One common way to make a home accessible for those with disabilities or limited mobility is by overcoming the steps at the garage entrance. Steps are an accessibility barrier that are typically made of concrete or wood, and railings are not always installed. The construction of the stairs may also be low-quality in some cases, which can pose injury risks from slips and falls. Here are the top 5 solutions to help make a home’s garage safe and accessible.
If you’re in the market for a stair lift, you may be wondering if your health insurance or Medicare coverage will pay the cost. Unfortunately, standard health insurance policies and Medicare will not typically cover the purchase or installation of a stair lift, even with a doctor’s order.
Before recommending a Hoyer lift for patient/client transfers, it’s important to fully understand the challenges of using this type of equipment, and more importantly, why an overhead ceiling lift is often a better solution.
For some seniors, the stairs can become too difficult to navigate due to limited mobility, weakened muscles, and lack of stability. As a result, navigating a staircase at home becomes a daily chore and may eventually be avoided. When the stairs become a challenge, many seniors may consider downsizing to a single-level home or moving into a retirement living facility. However, both of these options can become very costly.
Outdoor wheelchair lifts, which are also commonly known as vertical platform lifts or porch lifts, provide a safe, accessible way to enter/exit a home, school, church, or other building. During the winter months, these types of lifts can be difficult to access after a snow or ice storm. However, there are ways to ensure a wheelchair lift is still accessible throughout the winter season, and we share those tips to help you winterize a wheelchair lift in this blog post.
If you’re in need of wheelchair ramp, there’s no need to wait for spring to have one installed. In fact, modular aluminum wheelchair ramps can be installed all year round. Unlike wooden ramps, aluminum wheelchair ramps do not require concrete footers to be poured. Their adjustable legs sit securely on large foot plates that provide a substantial base and sit on top of the surface. This means that they can be installed even when the ground is frozen.
Our home accessibility experts are invited into our client’s homes and into our local communities to evaluate for home accessibility solutions, such as stair lifts or wheelchair ramps or lifts. During our evaluations, we often encounter modifications that were done by another company or DIYs that do not meet ADA requirements, or are unsafe.
Watch the Lifeway Mobility "Happy Holidays" Video: Best wishes for a happy holiday season, and joyful new year, from all of us at Lifeway Mobility! Thank you to our referral sources and partners for your trust and support this past year. It's an honor to work together to provide home accessibility solutions that improve quality of life, independence, and safety at home. We look forward to working with you in 2024 and helping more families remain safe and independent in the home they love!
A question that comes up in many stair lift conversations is, “Does Medicare cover stairlifts?”. Unfortunately, the short & quick answer is no, Medicare does not assist with paying for the installation of a stairlift.
While some may worry that a stairlift installation could damage the walls or floor in their home, that is a myth, and simply not true. Professional installation of a stairlift will not damage the walls in a home as they are simply installed onto the stair treads.
People diagnosed with cancer often require additional safety precautions to ensure that any health-related problems do not occur. Day-to-day activities that can be taken for granted will become harder. Simple things like cooking, cleaning, and even walking up the stairs may become strenuous, and even dangerous.
As we age, our home may not be as easy to navigate as it once was. Getting up and down a set of stairs may be a chore because of decline in mobility. The risk of slipping and falling in the bathroom is likely much higher, especially if there are no grab bars in the bathtub/shower, or near the toilet. An option for older adults who are having a difficult time getting around at home is a senior living facility. However, these types of facilities do not offer the familiarity and comfort that a home does. A home is full of memories from parties and gatherings with family and lifelong friends. It is the place where a majority of older prefer to stay as they age.
Falls are a hazard that the elderly and people with mobility issues face every day – and the majority of falls happen in the bathroom. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has declared the bathroom the most dangerous room in the house for older adults.
Lifeway Mobility was on Designing Spaces, an award-winning home improvement show that airs on Lifetime.
