Kalamazoo and Calhoun County seniors helped to age-in-place through Milestone's home-repair program

Dave McIntosh (left) and Pete McWethy work on new steps.

Editor’s Note: Aging Matters is a series that examines programs, issues, and solutions that impact today’s seniors. This series is sponsored by Milestone Senior Services. All photos were taken by Mike Wenninger.

In March, the furnace in Tony Stoddard’s Oshtemo home failed and needed to be replaced. Soon, he had a new furnace at no cost to him, thanks to Milestone Senior Services and its partnership with R.W. LaPine mechanical contractor.

While visiting Stoddard, a Milestone employee noticed that a large, wood access ramp/deck attached to the house, long before Stoddard bought it in 2011, was unsafe. So on the morning of May 14, a Milestone lead technician with a half-dozen volunteers began removing the ramp and building new steps to the house entrance. By early afternoon, the home was safer and looked better.

“I’m happy to have it done, and there’s nothing out of my pocket,” says Stoddard. “We couldn’t afford to do it.”

The work on his house was paid for by grants that Milestone manages.

“We have many different grants available, but the majority of those require you to be at least age 60 to qualify,” says Tori Cawby, supervisor of Milestone’s home-repair program. “A lot of the grant money comes from the Kalamazoo County Senior Millage Fund, and some comes from private funders and the federal government.”

Kalamazoo-based Milestone Senior Services calls the program Home Repair & Accessibility (HR&A).

“Services are available to anyone,” according to Milestone’s website. “Some grant funding is available for people who fall within the parameters of various grant requirements, but anyone can hire our services, and we are considerably less expensive than most general contractors. All proceeds go back into our HR&A program.”

Tony Stoddard’s home with access ramp removed and new steps added.

The program uses fully licensed and insured contractors.

“We have a great bunch of volunteers in this program who primarily work on ramps; they are called our ACT Team (Access Construction Team). Last year, we utilized 49 volunteers in HR&A who provided 2,473 hours of services.”

Last year’s statistics:

• 85 ramps built.

• 158 people received other (non-ramp) safety/accessibility modifications.

• 230 people received other home-repair services.

• 415 home-safety inspections were conducted.”

Members of Milestone’s Access Construction Team (ACT) worked on Tony Stoddard’s house. Cawby says the team regularly has 12 to 15 volunteers, and not all of them have worked in the construction trades.

“Actually, some of the volunteers have never worked in the trades,” she says. “They are retired, and they were looking for things to do, and they’ve come into a great group of gentlemen to kind of learn and have fun together. I think there are more that aren’t tradespeople than are.”

Jim Nycum carefully measures before cutting.

Whatever their work experience is, they work in all kinds of weather. “Between November last year and February this year, our team completed 29 ramp installs,” says Cawby. “If we are below 20 degrees or above 90 degrees, we will halt work, or if there is a blizzard or inclement weather.”

Milestone routinely checks how safe residences are. “Anytime we go to any client’s house, we do a safety assessment,” says Cawby. “We’re looking at areas where they could use grab bars, and are their handrails kind of insecure? We check what’s going on with their smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors and things like that.”

Typically, only seniors qualify for Milestone’s grants. “But if anybody is looking for just some general handyman services or a tub-to-shower conversion, for example, that’s something we do as well if they want to pay for the service,” Cawby says. “Our grant funding is limited.”

With extensive experience in home accessibility, Milestone is committed to helping seniors age in place, says Cawby.

According to Milestone’s website, “We create a safe and accessible home environment so that people can live with confidence and independence in their own homes.” Modification areas include entry ramps, tub-to-shower conversions, grab bars, non-slip surfaces, and handrails. The service is available in Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties

ACT team members remove an old deck and ramp. From left are Pete McWethy, Milestone lead technician Ken Ward, Matt Tomczak, and Dave McIntosh.

A year ago, Milestone began offering to convert bathtubs to easy-entrance showers. For people with limited mobility, stepping over the wall of their bathtub can be dangerous. It has been estimated that 80 percent of falls that occur in a home happen in a bathroom, often when stepping into or out of a tub.

Milestone offers two ways to convert a tub to a more accessible shower. One is a quick “cut-away” system where the crew cuts out a large notch in the side of the tub and repairs the surfaces so there’s an attractive, finished cut-away surface.

The second option is to remove the bathtub and surround and install a shower pan and new surround walls. This can still usually be completed in one to two days, creating little inconvenience for a client.

Milestone’s Home Repair & Accessibility department can install other bathroom modifications as well, including non-slip tub/shower surfaces, shower seats, grab bars, and raised toilet seats. For more information, call 269-382-0515 or complete an information request form here.