It’s Not About Aging…It’s About Living. A Step by Step Guide to Developing a Successful Home Accessibility and Modification Plan for Your Client

Course Description

This course will be a comprehensive introduction to the emerging practice of accessibility and home modifications for clients who wish to safely and successfully live and age in place.  The course will is appropriate for the health care professional who is seeking additional information about accessibility and home modification or perhaps is considering transitioning from direct patient care to an accessibility and home modification consultant role.

This course will cover a review of Federal guidelines related to inclusion & accessibility, universal design & accessible design and their differences.  In this course we will examine the impact of aging on patient’s/client’s ability to function in the home and different SMART technology & adaptive items that may assist your patient/client.  Lastly, we will discuss how to work with building professionals in discussing design modifications to provide the appropriate living environment for your patients/clients.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Summarize Federal Guidelines that mandate inclusion and accessibility for all and how these rules and other building standards have inspired the creation of Universal and Accessible Design; (2) Describe the difference between Universal Design, Accessible Design, Adaptable Design, and Visitability;
• Explain how aging across the lifespan and common medical and cognitive impairments can negatively impact skill performance in the living environment;
• Discover ways to network with building professionals, such as architects, interior designers, and contractors in order to create the “best fit” living environment for your client;
• Recognize what to look for as the client performs functional tasks in each room of their living space (i.e. task analysis);
• Summarize recommended space dimensions, surface heights, etc. that must be considered when discussing design modifications with the chosen contractors;
• List the many adaptive items and SMART technology products that can be introduced to your client that could promote improved function and accessibility;
• Explain different methods of preparing your assessment findings so a written (or digital) report can be shared with your client and their chosen trades professionals;
• Identify what agencies and other professionals to reach out to in order to provide additional information to your client about financial resources and grants that might be available to them that could help subsidize home modification.

• Prerequisites

  None

• Educational Level

  Intermediate

• Other

  Satisfactory completion of this course will require the participant to respond to various polling questions asked throughout the webinar.