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February 2003
Volume 1, Issue 1
 From
the Director, Jon Pynoos
 Welcome
to Home Modification News, a quarterly newsletter from the
National Resource Center on Supportive Housing and Home Modification.
The Center conducts a variety of activities to promote aging
in place by making home modification a more integral part
of long-term care, preventive health, and elder-friendly communities.
In this issue, you will find updated information on policies,
funding, services and programs relevant to home modification.
Our home modification effort focuses on four main areas:
service delivery through ongoing research projects on the
local and national levels compiling lessons learned from the
field; funding and policies research through surveys and case
studies on major state housing programs and legislation; systems
change through building state and local home modification
coalitions; and education of professionals and consumers through
an online education program, onsite workshops, and teleconferences.
For more information about the Resource Center, visit our
website at www.homemods.org
where you will find a wealth of information related to supportive
housing and home modification.
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According to Program Manager Maria Henke, "…
participants will have the opportunity to network
with their counterparts in the rest of the Los
Angeles County."
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Home Modifications and Care Plans
The National Resource Center on Supportive Housing
and Home Modification is offering an internet-based course
for care managers in the County of Los Angeles, California.
"Six Steps to Integrating Home Modification into Your
Care Plan" began Tuesday, January 28, 2003 to educate
busy care professionals about the significant role of home
modifications in alleviating the stress associated with caregiving.
The course is offered in an asynchronous format via the internet
so that participants can access course work any time at their
convenience.
Home modifications (HMs) are adaptations to the physical
environment to increase ease of use, safety, comfort, security
and independence. HMs include structural changes (e.g., widening
doorways, remodeling bathrooms), use of special equipment
and assistive devices (e.g., grab bars, handheld showers,
transfer benches), and behavioral changes (e.g., moving furniture).
HMs can provide family caregivers with adequate space and
supportive features so that care can be provided safely and
easily. HMs can also increase the care receivers' independence,
comfort, and safety. They can also help everyone save money
by reducing the need for paid caregiving and delaying institutionalization.
During the course, care managers will participate in interactive
exercises to test and enhance their knowledge of the various
issues surrounding home modifications. According to Maria
Henke, Program Manager, the course will help care managers
assist their clients with incorporating home modifications
into their daily routines. "In addition," she said,
"participants will have the opportunity to network with
their counterparts in the rest of the Los Angeles County."
For more information, contact Maria Henke at (213)740-1364
or email mhenke@usc.edu.
"Six Steps to Integrating Home Modification into Your
Care Plan: A Special Course for Los Angeles County Care Managers"
is made possible through support of the Los Angeles County
Area Agency on Aging under Title III-E, the National Family
Caregiver Support Program. Plans are underway to make this
course available to agencies nation-wide.
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| According to Program Manager
Julie Overton, " … the home environment is
often overlooked in current caregiving strategies." |
Two-Year Project to Increase Caregiving
Skills and Reduce Stress
On September 26, 2002 the U.S. Administration on
Aging announced a two-year grant award to the University of
Southern California (USC) Andrus Gerontology Center for its
Project CARES, or Caregiver Adaptations to Reduce Environmental
Stress. Project CARES is intended to increase utilization
of environmental coping strategies (ECS) by caregivers to
reduce physical burden and strain. Service providers will
learn how to better assist caregivers with ECS that help older
persons remain at home more safely.
According to Jon Pynoos, USC's Professor of Gerontology and
CARES principal investigator, caregiving burden comes from
various aspects of the work. He adds: "The stress can
range from the emotional strain of constant vigilance to the
physical strain of having to routinely lift a person out of
a bed, chair or bathtub.
"Unfortunately, the home environment is often overlooked
in current caregiving strategies," said Julie Overton
of the National Resource Center on Supportive Housing and
Home Modification and CARES Program Manager. She added that
the project centers on increasing knowledge about the benefits
of home modifications in alleviating caregiver stress.
Phoebe Liebig, USC's Associate Professor of Gerontology and
a CARES associate, commented on the timeliness of the project
since not much is known about the impact of home modifications
and other home-based technologies on family caregivers. Phoebe
Liebig, USC's Associate Professor of Gerontology and a CARES
associate, commented on the timeliness of the project since
not much is known about the impact of home modifications and
other home-based technologies on family caregivers.
Consisting of four stages, the project will target Area Agencies
on Aging (AAA), state-funded service-providing organizations
that coordinate with caregivers and assess problems of older
persons. Within the country, there are 660 AAAs. California
alone has 33. The project's first stage involves surveying
these local agencies to determine the extent to which environmental
coping strategies are incorporated in their Family Caregiver
Support Program. For more information, contact Julie Overton
at (213)740-1352 or email OvertonUsc@aol.com.
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Phoebe Liebig
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AGHE presents 2003 Tibbitts
Award to Phoebe Liebig
Phoebe S. Liebig, Ph.D., USC Associate Professor
of Gerontology and Senior Policy Analyst at the National Resource
Center on Supportive Housing and Home Modification will receive
the prestigious Tibbitts Award presented by the Association
for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE). This award recognizes
individuals or organizations that have made outstanding contributions
to the advancement of gerontology as a field of study. Dr.
Liebig will deliver the Tibbitts Lecture at AGHE's Twenty-Ninth
Annual Meeting and Educational Leadership Conference that
is taking place March 6-9, 2003 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Her lecture will focus on the major shifts and trends in gerontological
and geriatric education in the past 25 years. For more information,
visit the AGHE website at www.aghe.org.
Congratulations!
Dory Sabata, OTD, and Welcome!
