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Letters to the Editor: Nurses Play Vital Role in Aging-in-Place
Dear Editor:
I am discouraged that nurses and healthcare professionals in general are not mentioned in your Oct. 20 article, "Aging-in-Place Market a Bright Spot for Housing."
I have been a registered nurse for 25 years, have a real estate license and have personally cared for family members in my home and theirs. My hospital experience has involved care-giving for patients during 12-hour days and night shifts, and the occupational therapists who came to visit stayed only 30 minutes, maybe twice daily during the hours of 9 to 5. Nurses often prepared these patients for their therapy visits, making sure they were up in the chair, bathed and fed. My home health experience was similar and when the patient was sick or not feeling well, nurses kept their appointments, but therapy visits were cancelled.
Though I appreciate and respect the knowledge of occupational therapists, I think it is faulty to assume that they are the only ones equipped to assess the home environment and suggest modifications that allow aging-in-place.
CAPS-trained professionals with a healthcare background play a vital role alongside building industry professionals, and working together with them can change the way we think about housing.
Lisa Childs, RN/CAPS
Home Transitions, Inc.
Asheville, N.C.
A False Impression About Fire Sprinklers
Dear Editor:
As a small builder in the Philadelphia area I was very disappointed to hear the way that mandatory fire sprinklers were passed for inclusion in the 2009 International Residential Code ("IRC 2009 Code Brings Changes in How Homes Will Be Built," Oct. 20).
I am all for safety and building it into the home, and I do not want to put profit above human lives.
I have built homes with and without fire sprinklers and feel that sometimes people have the wrong impression about them. I have been told by customers that they believe their house won't burn because they have them, and we all know that is not true; like smoke detectors, sprinklers buy time to get out of the house.
I also want to report first-hand that we are paying about $2.75 a square foot for city water sprinklers and almost $4.00 for well water. This cost does not include the extra and separate water service from the city at about $1,500. They need to have this second service so they can shut the domestic off if you don’t pay your bill and leave the fire on.
These are tough times for the building industry and who knows what it will be like in 2011 when the sprinklers will be required? I can’t get people to pay for extra insulation let alone tell them we have to add $12,000 to the cost of their home for sprinklers.
I feel this is a case of just another group trying to make a large profit from regulation that is not needed.
Edward F. Moser
The Moser Group
Hatboro, Pa.
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