Age in Place: A Guide to Modifying, Organizing and Decluttering Mom and Dad's Home

Includes the techniques that I have discovered for my disabled friend and for myself. And others I had not thought of. Sensitive to the emotional aspects of aging in place, both those of your parent or friend - and your own emotions.

I think the book is extremely well-written, using both humor and frankness to cover what can be a difficult topic. The author gets right to the important stuff quickly and addresses all of the most-common objections and difficulties that come along with both updating homes to be easier to age in, and in convincing older relatives to make those modifications.It's all broken down in a room by room approach that makes it fast and easy to dive in for exactly the help you need without committing to a full cover-to-cover read. But give it that complete read anyway, because you'll learn a lot about aging and biomechanics that will help you or those you love age in place gracefully!

My wife and I, who live in TN, have spent the last two years caring for her parents through their deaths in IL and my Mother and sister in AL. The person who wrote this book is clearly a real professional with compassion for the people she helps. Even disregarding her unlimited faith in the availability of good help, the remedies for improving the safety of a home, methods to aid those with failing memories, such as one clear location for all medical information and appointments, and devices to help those with specific problems is excellent. She includes many field examples, and an extensive list of resources.The only downside is she blithely recommends home health as if it is always a good answer, but that very much depends on what is available locally. Our experience is that, short of Hospice care which has been uniformly good, what passes for Home health is insufficiently regulated and virtually useless in many cases. My wife's Mother enjoyed talking with one out of three people sent from the firm in her area of rural IL, but even that person had a very eccentric idea of her function in the house, making it more like a neighbor helping, than a health professional with clear guidelines. In addition, the person was frequently absent, having chosen the profession as a part-time supplement to income. When her disability got so bad that she needed to go into rehab, she chose to stay in the nursing home portion. Her husdand refused home health for himself as useless. My Mother had so many bad experiences from "home health personnel" that refused to provide aid that she refused to even entertain the idea when she left rehab to recover from hip surgery. You may have better luck with Home Health in your area, but the recommendations and resource lists in the book more than make up for this issue.

As I get creakier I look for ways to make life easier. This is a good book for those in a similar boat. The author has a lot of experience and a gentle sense of humor.

I liked the tips presented in this book and have implemented several already. But the tone of the book is sometimes very condescending to the "Moms and Dad" referred to--perhaps the author is primarily writing for those whose parents are already unable to care for themselves, which makes it seem a bit of a put-down sometimes when viewed by those who are looking for proactive ideas, before a full intervention is needed. (The comment, "Keep Them Safe, Keep YOU Sane" on the front cover seems to imply that it's already a bit too late to be proactive.) And sometimes the book seems written for the adult children, and other times the author seems to be speaking to the Moms and Dads themselves--as an English teacher, I found that off-putting. But as I said, the practical advice is excellent and I found the information helpful.

This book is a good review off what needs to done so that we old people can live safely in our homes. While many of her suggestions were obvious, there were many of her ideas that were new. This book can serve as a handbook for creating a safe environment for elderly people living in there own homes.Age in Place is important for older people as well as their children and caregivers. This is a book for people who want to live independently as long as possible.

My husband and I are in our seventies and would like to "age in place." This book is a very useful resource to prepare for the future. I used the list of documents and guidelines to create a notebook with information about medical care, bills, household services, and end-of-life documents. This should be very helpful in the event one of us is incapacitated or our children need to either help us or take over completely. Having the notebook ready (and it will be updated as needed as time goes on) has made me feel more secure about our living arrangements.

As a daughter who has a dad who passed away after suffering with cancer and adjusting to those needs, we often forget about our healthier parents who are just ‘getting older’ and could use some accommodations to help keep them in place in their family home! This book helped show ways to not only help improve their quality of life but help their children know that they can assist keeping them where they want to be. Little helpful hints that keep our loved ones safe and happy! A must read!