Eldercare on the Air: Enhancing Quality of Life and Dignity Through Home Adaptations

 You’ve worked hard to create a life of dignity and security, but as you or a loved one age, you may face new challenges in maintaining independence. Whether you're navigating the complexities of eldercare, special needs, or simply want to ensure you can age in place, Eldercare on the Air is here to help. Hosted by Michael Amaruso, an elder law and special needs attorney, this weekly show brings together experts in eldercare, healthcare, and home adaptations to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need. In this episode, Michael sits down with Liam O’Keefe, owner of On The Mend Medical Supplies, to discuss how thoughtful home modifications can help seniors and those with special needs maintain their independence and dignity at home. From stairlifts to walk-in tubs and wheelchair-accessible ramps, Liam shares insights on creating safe, functional spaces for aging in place. Tune in for an informative conversation on how the right services and products can make a world of difference for those you care about. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

You've lived well, you've worked hard to make your place in this world. Your dignity and security are earned and well deserved. Or maybe you have a loved one who needs you more than ever. Well, we can help you help them plan life better. Amaruso and Amaruso.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Welcome to Eldercare on the Air, a weekly radio show with guests in the fields of eldercare, special needs, financial services, independent living, and yes, people just like you. Where we will empower you to make sound choices when you're faced with an eldercare or special needs crisis. My name is Michael Amoruso, an elder law and special needs attorney with Amoruso & Amoruso in Rybrook, New York, which services clients in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. You're at our new home, 107.1 The Peak. But I do encourage you to go onto our website, eldercareontheair.com. That's eldercareontheair.com. Click on the radio show tab you see. and just simply download the episode you'd like to listen to. You see, this show is designed to arm you with the knowledge and tools that you need to make sound choices to help you or a loved one age in place. If you have any questions or would like to hear topics on future episodes of Eldercare on the Air, please send us an email at info at eldercareontheair.com. That's info at eldercareontheair.com. We have an informative episode in store for you this week. You know, a common theme on the show is aging in place. And I've had many, many episodes where we talk about reconstructing your home in ways to ensure that you can age in place, making sure that you have the right care provided there. We have some technology shows as well of things that may assist. But one thing we have not had yet on the show, which I think is really important, is, you know, to age in place, we may need various tools or services or even some minor reconstruction that will allow you to stay there as long as you possibly can in a manner that really ensures your quality of life and your dignity. So today I'm thrilled to have on our show Liam O'Keefe. He is the owner of On The Mend Medical Supplies and Equipment. So Liam, welcome to our show. Thanks, Mike. Thanks for having me. It's great to have you here. And why don't you tell folks about On The Mend, why you started it, and really give them a good 30,000-foot view of how you can enrich their lives.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

All right. On The Mend. So we opened On The Mend in 2016 in an effort to bring customer service to a... business model that didn't seem to do it well. So I had an experience with my mom in 2014, getting compression stockings, and I felt like I was at Home Depot, ordering electrical wire, like it was, there was no compassion. And it was just something that stuck with me. And when the opportunity arose, although I didn't know anything about medical equipment, kind of jumped in figured, you know, that that the need for a service company that provides equipment was evident. And with the baby boomers and the fact that 10,000 people a day were turning 65 and the average life expectancy was going to 87, I knew that I wanted to help that market.

SPEAKER_03 4:12

Well, excellent. Now, what market do you really serve?

SPEAKER_02 4:16

So I think we help anybody that's aging in place, suffering from a physical or mental disease problem, or somebody that's physically impaired. So therefore, what we try to do is help people stay in their home or stay in the environment that they want to live in, right, for as long as possible and give them both the independence and the dignity to do so the way they want to do it. And I think that's what kind of sets us apart.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

Excellent. And I've been to your Mount Kisco store. Yes. I know you have another store as well. I think it's in Connecticut, correct? Yeah, Southbury, Connecticut. Southbury, okay. So Mount Kisco and Southbury.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

And then we have an office out in Huntsman Beach as well, which is a showroom. It's run a little differently, but a couple guys that were with us from the beginning that moved out there and started On the Mend SoCal.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

Oh, beautiful. Okay. And geography-wise, where do you tend to service?

UNKNOWN 5:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Hmm. That, that keeps expanding and we have some, we have some plans for another location that'll be announced shortly, but you know, it started as we were Connecticut in New York. Then we started seeping into Massachusetts and, and I used to say, I will go anywhere that we're needed. I will go anywhere to try to help anybody. So that has led us to Florida. That has led us to, we did a big curve stairlift out of Jackson hole, Wyoming. We're going out to do another one for a neighbor.

