By Gene Nichols, Communications Manager, Good Shepherd Rehabilitation

Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network, based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, recently launched a new service – Designs for Life – focused on allowing individuals to stay in their homes instead of entering a nursing home or assisted living facility.

Through Designs for Life, a certified aging-in-place specialist visits the homes of clients and provides individualized home modification plans.

Components of the plan may include wheelchair ramps, lowered counters for better function in the kitchen, devices to help individuals climb stairs or technology to control appliances and doors with voice commands.

The Designs for Life program is ideal for individuals with disabilities or aging-related functional impairments, who wish to stay in their homes instead of moving to an assisted living facility or nursing home. The program can also assist individuals with live-in parents or children with disabilities, or baby boomers who are planning for the future.

Samantha Bogert, O.T., C.A.P.S., is Good Shepherd’s certified aging-in-place specialist. The C.A.P.S. credential means that Samantha is trained in the technical, business management and customer service skills essential to the home modification industry.

“The goal of the process is to identify the needs of the client and design a plan to meet those needs,” says Bogert. “It is almost limitless what can be done, and all plans take into account the aesthetics of the home.”

In addition to her C.A.P.S. certification, Bogert is an occupational therapist (O.T.). As an O.T., she has unique insight and understands the relationship between an individual’s environment and its effect on the way he or she performs daily activities.

Upon receiving a home modification plan, clients may choose to implement all or some of the recommendations. The work can be done by whatever contractor the client chooses. Good Shepherd’s Rehability^SM, a lifestyle products and services store, is also available to facilitate the work by acquiring materials, subcontracting construction and guaranteeing results.

For more information, call 610-250-4218 or visit www.GoodShepherdRehab.org.