Our Center would like to congratulate Ms. Dory
Sabata who has just successfully completed the Doctorate in
OccupationalTherapy (OTD) program at Washington University
in St. Louis, Missouri. Ms. Sabata spent the last few months
of 2002 here at the Center, fulfilling the internship requirement
of the doctoral program. During her time with us, she assisted
with the review of background papers for the Morton Kesten
Summit and participated as a co-author of a white paper for
a state level Falls Prevention Conference, among other things.
Congratulations Dr. Sabata!
Dr. Sabata will be joining the staff of the Center as a Program
Specialist. She will assist in advancing the Center's research
agenda and will be active in education, in particular the
online component. Welcome!
The California Home Modification
Blueprint for Action
On October 30, 2002, the National Resource Center
on Supportive Housing and Home Modification organized and
hosted the 4th Annual
Morton Kesten Summit. This annual event is endowed by a family
member in memory of the late Morton Kesten. This year's Summit
focused on the implementation of home modifications as a means
for furthering independence for all Californians, with an
emphasis on the elderly and individuals with disabilities.
Co-sponsored by the California Department of Aging Senior
Housing Information and Support Center, this year's Summit
took place at the University of Southern California Andrus
Gerontology Center in Los Angeles, California. The theme for
the Summit was "A California Blueprint for Action on
Home Modification." Approximately 130 people representing
state and local government agencies, local home modification
programs, disability groups, associations, professionals,
consumers, and researchers attended the one-day, invitation-only
conference. Participants listened to panel presentations on
four key areas: Service Delivery, Funding, Regulations and
Standards, and Consumer Awareness / Acceptance and then developed
draft recommendations for a California Blueprint for Action
on Home Modifications inbreakout groups.
An immediate outcome of the Summit was the setting up of
the California Home Mod list serve tocontinue the efforts
ofthe Morton Kesten Summits. For instructions on subscribing
to the list, please email to natrescr@usc.edu.
The finalized Blueprint for Action on Home Modifications with
specific recommendations is expected out in the spring, 2003.
For more information, contact Julie Overton at (213)740-1352
or email OvertonUsc@aol.com.
Models of Home Modification Programs
Older Southern Californians Get
Free Home Modifications for Security and Safety
Older Californians in the Santa Clarita Valley
may be able to have free home modifications and repair done
to their homes. In addition to funding assistance, the Handyworker
Program of the Santa Clarita Senior Center provides eligible
applicants with a free home assessment, the installation of
home modification items such as grab bars, handrails, lever
door handles, ramps as well as screen and smoke detectors.
The Santa Clarita Valley, one of the fastest growing communities
in Southern California, is located 35 miles north of Los Angeles
and has over 33,000 senior citizens.
The Handyworker Program provides free home modifications
and home repair to eligible owner and renter occupied single-family
homes, condominiums, and mobile homes. Low and moderate income
elderly, single parent households, and persons with disabilities
in need of emergency repairs are accorded priority.
For more information, contact the Senior Center at (661)
259-9444 or (800) 822-9444. The Santa Clarita Senior Center
is the lead agency for the Santa Clarita Home Modification
Action Coalition, which is sponsored by this National Resource
Center.
Home Modifications for Pennsylvanians:
SHARP and AMP
The Senior Housing Assistance Repair Program (SHARP)
and the Adaptive Modification Program (AMP) are administered
by the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging's (PCA) Housing
Department. Both programs aim to increase the supply of safe,
appropriate, and affordable housing for older persons and
people with physical disabilities. This is achieved through
the provision of home repair services and specialized environmental
modifications.
Philadelphia is a city of row houses. Some are narrow-structured
tri-level homes that have as many as five steps leading up
to the front door with steep stairways inside. SHARP provides
minor home repairs and modifications for homeowners 60 years
and over, while the AMP provides extensive home modifications
to persons with disabilities. Both programs help residents
maintain their independence and aim to improve accessibility
in the home.
PCA is a non-profit organization and designated by the Pennsylvania
Department of Aging as the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) for
Philadelphia County. PCA's mission is to improve the quality
of life of older Philadelphians and those with disabilities
by assisting them to achieve their maximum level of health,
independence, and productivity.
For more information, contact PCA at (215) 765-9040 or visit
them on the Web at www.pcaphl.org
From The Editorial Team,
If the wind patterns bring you to the Windy City,
we look forward to meeting you at the March 13-16 2003 Joint
Conference of the National Council on the Aging and the American
Society on Aging. The Resource Center is organizing a symposium
entitled Housing Older Americans: A Futuristic Perspective,
presenting two mini-workshops (Home Modification for a
World of Difference and A Tale of Two Networks: Convergence
and Divergence in Disability Services). It is also hosting
a poster session focusing on home modification in the State
of California (Home Modification Programs, Advocacy and
Services: Rural Versus Urban California Centers for Independent
Living.) For more information about the conference, visit
them on the Web at www.agingconference.org.
About the Resource Center,
The National Resource
Center on Supportive Housing and Home Modification is headquartered
at the University of Southern California Andrus Gerontology
Center. The Resource Center is a project supported by The
California Endowment and the Archstone Foundation.
The Resource Center sponsors the National Home Modification
Action Coalition, an informal nation-wide network of professionals
and researchers interested in promoting aging in place and
accessibility in the home. In addition to these efforts, we
are currently developing a national initiative to help older
adults maintain their independence and age in place.
For more information about the Resource Center or any of
the above, please contact us via email at homemods@usc.edu
or call (213) 740-1364. You can also visit us on the web at
www.homemods.org.
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