Zero step entry or wheelchair ramps can make your home or building accessible and be a beautiful addition. However, there are many common mistakes and costly errors that you can prevent by continuing to read this resource. Universal Design states that the entrance should work for everyone, however what modifications are needed to include everyone. Here are the top 7 tips: 1. Who are the Users? Are They Using Any Assistive Devices to Enter the House? The difference between a wheelchair, scooter, walker, stroller, rolling luggage is subtle. They all have wheels, but the mobility needs of the user can widely vary. While ADA suggests a maximum slope of 1 inch of rise for every foot of ramp, this is the steepest recommended and would not be suitable for someone using a walker with limited strength. The ADA specifically states, “The least possible slope shall be used for any wheelchair ramp.” Most people automatically focus on standards like this and seek to meet the minimum standard. But, users may need a wheelchair ramp to exceed the standards and be easier to go up or down. Surprisingly, more falls happen on the way down the ramp, because momentum and gravity are stronger forces. And because of the increased speed of a fall, there is more force for an injury. Know your users, and exceed their need for your best ramp design. This is why Lifeway Mobility's experts always take the time to understand the needs of the customer any others living at the home before taking measurements and recommending a ramp layout. 2. Make the Pathway Fit the House In every design, we start with the door usually in the garage or in the front of the house, and end with where the user wants to enter the ramp. This is usually where we get out of a vehicle/transportation, like a driveway, garage, parking lot. The best tip to make your ramp fit the house is to identify where the ramp should start and stop that has the least amount of vertical height difference. Also, you need to look at the house and design along the house vs. out away from the house. This will gain you a visual benefit, ramps looks better if they blend into the structure of the building, but also a design benefit. Wheelchair ramps are easier to use when they follow the design of the home. However, watch for the home with short walls and multiple corners. Because a ramp should have a 5 foot level platform at the top of the ramp and every time you turn, a ramp will get longer with more turns and should be designed to be a straight as possible and fit the home. Also, you want to use a type of ramp and materials to fit the home, as you will compliment the look of your ramp instead of stand out. 3. What Type of Wheelchair Ramp Is Needed? Is the Need Temporary, Portable or Permanent? There are 3 major types of wheelchair ramps and ramp materials: Aluminum Concrete Wood They each have their advantages, but you first must know how long the ramp is needed. We have seen a wood ramp only used for a year because the owner moved homes and unfortunately, the wood ramp was worthless for the new home. Aluminum wheelchair ramps have several advantages because there are portable options, as well as modular ones that can be customized and even reconfigured to be moved or reused, and it doesn’t require any maintenance like concrete/brick and wood. Wood also requires much more maintenance than concrete. 4. What is the Best Surface for Your Ramp? The biggest mistake that we see here is to focus on what it look like vs a surface that prevents slips and falls with a good grip. While trex or composite wood is more attractive and offers less maintenance, it can be the most slippery surface, especially if you run your board down the ramp like a bowling alley. Concrete gives a good surface and grip, but ice and snow can build up and be dangerous. Again, the aluminum ramps can excel here as they offer either a black friction surface like sand paper, or a extruded edges every quarter inch that looks like grooves in the surface. This will be a much better surface in rain and snow. We cannot forget that the ramp should look beautiful and blend into the home, so many of the aluminum ramps now come in colors for the discerning home owner. 5. Little Things Matter The Threshold of your ramp at the bottom is crucial for ease of use and safety. Also, where the ramp meets the threshold of the door into the house is just as important. The two pictures below show 1-2 inch bumps as you enter and exit the ramps in these two areas. These can be avoided by working with a home accessibility expert. A 3/4 in bump is all the is need to bring a walker or wheelchair to a complete stop, like slamming on your brakes in your vehicle. The difference is that when you slam on your brakes, you know you will violently stop. Using a ramp and hitting a small bump can cause you to fall down or out of your chair, you can hit the door frame as you enter or exit the house, or possible you cannot get over the bump and cannot use the ramp at all. The WORST possibility is that you have to ask for help and lose the independence that a ramps is SUPPOSED to PROVIDE. 6. Type of Handrails The Handrail of a ramp is the most intimate part of the ramp because it is what you touch or glide your hand along. A safe smooth surface for your hand is just as important for your feet or mobility device. ADA requires a smooth, uninterrupted handrail that you can wrap your fingers around 7. Maintenance When choosing a wheelchair ramp for your home, it's importance to consider maintenance and how that might impact the long-term cost of the ramp. Unfortunately, the least expensive ramps are wood and many people choose plywood, but it will deteriorate within 2-3 years. Wood wheelchair ramps require the most maintenance because sun, rain, snow, heat, and cold all cause the wood to expand and contract. Staining or painting is required every 2-3 years. Concrete or brick ramps require sealing to avoid cracking, and because they are so heavy, they can sink or shift, causing the ramp to be unusable. Steel Handrails may require painting. This can add 10-25% of costs to the price of a ramp if you include the needed future maintenance. Aluminum wheelchair ramps may be a bit more expensive up front, but no maintenance is required, making it the most cost-advantageous of the three material types over the long haul. Contact us to learn more about universal design when it comes to wheelchair ramps, or to schedule your FREE ramp consultation!