UNKNOWN 5:53

Uh,

SPEAKER_02 5:53

You know, we provide the type of service that's immediate and we respond immediately also for the service. I mean, if we put a system in, a stair lift system, if we put ramps in, if we put reclining lift chairs in, whatever it is that we do, walk-in bathtubs or walk-in showers, they need to work for that person. And so therefore... We have a 24-hour hotline, happens to be my cell phone, and we make sure that whatever the problem is, it gets fixed immediately. That's important with the demographic that we serve.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

Absolutely. So, Liam, let's really give the audience a sense of, you know, what type of things can you bring to their home to enhance them? So let's start outside. Okay. We're standing in a person's driveway, right? And as you approach this home and you're assessing this home, I'm sure you're looking for things out there that could really assist. Then we get inside the house. Really walk them through what you can provide to help them age in place.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

So each case is different based on the patient or loved one's goals, right? So what happens a lot is we get called in when somebody's leaving rehab after an accident. aging in place where they're starting to struggle with their ability to ambulate themselves, or somebody that's been dealing with a physical or mental challenge that doesn't allow them to use their home and move about their home the way they would want to. So we provide service to get you in your home. So there's two major places where people will fall with physical ailments in a home. It's either your stairs or or your bathroom. Those are the two. It's one, two. Those are, if somebody falls, somebody tells me that they fall, I normally ask, was it your stairwell or was it your bathroom? Because bathrooms weren't built for aging in place, right? You got most people on the upper floor of a Northeast home. They have a step over tub onto a slippery surface with water. I think that Grab bars should be in everybody's home. I don't think it should just be for seniors. I myself have almost fell twice in the tub where there's nothing soft about a bathroom, the decor of a bathroom, right? You've got sharp edges. You've got porcelain. You've got iron tubs. I mean, these things, they're not just going to bruise you. They're going to break you. And therefore, those are the two spots that we like to concentrate on the most. Your stairs... We want you to be able to move up in your home, not out of your home, right? So the whole idea is let's get you up your stairs or down your stairs safely. Again, the Northeast, there's a lot of raised ranches. There's a lot of stairwells that aren't even straight that are curved or they're two-decker or swingbacks, right? So we have to make that safe. So between doing walk-in showers, barrier-free showers, grab bars, stair lifts, and ramps to get you in your home. So a lot of people, especially if you're wheelchair bound, you can't navigate steps at all. And therefore, we use ready access, ready span, modular ramps with railings to ensure that these people can get in and out of their home safely.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

Yeah, even if they maybe have a little cognitive decline or have a condition where their gait is affected, Navigating stairs can be tough, but they still want to walk, so a ramp like you're suggesting can also be a safe way to enter the home.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Sure, and with railings, it almost gives that physical rehabilitation feel of having something to hold onto on your side, keep you safe.

SPEAKER_03 9:53

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

And those aluminum ramps are stamped, so they're rigid, so they're slip-proof, and... You know, we put a lot of time and effort into making sure that these surfaces are safe. And, you know, the other thing that we provide, obviously, in the third area, the bedroom, is the challenge of getting in and out of the bed. You know, you need a high-low bed. You need a hospital bed. You need something with rails, depending on the person's physical or mental challenge or aging in place. Hospital beds are... You know, there's multilevels of hospital beds and pressure sore surfaces that we really dig deep into.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

Excellent. So when we come back for the second half of our show, I want to dive deeper into things that would be available for somebody because it may just not be at the forefront of their mind. They may not think about it. They're used to living as they live, right? But what would be sort of the process of someone to get involved with your company? Does it come through a hospital during discharge time? Does it come through a care manager? Do they just find you on the Internet? And when they do contact you, what is the process forward with them?

