seniors
Simple Changes Allow You to
Stay Home As You Age
ROSIE ROMERO JR | SPECIAL TO THE JE
T oday’s real estate market is
tough for homebuyers. From
the soaring prices to low inven-
tory, fi nding a home that fi ts your
needs as you or a loved one age can be
challenging and costly.

If you are having trouble looking
for another house with aging-friendly
amenities, consider staying put and
adding them to your current home.

It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money
to make a few simple changes to your
home that could allow you to live there
longer. Th ere are many low-cost ways
to make your home, or your parents’
home, more comfortable and accessi-
ble, including these suggestions.

For starters, focus on these areas that
can become the biggest barriers as you
22 get a little older: the doorways and the
bathroom. In addition, it’s wise to get
rid of the steps approaching at least one
of the home’s entrances.

Entryways You could replace the steps with a
small, natural ramp with some grading
and landscaping. Pro tip: Th e ramp
should be a foot in length for every inch
of rise to the threshold. Otherwise, the
slope will be too high and someone
approaching in a wheelchair will stall
halfway up. Th ere are also portable
ramps if you can’t add a permanent
one. For stairs where a ramp isn’t fea-
sible, add additional lighting to reduce
the risk of falls.

Widen the front doorway to the
home so it’s at least 36 inches, the
width a wheelchair or walker needs to
fi t through without scraping the sides.

AUGUST 4, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Doorways Th e same goes for interior doors to
bedrooms and bathrooms, which are
typically only 30 inches wide. Can’t
aff ord construction? Fit your door with
a swing-out hinge that will add 2 to 3
inches to the width. Th e hinges can be
found at hardware stores or online.

Bathrooms Next, make your bathroom more com-
fortable to use now and in the future.

If you’re having trouble getting up and
down when using the toilet, add a steel
toilet safety frame with arms to help
you lift and lower yourself. You can
fi nd them at home improvement stores
that sell medical aids.

If you don’t like the look of the safety
frame, install a grab bar on the wall
next to the toilet. You can fi nd grab
bars in stylish fi nishes and designer
colors to match your bathroom’s décor.

For a more comfortable solution,
though a bit pricier, swap your old
14-inch-tall toilet for a new “com-
fort-height” model with a seat that’s 17
to 19 inches from the ground, which
is more like the height of a chair.

Consider adding a washlet or bidet.

A bidet is a standalone fi xture that
resembles a toilet. It uses water with
a retractable or separate hand-held
sprayer, faucet or direct spray from the
bottom of the bowl. A washlet is a toilet
seat with integrated bidet functions.

Grab bars in the bathroom were once
associated with disabilities. Th at’s not
the case anymore. People of all ages
and abilities are buying and installing
them. In addition to the grab bars next
to your toilet, place one or two on the
shower walls. Th ey’ll help you hang on
if you lose your balance. Your visitors
will use them for the same reason.

Pro tip: Before installing grab bar(s),
consider how you will use it. One that’s
positioned horizontally will give you
the best leverage as you get out of the
bathtub or stand up from the toilet.

Choose one that is 24 inches long. Place
it 33 to 36 inches above the fl oor. If
you’d like to add a bar on the same wall
as the showerhead, it should be at least
12 inches long.

Keep in mind that an angled bar is
handy if people of diff erent heights
share the bathroom.

Th e angled grab bar might be easier
to install because wall studs are placed
16 inches apart. A 24-inch bar installed
at a 45-degree angle will allow you to
screw the bar into those studs easily.

You need to anchor the grab bar to a
wall stud or with a toggle bolt that has
a guaranteed weight rating. Otherwise,
it could pull right out from the wall
and send you fl ying if you lean or pull
on it. Plus, most building codes require
that grab bars be secure enough to stay
in place even under the pressure of a
250-pound load. Th at means you must
screw the bars into wall studs. If the
wall studs don’t match the length of
the bar, then reinforce the wall with
plywood, and screw it into that.

Many people use their showers
far more than their bathtubs, espe-
cially if they no longer bathe children.

