heart.
Seniors falling is one of the most serious accidents seniors suffer. there are enough falls on flat ground to even consider them falling on stairs as wise move:IMO. Elevators are fine except when you have possible fire then its a disaster waiting to happen; especially for seniors.
I hope I'm placing this in the right forum - I don't think there is "Senior Living" forum, but if there is, could the moderator please move it there?
My parents are 75 and 76, and I'm considering purchasing a condo/town home for them in the next year. Unfortunately, real estate market is very tight where I live - it's not even the high prices, but the lack of inventory that will be my major issue. I started looking at first floor one level condos first, or the ones in the buildings with elevators (not too many around me). The ones with outside stair cases are absolute "no go", because it snows here a lot, and those outside steps will be treacherous - I wouldn't consider it safe for myself (I'm 37).
There are quite a few complexes around here with townhome style condos - living area on the first floor, bedrooms on the second. My parents say these would be OK, but I'm not sure. There are also several complexes with 3-story buildings and indoor staircases, where apartments on 2nd or 3rd floor go on the market once in a while.
Basically, my question is - should I consider indoor steps as acceptable for seniors? My parents are in good health, my father still climbs ladders once in a while, but I'm afraid he is in denial about his own physical abilities. About 7 years ago he did fall from the ladder and broke his shoulder blade. I hate to tell him to slow down, but I'm afraid he will have to, eventually.
My other problem is his driving. I'd like to take his keys away one day when they live close to me and I can help with shopping and going out, but I have no idea how to even approach this.
I would definitely make sure the master bedroom is on the first floor.
Stairs Will be a problem.
Near a safe downtown would help in getting the keys away.
My father had to practically get arrested before he d part with the keys.93 years old.
Statistically, properly designed and maintained residential stairways pose little risk. Proportionately, more falls occur on stairs with just one or two steps than on full stairways.
But as several here have pointed out, knees and other joint problems make stair climbing difficult for some people. Not everyone or even the majority, though. As others have pointed out, many geriatric persons live out their lives without difficulty in homes with stairs. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the latter lived for many years in multi-level homes and were used to the stairs.
OP's parents are used to living in a ground level apartment. So for that reason, along with their age, it's almost a no-brainer to hold out for another single story place.
Dh and I are in our mid-60s and have lived happily in a 3-level home for more than 20 years. Our kitchen and entryway are on the 1st level, our living area and guest bedrooms on the 2nd level, our master suite on the 3rd level. We maneuver 2 full sets of stairs many many times daily without a thought. We do have a go plan in case one of us is injured for a time and can't handle the steps: temporarily move into a 2nd level bedroom and use our outdoor living area to get between the 2nd and the 1st level. There's room out there for a broad, gently sloping ramp, and we have a contact who builds them.
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Seniors and stairs
). One of her home care attendants is also older and can chat with my mother, and do the laundry, all on one level. Another attendant cleans the house and visits with my mother. The attendants can easily confer with one another. Another attendant is just there in he evenings to give her medication, serve her the dinner made by an AM attendant, wheel her to the toilet and keep her company. She spends her time in the first floor den watching TV and taking on the phone. Still, she is close by on the same floor should my mother need her, and my mother finds this to be comforting.