SPEAKER_02 11:11

So I think our biggest referral source is Google. I think our second biggest referral source is Google. visiting nurse associations and geriatric managers. And then the footprint of the store. As you develop and use, we have the greatest marketing website team. And honestly, we have the greatest staff. So everybody that works for me is trying to make a difference for us, is trying to make a difference from the store staff to the delivery team. And it's really easy to, to go the extra mile for our clientele, which is similar to your clientele, right? We're dealing with the people that paved our roads. We're dealing with the people that came before us, a generation before us, and they deserve honor, they deserve respect, and they deserve dignity. So even down to our youngest guys, who I think are better people because of it, up to our chief compassionate officer, Marcy Beck, our first full-time hire, who is probably the most compassionate and caring person I've ever met other than my mother. And she developed a culture that once you call us, I think our store almost hugs you when you walk in, and that's all because of what she set out to do. And she's coaching people every day, and I'm one of them that she coaches. But since then... We've just had a knack of finding people. So when you call our store, you get welcomed, or you come into our store, you get welcomed, but you have all of our attention where they will get all the details necessary so we can go out. We do free assessments in New York and Connecticut so we can go out and try to identify what your needs are based on your goals, right? What's

SPEAKER_03 13:11

an assessment like? Let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

So... Assessment. So a lot of times I get called into an assessment and somebody's going to come home in a month. And what can we do to make the house safer? And I could go through your house and ring up a big number by saying, oh, we should have railings here, you know, using something to hold on to the whole trip. But what's the best way to do it? And the most, I think that the best way to achieve their goals is actually have the person wait for them to come home See what they can't do. See what they want to do, what their goals are, and what they can't do or they're challenged to do, and then we'll help them by coming up with a solution for that. Because otherwise, we're just kind of guessing at what it is. Okay, they're going to enter here. Let's put a grab bar on the side here. Let's do a railing all the way through the living room. And then might find out that when they get home, with the change in their life, they might... not be going and doing their same routine. And so therefore, it's important to figure out what the necessities are to get them home, because when you come out of a rehab, there's certain things that have to be in place, right? And then we'll go back afterward and figure out what they're having trouble doing, what they wanna do, and therefore, we'll figure out how they can do that.

SPEAKER_03 14:28

So it's a more individualized approach.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Yes, it has to be.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

And in the example you just cited, let's say you put a grab bar up on the left-hand side of the wall, But they always walk on the right side.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Right. And it's got to be that precise. We have to make a difference. Otherwise, what's the sense of getting up in the morning? If we put in something that's not working, we have a program where we let you return it because for us, it's about providing that solution. And if it's not a solution that's working, we'll take it back And that's why we like to do assessments in the home. If you came to our store, Mike, and you wanted to buy a scooter, you could drive it around. We have wide aisles, smooth transitions through doorways, all these different things. But it's more important for us to not sell that scooter on the spot. Let's go to your house and let's make sure it's going to work in your environment because that's where it has to work. So therefore, that home assessment is important. is the most critical piece of us actually providing

SPEAKER_03 15:37

solutions. Excellent. So, Liam, why don't you tell the folks how they can get a hold of you or your staff?

SPEAKER_02 15:45

We have an 800 number, 844-470-6363, our New York store, with our dedicated staff of Christine, Manji, McCare, Geigler, and Kim Murray, is 9 1 4 4 8 3 3 6 0 5. And then our home base where our corporate team works out of upstairs and our, our flagship store is, uh, in Southbury with, with some great people as well. Uh, Quran and Christine and Aji and Kathleen and Marcy, uh, works out of there. She kind of runs everything, uh, as the executive director. And that's 203-262-0383. You can also email us at info at onthemenmedical.com for immediate response day or

SPEAKER_03 16:36

night. Well, very good. So we are going to take a quick commercial break. But when we get back, we're going to dive a little deeper into the various success stories that Liam and his team have had helping people age in place. Now, if you've missed any part of this episode, just log on to our website at eldercareontheair.com. That's eldercareontheair.com after this broadcast. And you'll be able to stream everything Liam is saying. And hopefully you'll find a tool or so that will really help you. We'll be right back in a few moments.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Amoruso and Amoruso LLP advises clients on how to obtain public benefits, including Medicaid, and more importantly, how to protect and preserve their assets, whether they be modest or significant. Find Amoruso and Amoruso online at eldercareontheair.com. Amoruso and Amoruso, a 107.1 The Peak Ask the Expert partner.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Amoruso and Amoruso, empowering you to care for the ones you love.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

Welcome back to Eldercare on the Air. I'm Michael Amoruso. And again, I'm so happy to be here with Liam O'Keefe, who is the owner of On the Men Medical Supplies and Equipment. And if you missed any part of this episode, just log on to our website at www.EldercareOnTheAir.com. That's EldercareOnTheAir.com. Now, Liam, before we took our commercial break, you were telling the audience about your process, some of the folks they would like to meet. Is there anything you want to add with that?