Th erefore, consider replacing your tub
with a curbless shower. Have a bench
and a hand-held spray installed at the
same time, so that you can sit while
you shower. If you’re still stepping over
a curb to get into the shower, you could
trip. And if you need to use a wheel-
chair down the road, rolling into the
shower will be easier. Better to make
those changes now when it’s not an
urgent need.

Most people want to live inde-
pendently, no matter what their age.

Making a few future-minded improve-
ments to your home now can help keep
you comfortable and safe at home for
years to come. JE
Rosie Romero, Jr. is co-owner of
Arizona’s home improvement radio pro-
gram “Rosie on the House.”



food & dining
S Off-Season Roast Chicken
vegetables, to add flavor to grains
like quinoa and barley and to stretch
sauces. It has already paid dividends.

The beauty of this broth is that you
don’t have to peel or chop anything.

Just chuck it all in the pot!
KERI WHITE | SPECIAL TO THE JE
ometimes you just want a roast
chicken. It seems a bit incongruous for
this classic cold-weather comfort meal,
which invariably ends up as a simmering
soup, to appear on a summer table. But
sometimes you just want a roast chicken.

As the old saying goes, “In for a penny,
in for a pound,” so we went autumnal
for this dinner — roasting sweet pota-
toes and cabbage alongside the chicken.

The plate was beautifully colorful, filled
with superfood nutrients, and the bone
broth we made the following day from
the chicken carcass, while steamy, filled
our freezer with an elixir that we will be
thankful for when fall falls.

Here’s what we did:
Roast Chicken with Sweet
Potatoes Serves 2-4
4.5-pound roasting chicken
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 lemon, cut in half
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut
in halves lengthwise (or wedges,
if potatoes are large)
Sprinkle of olive oil, salt and pepper
Place the chicken in a large pot, and
fill it with cold water. Add the remain-
ing ingredients, except the sweet
potatoes and additional oil, salt and
pepper, squeezing all the juice out of
the lemon into the pot and adding the
rind. Cover and allow it to brine in the
refrigerator for 2-24 hours.

When done, discard the brine, but
save the lemon halves. Rinse the
chicken, place the lemon halves in
the cavity and place them in a large
roasting pan. (Use a pan larger than
the chicken requires, as you will be
adding the sweet potatoes later and
will need the space.)
Pour ½ cup of water or broth in
the bottom of the pan, and roast the
chicken at 350 degrees F. While the
chicken begins to cook, prepare the
sweet potatoes — peel, cut and toss
them with a bit of oil, salt and pepper.

Bones, skin, fat and drippings from
a whole roast chicken
2 stalks celery
2 carrots
1 onion, cut in half
A few cloves garlic
A handful of fresh herbs, such as
rosemary, dill, thyme and sage,
if you have them; if not, use ½
teaspoon of each dried
2 teaspoons each salt and pepper
Photo by Keri White
After 30 minutes in the oven,
remove the pan from the oven and
place the sweet potatoes next to
the chicken. Place it back in the
oven for another 60 minutes until
the chicken and sweet potatoes are
cooked through.

a zip-seal bag with all the drip-
pings, and make the broth when the
weather breaks.

We simmered this overnight, cooled
it and froze it in sealable containers
for use in soups, risottos, to simmer
Place all the ingredients in a large
pot covered with cold water. Bring it to
a boil, lower the heat, cover and sim-
mer on very low heat for 12-24 hours.

Cool, strain and use as desired or
freeze. JE
Herbed Roasted Cabbage
Serves 4 generously (chop the
leftovers into salad tomorrow)
1 medium head cabbage, cut in
wedges 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon herb blend, such as
Italian seasoning or herbs de
Provence 1 teaspoon salt
Generous sprinkle of fresh cracked
pepper Line a baking tray with parchment.

Place the wedges on the tray, brush
both sides with oil and sprinkle them
with herbs and seasonings. Roast them
in the oven alongside the chicken for
45 minutes until cooked through and
beginning to brown at the edges.

Bone Broth
If you’ve roasted a chicken, it is
practically a law that you must make
a soup or broth out of the bones and
freeze it, even if it is the dead of sum-
mer and the heat is oppressive. Trust
me, your October self will thank you.

If you really can’t stand the notion
of this enterprise now, put the whole
chicken carcass in the freezer in
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