Walk-in Tubs with James Carey

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

And Welcome back to answers for elders radio everyone. We are having here a very special guest who has been with us before in the show, Mr James Carry, and he is a national host of a program that all of our listeners know about, and that is a program that’s heard on Saturday mornings from six to nine am. Is that correct? James called on the house. James, thank you so much for being on answer for elders radio. Susan, thanks for welcoming me. My brother sends his best. He’s out doing an electrical job on one of our projects here in the San Francisco Bay area. And when we’re not helping folks create their dream home, for our best to provide answers on information that folks need in order to make good buying decisions to improve their piece of the great American Drain. Well, and it is and it’s so important that you know. The piece that you guys bring together is knowledge, and I think you and I are both aligned in that. Is the fact that you know. It’s very true the more you know, the more you do better for your life and, of course, you’re living environment, for both you and I is of major concern for our elder older adults, and that’s where we can come together. And you know, I wanted to talk to you today because obviously there’s a big issue with falling, especially in the winter months. Up here in the puget sound we have a lot of rain, we have a lot of decks out there that don’t necessarily get cleaned off and so they’re slippery. We we have a lot of situations where branches hang low because they’re wet. That causes situations where you can’t necessarily see or can also cause a situation of a seniors home. And you know, I would love to to have you share with our listeners a little bit about you know, what are your, I guess, tips on keeping senior safe just from their outdoor environment. We haven’t done much in that venue sure. Well, first of all, again, thanks for making time and my brother and I are particularly sensitive to these issues because, as you knows who’s an we’re baby boomer bookends. Morris was born on the front end of the baby boom in one thousand nine hundred and forty six and I was born at the end of the baby boom in one thousand nine hundred and fifty eight. So we’re proud aging baby boomers. I think the first thing is that quarter quarter inside and out, especially clutter outside very much, that everything has its place. So the first thing we look for is we have we look at driveways and carboards. Are they smooth and do they have a uniform surface? Right? Concrete isn’t perfect. Concrete cracks and heaves, it moves, but there are products that can be used to patch cracks. Here you can where you can create a transition between a higher section of concrete and a lower section of concrete, and you may create that transision over three, four, five, six, maybe even twelve inches where the elevation change is almost not noticeable. Right doesn’t put someone into harm’s way. If there are shrubs that are overgrown or trees, they need to be trimmed back. They need to be pinned for a couple of reasons. We don’t want anybody to trip or hit their head, but we don’t want any predators to be hiding in bushes. That could be a potential security risk. Absolutely, and you know, James, what you’re saying about this. It reminds me of a story that I worked with the family. They were actually in the Midwest, but I was on the phone with this family that they were so concerned about the mother, trying to find a place for her to live. And one of the things that happened to their mother, which just broke my heart, is she had those square pavers, you know, those square pavers that foot, you know, twelve inch wide. They were embedded in her lawn and every day she would go out to her beloved garden that she had, which were not raised beds, and she would go out there, but her garden had gotten overgrown and she had a walker and she would go out those pavers every day and what happened was one of the legs of the Walker got stuck on a vine, whether it was an ivy or something like that, and it caused her, when she was Yanking the Walker away to get it out of there, she fell and she couldn’t get back up and what broke my heart about this story is that she laid there for two hours until, just by a fluke, a meter reader came to her house and saw her laying there and it just it was a horrible story and when we talk about these issues, when you raise these issues, it just brings back this set very, very devastating story that I heard, you know, a few years ago, and I think about you know, had the family had a good, solid walkway like what you’re talking about and had there been proper railing in place and things that you’re talking about, that accident wouldn’t have happened. Right now, Susanne, enough can’t be said for good lighting, and that lighting the start at Amen. It goes to steps, porches, any area, car ports, driveways and our audience can have the best of all worlds. Now with new energy efficient led lighting, which uses such little energy, will cast bright lighting. Yes, there are and and again, they don’t cost an arm in the leg to purchase or install. So that’s a great recommendation. Now you talked about slippery steps. There are a couple of things that folks can do if they want to apply a coding to their steps. There are products like ditch coding. We love this product, ditch coding, daiich ditch codings, is a stone coding that has actual real stone in it. It’s apply that wonderful concrete or wood decking and it will prevent slips and falls and the benefit, of course, is that it’s decorative. Now someone doesn’t want to do that and they just want a simple pick, then of course you can get the peel and stick right scripts. That can be placed on concrete steps, at doorways or other areas where someone may be vulnerable for slip. They come in various sizes. They come and rolls. You can cut them to fit and they’re the nut. It’s like Sam paper with adhesive on the back. Yes, and you know what I love about that? It’s something that anybody could go down to their local, you know, hardware store and pick up and you know, once you pressure wash the deck or get that, you know, cleaned off, to lay those stripped down is is just it will predet prevent things. And another thing that I’m happy to be a renter right now, and of course we’re concerned with with the inadequate lighting, and my husband, you know, bless his heart, he found just motion detector that works off of an battery and he just placed it, you know, with a velcro strip. It goes right onto the side. There was no wiring that had to be done and it’s so nice because sometimes we’ll drive home and somebody forgot to leave the porch light on and guess what, that light will still come on when we drive in and that is so valuable. I’m so glad that you mentioned that, Susan, because technology has made light so much safer, more comfortable and more secure right now, and we know that our seniors love their smartphones and they can control their lighting, they can control their garage door, they can control their security system, they can control their home heating system. Now you can even have a doorbell that will send motion, that will ring and that you can see who’s at your front door with your smartphone, and I love that at home or or or away from home. So I’m great time and you’re talking about technology, is the ability to install just a small little camera outside, you know, for your own safety, you know, to have a little camera like that that will show who’s outside your door, you know what’s happening out there and have an ability to access if if packages are stolen and things like that, you know, which is so tragic that’s going on today, but it’s something that you know. It’s help helping with the safety of the home, not for only the senior but for the entire family. And I think the other thing we need to think about, Suzanne, is that our senior friends love to entertain and they love to be entertained and they love to cook out and, yes, fit as fit out and read. And so I think another thing that folks need to think about is as they put together their outdoor space, they need to shy away from patio furniture, table chairs, grilled accessories that have sharp corners. Begins to look for accessories. Don’t get that rectangular dining table with the sharp corner around are around table. Don’t good pointing chair that has a sharp corner. Get something with arounded back. Get something with cushions so that if you do take a fall that you’re less vulnerable and that you’ll be safer. Well, and that goes onto the pull up that outdoor carpet rug. You know, I mean you know, and that is just an all it happens is a windstorm comes up, it gets buckled up underneath and next thing you walk out there and guess what happens? Being got you fall. You know, they look Nice, don’t get me wrong, and maybe you want to bring it out for special occasion, but make sure that those things are put up. And that’s just involving the clutter. You know, we up here in the Pacific northwest, just this winter we’ve had a few little windbusters, even one about a week ago that we had here, and I’m telling you, you know, things get, you know, strown around the yard and so having that ability to just be more mindful of the clutter. Thank you so much, James, for your tips to then thank you for providing this forum, thank you for the service that you offer to the community. Thank you for inviting me to be a part of this and I’m hoping that they will be another occasion to share our mutual passion with your audience. Hey, I’m counting on at my friend. Thank you, James Carry from on the house, for being on our program you can catch him from six to nine am on Saturday mornings. And, James, thank you again for being on answers for Elders Radio