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Well, I'd be remiss, Mike, not to talk about the install team because when the process starts, first base is our store team. And then we meet, we talk about the case, and we discuss how we're going to go about finding the solution. And then we hand it off to the install team. And so I have, I call them like their medical equipment Navy SEALs or access Navy SEALs. Kenny and Hot Tooth, Derek and Steve, John, Dominic, Dylan, Mark, and Colin, so many guys, and I'd hate to miss some, our West Coast guys, Max and Steve and Rob as well. We will try to figure out just about anything, and they're so good at improvising.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

So that brings me to another question. You've got a team that is so adept at improvising what you see. Are we really talking about remodeling now services that you offer?

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Yes, we will make modifications in the home to make it safer. Just recently, in a case in New Canaan, we got a call. Gentleman was coming home in six days. He was in a wheelchair for the first time due to late-stage Parkinson's and had a home that had multi-levels of two-step drop-downs into a living room, a sunken living room, then into a sunken foyer, and then lastly into a sunken office space where he wanted to be able to go, and that was part of his process. And so what we looked at was, well, we can't put three different stair lifts in here. He's already has some physical challenges. So slide board transferring wasn't going to be a great idea. We ended up building a pier. I call it a pier. Some people call it a catwalk. But we took it from the top step, built a wooden pier out of oak plywood, which was one of my guys, Kenny's idea because, and he's the best at this, because we could stain it to the same color as their floor very close. We put up handrails, and what we did was we built from the top to the bottom where you could go into each room and come off like a boat pier, and it finishes entering into his office where he wanted to spend most of his time. So we'll improvise like that. We do VPLs. We'll change up a bathroom to make it go from— you know, two people who can ambulate well in their home to two people that need wheelchair access. So we'll widen doors. We take out floor plates and transitions. We do a lot of things to make it easier to navigate your home. Again, these homes are not set up for aging in place. So we take some levels out when we can. So

SPEAKER_03 20:53

that was an excellent example as to how the importance of that individualized assessment can then transfer into a solution.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

You can't do it without it. You can't be successful in our business if you're not doing assessments in the home. Even when it comes to like another thing that we do really well is lift equipment. So patient lifts. Right. So we we we go out again and we assess, OK, they're going to go from that service to that service. And if you want to get into the bathroom like we need to measure these doors, we need to. There's one person, Hoyers by Arjo Huntley, sit to stand lifts, but we got to make sure it works. We can't just rent this equipment or sell this equipment, send it out, and then have to go back and pick it up. That's not financially prudent or solution-driven. So let's go out. I'll do a demo. I'll bring a couple different lifts. I'll try to a lift person from one surface to the other. We'll figure out. What needs to be done in a house? A lot of these times there's carpet, there's floorboards that won't work with patient lifts. And therefore, we have to assess that way. And it allows us to take pictures and measurements, consult with our team to come up with the best solution possible. So it's a process.

SPEAKER_03 22:08

So let's go through a little bit of a few examples in a rapid fire here. So in the Northeast, we have a lot of old homes, built not to standards that we need today necessarily to age in place. So let's say you walk into a home, and in between every room where there's a door or a doorway, you see a saddle. What do you do?

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Depends. If it's tile, we'll just take the saddle off and grout the seam. If it's wood... We'll flat surface it. We could sand it down and just recover the top. There's rubber transition mats that we can install on both sides, so that makes it kind of a little bit of a speed bump, but it's still good to go over with a wheelchair or a scooter. So we'll go through it. Sometimes if we can't move it, we might put vertical grab bars on the left and right side of the door frame and therefore they can hold on and take that step up safely you know and grab bars as i go into it you know when we talk about grab bars in the bathroom and into a shower which is also key you know i'll go out first i'll mark where they are and then based on the height of of the patient that's going to be using it or loved one uh we'll we'll mark it off or maybe it's going to be 34 inches maybe it's going to be 36 inches ada standards 33 to 36 but based on their height and length of arm. And therefore, we kind of set it up when you're entering a wet area of porcelain or whatever it is your surface is in your shower, whether it's an acrylic pan or if it's marble, whatever they are, it's got to be like mountain climbing. So we need you to have something to hold on to as you take that first step and then be able to go from, like if the fixtures are on the left side of the wall, we're going to do a vertical grab bar that you can start with. You hold on to it. Then we might do a horizontal one underneath the fixtures so that you can transfer to. Now you can hold on to that. And then on the sidewall, we might do a 36-inch grab bar. So now you can shimmy yourself back holding on to that. And therefore, you always have something to hold on to to protect you from falling. That's important.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

And that's particularly important with modern showers where there may be a two-inch lip to walk into a shower versus having a tub.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

Yeah, because it's not... You know, there's no solution base. We can't put a ramp on both sides because you can't put a ramp in a shower where it's going to be getting wet. So therefore, in that in those situations, if you're not willing to level it and have us do a barrier free shower, we're just going to strategically put grab bars or we call these super poles, these standing poles by either standard or health craft that you can go in and their pressure poles, put them in the shower. So you always have something to hold on to.

