A Look at Valued Outcomes for People Benefitting from Home Projects

By Marisa Geitner, President & C.E.O.

Heritage Christian Services consistently pushes for better, more accessible services.

More than half of the people we support are over the age of 50, making physical accessibility a top priority. Here’s a summary of the important work that has started and will continue over the next three years.

These renovated, state-of-the-art homes will include:

• Single Story Floor Plans: By implementing more rooms and services on the first floor of the homes, we can reduce the need for people to ascend to higher floors. This, in turn, decreases the risk of injury and the time needed for a person to access what they need like laundry and medicine administration rooms.
• Right-sized Services: Sometimes, less is more. By reducing the amount of bedrooms in the home to six, we can better focus our services and provide a better quality of life that is more tailored to people’s individual needs.
• Better Accessiblity: From widening hallways to make them wheelchair accessible, to railings and accessible toilets and tubs in bathrooms, we want to ensure that people are supported in every part of the house.
• Patio Space: Ground-floor patios will allow people to enjoy the outdoors in a more accessible way.
• Upgraded Home Features: To meet the demands of larger floor spaces, we need to install new furnaces, tankless water heaters and appliances.

The CDC defines aging in place as “the ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level.” By providing homes that rely on a single floor plan and right-sizing, we can more effectively assist people to successfully age in place in a way that preserves their physical health and dignity.