During our lighting round segment on the Answers for Elders radio show, expert Dr. Jill Bjerke joins Suzanne to answer three top questions about aging in place as part of this month's Specialist Spotlight.

1. When should anyone start thinking about remaining in their home?

“Probably as soon as possible. At retirement, before retirement. When you feel unsafe in your home. Really, almost any time is a good time to start thinking about it because there's so many decisions to be made."

2. Who should help someone make a decision on this?

“Basically, you'd probably start with your family. But you'd surprised how much your friends, churchgoer, friends, neighbors — people who know you well — can look at your house with different eyes. You see it every day, they don't. You'd be amazed to see things that you aren't even aware of.”

3 How do people pay for modifications to the home?

“It sounds like an intimidating question. It's not. If you go to the government site National Institute on aging.gov (https://www.nia.nih.gov/), they have a whole host of ideas of where you can look. Every county in the United States has an area agency on aging, AAA as they're called. They have all kinds of information on aging in place, but they also have information on funding. There are states that are offering grants for home modifications. So you might want to check and see if your state has any of those. You can also use a home equity loan, a reverse mortgage, there are ways to do it. It just depends on what your financial needs are and what is best for you.”

Learn more at silverspaces.com. Hear more podcasts with Dr. Jill Bjerke at https://answersforelders.com/silver-spaces/doctor-jill-bjerke/.

Answers for Elders is part of the Senior Resource Network at https://www.seniorresource.com/. Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks: https://alzheimersspeaks.com/.

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