We're a very ageist society.

We just don't want to get old.

We age into some disabilities and we need other supports in our environment for us to remain as independent and as healthy as possible.

We can improve someone's situation and offer solutions a lot of different ways.

We can improve lighting or secure stairs or make a bed higher or we can also change the way someone does a task.

It seems like we always try to have someone else do the task for them.

We can't afford to continue to do things that way.

We have too many of us who are aging.

We need to help people extend their ability to do for themselves.

Pennsylvania has one of the oldest populations and we're aging while our housing stock is too.

A significant portion was built before 1990, before the ADA standards were really in place.

How do we keep people independent and safe as they age across the lifespan in their homes?

There is more technology to build into the housing that enables people of all ages, but particularly seniors, to really thrive in their own home rather than having to go anywhere else.

We are in what we call the Healthy Home Laboratory.

It's on the University of Pittsburgh campus.

Having a laboratory in an old house does a lot of things for us.

We wanted to set this up as much of a real home as possible.

So all someone has to do is come and take a tour and they say, I get it.

Inglis is a nonprofit organization that serves people with disabilities and we've been doing it for close to 150 years.

A lot of the times when we're doing home modifications or working with assistive technologies, it's to really address safety first.

And then it's really making the environment work for what that person's goals, their lifestyle, what they're trying to do, whether that is telehealth for their doctor appointments rather than travel.

A ring doorbell that allows someone to see who's at the door.

Automatic blinds, voice-controlled blinds, because the amount of light, natural light in someone's home, is really part of wellness.

These small things have a big impact.

There's a lot of great technology and products that are being created in labs, but this gives us a chance to test things out under normal conditions.

Does Alexa work in a home that has thick walls?

Alexa, good night.

Okay.

And I can set it up that all the lights turn off in the home and, by the way, the front door locks as well.

Can we install a product that's meant for 8-foot ceilings in a home that has 13-and-a-half-foot ceilings, which don't even match anything in the world?

By a simple modification like changing a handle, I can make a much easier drawer open and close.

This table was designed by one of our team members who happens to be a wheelchair user.

If you were in a wheelchair, you could sit anywhere.

It also has a lip underneath the table that could allow someone to pull themselves up more easily and push back.

We evaluate technology, we adapt and improve technology, and we deploy it into the community.

The light above your head is actually a fall detection device.

This is a piece of technology that was created here at the Healthy Home Lab.

It's called Mobius.

Mobius was created to answer the challenge of installing grab bars in people's homes.

You have a fall, break a hip.

It's a path toward a lot of other health issues.

Home modifications can help someone reduce their cost of care by about 65%.

We start with things that people want to do and the solutions that are of interest to them and try to move them through that stage of change.

Helping the family members and the caregivers of older adults know what the possibilities are so they can be supporters and champions, cheerleaders for their loved one to get the technology they need.

Do we help the person be less fearful?

Do we make the environment more friendly?

Or do we change the way they're doing the task?

It's an art.

The home modifications that we're doing for seniors, and we do that in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, there are some amazing seniors who said, with this, what I think of as a relatively minor home modification, I am going to live in this house, I think the quote was, until God brings me home.