A basic modular wheelchair ramp system typically consists of a platform(s), ramping and graspable rails. However, depending on the mobility needs of the person in need of the wheelchair ramp, and home setting, there may be upgrade options that need to be considered to ensure easy access for everyone.
If you are one of the millions of Americans with mobility issues and you live in a multi-story home, you may have considered having a residential elevator installed. When considering a home elevator, there are two distinct elevator classifications that homeowners should consider.
If you’ve been searching online for a home stair lift, you may have noticed that pricing can vary across different websites. If so, may be asking yourself why one provider is willing to install a new straight rail stair lift for one price and others are $1,000-$2,000 higher in price.
A ceiling lift can be a great alternative to an accessible bathroom remodel when budget is limited. Any sort of bathroom remodeling involves permits, construction, and can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Lifeway Mobility is humbled and honored to be recognized as a Bruno Diamond Stairlift Dealer for the 8th consecutive year in 2024! The Bruno Diamond Dealer Award, which originated in 2016, is an award that is given to Bruno dealers that finish in the top 3% of Bruno’s sales throughout North America. Prior to 2016, Bruno's top dealers throughout North America had been referred to as “Bruno preferred dealers.” The “Diamond” Dealer award is recognized as a more prestigious award.
Savaria through-the-floor elevator Conveniently access two levels of your home "through-the-floor" with a through-floor elevator from Lifeway Mobility! Through-the-floor elevators are innovative and unique and make it easy and safe to travel between two levels (up to 14') in a home. These types of home elevators mesh practicality and can be installed almost anywhere, without the need for a shaft or an electrical room. For anyone struggling with going up and down stairs, a through-the-floor elevator could be the quickest and best solution to help improve one’s lifestyle, and could be a more attractive alternative to a stair lift.
As a trusted stair lift provider for 30+ years, we have heard several stair lift "beliefs" that in reality are not true. In this blog post, we debunk the 7 common myths that people have about stair lifts so that you can know the real facts.
Watch the Webinar: Modifications for Home Accessibility The Accessible Systems - Lifeway Team presented the 1st of our Hospital to Home webinars January 25th 2023 Watch a recording of the webinar here This webinar covers a wide variety of accessibility solutions with live demos from the Accessible Systems showhome on Denver. It is for Discharge planners, Case and Care managers, Social workers, Nurses, OTs, PTs, Home care providers or Anyone interested in post discharge planning for those with limited mobility
Watch Lifeway Mobility's 2022 "Happy Holidays" Video: On behalf of our entire Team at Lifeway Mobility, we wish you and yours a safe and happy holiday season, and wonderful new year! Thank you to our referral sources and partners for your trust and support. It's an honor to work together to provide accessibility solutions that help families remain safe and independent at home. We look forward to another great year in 2023, as we continue to expand our footprint across the country!
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” The holiday season has arrived, bringing lots of joy and cheer and families and friends together for parties and gatherings.
