Cure Home

It has been found that many older adults begin to feel isolated as they age and their ability to leave their home is compromised. For this reason, the CURE Home is purposely designed to establish a small neighborhood which allows for daily social interactions that enable friendships and social activities to develop naturally. The design of a Cure Home, specifically the no-step entries, facilitates social interactions that could otherwise be unmanageable.

Needing to leave their home to have access to care is a worry for many older adults. With the advancements of home health and care services and care technologies, care at all levels can be received in one’s CURE Home and most often at a lower cost than in traditional care settings. Often, one’s home cannot accommodate needed care or care equipment, but specialized design considerations in the CURE Home, which address accessibility and allow for the home’s adaptability, aim to resolve this concern in a CURE Home.

In the CURE Home, health and care services are contracted independently as needed. Separating health and care services from housing services allows for a custom approach to each and provides for direct control over how your financial resources are allocated.

Recognizing the benefits of home health care, as well as the lower cost, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is increasingly expanding coverage for approved care to be provided in the home, including rehabilitation services.*

*Note: The CURE Home is not a care or benefit advisor. Consult with your care and benefit providers to confirm appropriate care needs and coverage for home health and care services.

In a CURE Home, residents enjoy comfortable home living but without home maintenance and upkeep. The lawn will be mowed, the snow removed and maintenance will be provided on the exterior as well as on electrical, mechanical, plumbing and appliance components inside each home.

Each CURE Home is designed with the specific intent that one’s desire to remain in their home until end of life can be realized. With that goal in mind, and without sacrificing a homey comfortable interior design, accessibility standards have been incorporated into the design. Following are some of the features a Cure Home could include:

• No steps in or outside your home!
• 3′ wide doors are standard throughout.
• Zero-entry showers allow for independence and provide safety.
• Lever-handles door hardware and fixtures allow for easy operation.
• All pathways and living areas throughout the home can accommodate wheelchair use.
• Window styles have been selected for ease in opening and closing.
• Kitchen appliances are thoughtfully positioned to require less reaching, bending, and fewer steps.
• Push button access to garage and exterior living areas.
• An interior storm shelter.

Another unique feature of a CURE Home is the home’s ability to adapt to changing needs as the resident ages. Though accessible design is a cornerstone of a CURE Home, specific details in its construction allow for easy modifications should the resident desire to make changes to the interior of their home, whether it be for accessibility or to accommodate care equipment. Because of the forethought in the design of the CURE Home, such modifications can be completed at a much lower cost and with less inconvenience. Examples of adaptable design features include:

• Bathrooms and closets have been strategically designed to allow cabinets to easily be replaced with benches should the need arise.
• Kitchens are thoughtfully designed to enable the lowering of a portion of the countertop to wheelchair height without a major renovation.
• The support features needed to install grab bars have been built into the walls of the bathrooms so such features can be installed easily and in any location.
• All passage doorways are 3’ wide with the framing to increase to 3’6” wide without any electrical or structural modifications.

Sometimes just a little assistance with scheduling needed services is all someone might need to continue to live independently. Managing daily tasks is what we call Life Care and the CURE Home offers optional Life Care Assistance to schedule non-clinical appointments and services for a variety of needs such as laundry, transportation, grocery shopping and more.