The Many Benefits Of Stair Lifts

America is getting older and so are the majority of its citizens. But thanks to a wide variety of factors including good health care, healthy diets, the proper medical equipment and modern medicine, aging doesn't mean automatically going into a nursing home or an assisted living environment. People are living longer lives but they are also living healthier lives making it possible to stay in their own homes longer and on their own terms. For people with two story homes the obstacle to staying independent has been navigating stairs, which can be difficult with arthritis or other conditions aggravated by age or illness.

Statistically one third of all adults age 65 or older fall and injure themselves each year in the United States and seventy one percent of those falls ends in a fatality. Falls that aren't fatal can lead to other major health problems including broken hips, which can mean surgery; lengthy hospitalization and long bouts of recovery time in nursing homes while patients undergo rehabilitative therapy. Sometimes patients who have broken a hip are never able to return home again to live independent lives.

The solution for some elderly people has been to sell their multi story home and opt for a smaller one-story home. However, in today's tough real estate market that switch isn't so easy to make anymore. The real estate market is flooded with homes and the prices continue to bottom out as the market value sinks. And some people who have lived in their homes their entire lives and raised their families there don't want to leave the homes that are such a strong part of their memories.

There are solutions of course to make staying in a two-story home easier. The less desirable solution would be to live on just one floor of the home. This can be inconvenient or just plain impractical of course if the bedrooms and laundry room are upstairs. Plus this basically limits the use of the home to half the square footage with half of the house off limits.

Medical equipment such as stair lifts can allow a person who has difficulty navigating the stairs to remain independent and able to utilize the full use of their home. Stair lifts can be professionally installed to accommodate any special need. For example for people with limited hand movements a chair can be designed to move with just the push of a button or by simply moving a joystick. For people who have a difficult time getting into or out of a seated position, a chair can be installed that will help a person getting into or out of the seated position from a standing position. Stair lifts can also accommodate people in wheelchairs so they don't have to worry about transferring to and from a chair to go up or down the stairs.

Whatever the special need is, stair lifts are designed to accommodate that need and help people stay active and independent in their own homes for as long as possible.