SPEAKER_03 25:06

Excellent. Now, let's see. We'll come up with another example here. Okay. What if a member of the audience has a contractor that's worked on their home for many, many years, knows it well, they really trust that contractor? Would you work hand in hand with that contractor for the solution?

SPEAKER_02 25:25

Sure. We do it a lot. We get called into a lot of cases where a contractor is looking for a curved stairlift or the barrier-free shower where we're going to We're going to work with them to put it in where we've, you know, certainly have the ability to the ADA standard and the knowledge to, to direct traffic for them and consult or to have our guys do the actual shower based on their drawings and plans. So when you get into the high altitude, uh, portion of humanity, I think they always like to have, uh, you know, their own contractor involved in these bigger houses and plush situations. So yeah, we'll do anything at any time for anybody.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Excellent. Now, I also understand that in terms of how folks can pay for this, you know, there are some options under Medicare. Is that something that your company entertains or not?

SPEAKER_02 26:23

No, we do not have a Medicare number. And therefore, it's important to realize that...

SPEAKER_03 26:28

And that's by design though, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Yeah, Medicare, the equipment in Medicare, used equipment, kind of the bottom of the barrel type stuff. So it's important when you come to us that you know that no matter what the situation, no matter what you hear on the streets, Medicare is not going to reimburse you because we are not a Medicare-affiliated company. Most of the equipment that we sell is premium equipment that wouldn't qualify under those codes anyway.

SPEAKER_03 26:57

And it's good that you're being upfront about this so that folks know when they're coming to you, this is going to be private pay, but I guess they get what they pay for.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

Yeah. And long-term insurance will cover a lot of the stuff that we offer. Oh,

SPEAKER_03 27:11

a private long-term care

SPEAKER_02 27:12

insurance? Yeah. That's the only insurance that will cover it. But yeah, Mike, most of the things that I've said, that we learned the hard way. We weren't totally clear in a case, and it wasn't a good experience for a customer, and we don't want anybody to have bad experiences.

SPEAKER_03 27:27

Yeah, very good. Now, for those of you that may not know this, long-term care insurance is not something that's under your health insurance. Long-term care is a separate policy that you can purchase, and it can assist you with things such as activities of daily living at home, assisted living, or nursing home environment. And what Liam is talking about is maybe some of the equipment that he sells could be covered under such a policy.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Yes, 100%, because they give you limits. When you buy long-term care insurance, most of the time you're buying an insurance number. So maybe it's $250,000, $300,000 to help you age in place and stuff like that, and therefore it could be used for any medical need.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

That fit under that policy.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

That's under that umbrella,

SPEAKER_03 28:11

correct. Very good. So Liam, again, tell the audience how they can find you.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Uh, like I said, my, my, my social media marketing team, any social media platform type in on the mend. I have Kim and Mike working on that constantly. Uh, you could call our stores. You can call my cell phone directly, or you can email us. We're eager to help and we're eager to serve. And I think like to close out and just saying, we do have servant mentality. We're here to work for you. And there, there's never any confusion as to who the boss is. And, and we're just taking orders and, and trying to fulfill, uh, the needs of our customers and their loved ones.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

Well, Liam, I thank you so much for being on our show. And for those of you out there, you know how much of a proponent I am to help you age in place if you can do it at all. It is so important to make sure that your home is ready to continue to age with you. In my law practice, one of the most heartbreaking cases that I see is would be those scenarios where a client really wants to be home. They have the desire to be home, but the physical environment of the home just is not set up for success. So reach out to your care managers, reach out to Liam at On The Mend, see what can be done so that you can age in place there. And then every day you show up there at home, your house will be there and say, welcome home. Talk to you all next week. Be safe. Be well.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Amoruso and Amoruso, a 107.1 The Peak Ask the Expert partner. Visit eldercareontheair.com for more details. Amoruso and Amoruso, empowering you to care for the ones you love.