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AIP Bulletin
Helping you AIP in your home, your way.
June 2010 |
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"No good story is quite true."
Leslie Stephen,
quoted in The New York Review of Books |
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AIP Pro
Tip: Creating A Visitable Garden |
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 Contractor
Keith Alward, founder of
Alward Construction located in
the Bay Area of California talks about the accessible garden they
created for a client who wanted to be able to enjoy water and lay in
grass.
Our client uses a motorized wheelchair and
her desire was to have an outdoor space in which she could garden,
lay in the sun, have picnics with her many friends, and most
importantly, as a self-described water worshipper, use a hot tub.
We worked with her exploring all the various possibilities of her
approximately 50’x50’ garden.
 Elevational changes were employed to create different functional areas
within the garden. Wide pathways were created to provide ample space for her to move
around and the raised surfaces allow her to transfer from deck to
hot tub to grass. For the hot tub we designed a wheelchair height
transfer surface and put in a hydraulic seat for easy entry and exit
from the tub. A wheel chair accessible potting bench was installed
so she could garden.
Click here to see more pictures online.
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AIP Related Numbers |
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And for those of us that enjoy numbers and other geeky-things some
figures culled from recent studies:
Common Health Action polled U.S. adults and learned that about
one-third plan to take care of themselves in their old age. The
rest:
- 18% expect to rely on a spouse or partner
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21% think they will turn to children, other relatives or
friends
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11% will use paid professional help
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4% wouldn't be able to afford care
90 percent of all surveyed expect to make use of the internet and social
networking.
The Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety issued a report* that indicates older drivers are getting
safer - which is contrary to expectations. Some of the numbers
include:
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About 28 million people were 70 and older in the U.S.
in 2008
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Of these about 78% had drivers licenses
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Fatal Accidents fell about 37% for same group
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Injury crash rates declined 34
percent among drivers 80 and older from 1997 to 2005.
The reason for the change is partly attributed to seniors
self-policing and state licensing policies that support the
self-imposed limitation.
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AIP Housing
& Home Services |
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The researchers at the MIT AgeLab
are conducting a series of Housing
& Homes Services research projects on the "age readiness" of boomers
including "older adult decision making about where to ‘age-in-place’
or move, what technologies might be integrated into everyday living
to enable wellbeing and safety without sacrificing dignity, and what
services might be desired by both older users, families and
providers."
We are following this research and look forward to sharing the
reports on the following projects when they are released later this
year:
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Customer-Driven Service Innovations in Home Services &
Independent Living
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User Requirements of Robotic Autonomous Wheelchair in a
Long-Term Care Setting
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Trust, Privacy & Home Technology
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Anthropomorphic Home Technology Interfaces & Older User Adoption
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Aging-In-No-Place
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Age-Readiness of Retirement Living Alternatives
The MIT AgeLab was started in 1999 to "invent new ideas and
creatively translate technologies into practical solutions." It is
based in the MIT School of Engineering.
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* Just For
Fun |
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Car crashes ARE serious and we truly are glad to know senior driver
safety is improving. Since we received the report and the following
video about the same time we thought we ought to share both.
Click here or on the picture to
watch. :)
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Talk With Us |
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Your rants, raves, suggestions and stories are always
welcome...especially the raves! Seriously, tell us what
we can do to help you age-in-place, in your home, your way. Send your comments to
talktous@aipathome.com. |
We
welcome, appreciate and encourage, forwarding of our bulletin,
in entirety or in part, with proper credit.
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