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3. Emily Johnson

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Dr. Debi Lynes interviews Emily Johnson about financial planning for every stage in life.

(duration: 34 minutes 27 seconds)

Emily Johnson

 

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Takeaways

It’s never too late to manage your finances. More importantly, hire someone who can help you demystify your finances. Don’t be intimidated by the talk of money, savings or investment no matter what stage of life you’re in.

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Transcript

Debi Lynes:                   00:03                Hi and welcome to aging in place for every stage in life. What if you could visit or have a home that would accommodate anyone, at any age, any physical ability, at any time? How cool would that be? That’s what we’re doing here at aging in place. Why me? Because I’m a doctor of psychology and I specialize in physical spaces and health and wellness. Also, I love designing with intent at any age. Why now? Because we the baby boomers want to age in place gracefully and we want our families around us as much as we can. And why you the audience? Because we want you to experience what it’s like to have a home that’s safe, aesthetically pleasing, and that you can live in at any age, with any ability, at any time. I’d like to introduce you now to Aging in Place Podcast for every stage in life.

Debi Lynes:                   01:04                Hi and welcome to the Aging in Place Podcast for any stage in life. I’m here with my friend today, Emily Johnson from Polaris. She is a financial planner and a dear friend and an expert in her field. And when we talk about aging in place, you don’t really think finances until you go see Emily. And you’ve taught me a lot in the past three or four years. And really, aging in place is something that is, what we say, for any stage in life. I know I’ve got nine grandchildren and three kids and we are all at such different ages, but we all have different wants and needs. And I think the older I’ve gotten, the more, the more imperative planning for my future seems to be catching up with me. So I’m really excited to have you here today. What I’d love to do is introduce you to our listeners and let them learn a little bit about you.

Emily Johnson:              02:00                Okay. Well first of all, Debi is ageless. My name is Emily Johnson and I founded a company called Polaris Capital Advisors 10 years ago now. Now it makes me feel old, I guess. And when it comes to aging in place, the way that that comes up in my business is when we put together financial plans for people and they’ll come in our office looking for all different things. We’re different things for different people. For some individuals, we do investment management. For others, we do retirement planning. For others, we’ll assess 401k planning for business owners. It really just sort of depends what the needs are of the client.

Debi Lynes:                   02:44                Well, let me ask you a question even to that, to that statement. When I come in, you say financial plan and can you give me an overview about what some of the things are at different stages in life? What’s important?

Emily Johnson:              02:56                Sure. So again, I mean, it’s different for everybody which is what makes the job so fantastic. So, it’s really more psychology with a little bit of finance thrown in than it is finance as the core. So let’s say, you know, plain vanilla would be, of course, you know, younger individuals if they actually do come to seek out the advice with financial planner, which is my hope and prayer because really that’s really what makes a great launch and plan is starting early.

Debi Lynes:                   03:25                My son and daughter in law are like, “we don’t really have any assets. We don’t need to come and see Emily.” And I’m like, “Oh my gosh, yes”

Emily Johnson:              03:31                Yes, definitely.” And, and that’s, that’s sort of the key is learning how to develop assets. And I don’t know that. It’s basically you have income, you have expenses, you have future objectives and those objectives are always going to change, but I know in the case that you’re talking about, there’s grandchildren that are involved, they have some small children, they have objectives for those kids and things are gonna happen fast and furious. So the earlier you can actually get comfortable with money talk and the earlier that you can start working towards those goals, the better. Because really my job is pretty easy. I can put a plan in place for somebody. It’s executing on it that’s hard. And giving people that comfort level to be able to talk about money and to talk about their goals and their fears. Sometimes there’s, you know, there’s embarrassment, sometimes there’s, you know, a concern about school debt that they don’t want to talk about or you know, a former spouse that there’s something that’s gone on. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff that, you know, sort of sits in the back of people’s minds when it comes to talking about money.

Emily Johnson:              04:31                So I’m at different stages in life and I don’t care how much money clients have. There’s always some emotional hangup around their finances, planning, planning for themselves, for their kids, for their grandkids. And it’s very interesting. So when it comes to what people are looking for when they come to me, it might be that they’re looking to start a, a simple IRA, just a very simple IRA, setting aside $50 a month. Fantastic. You’d be amazed at how fast that actually adds up and it’s really empowering. It’s not so much the dollar amount as much as it is the confidence level that you start to develop and gain on as you start taking control of that. And I’m not talking about you have to have conversations every night around the dinner table more just, you know, more just maybe a once a month, once a quarter type check-in. And that’s, it gives you a lot of comfort.

Debi Lynes:                   05:21                Are your consumers more educated now than they used to be? Number one. And number two, one of the things you taught me is I don’t have to even know what an IRA is. I can be completely naive to finances. No, and that’s the truth. And I don’t have to be embarrassed or shy because I don’t know.

Emily Johnson:              05:37                Exactly.

Debi Lynes:                   05:37                I think that a financial planner and an excellent professional like you and many others around the US I think are able to walk us through plans, walk us through what we need. When you talk about vanilla or just doing basics, what are some basic, what do you like me or any of come armed with? What would help you? Well, from a paper standpoint, it’s ideal if he could come armed with existing statements.

Emily Johnson:              06:07                If you don’t have existing investments then you know, statements for your credit cards for your mortgage, for, you know, whatever other, if there’s student loans, things like that. Tax return is ideal. Existing W2’s. To be quite honest though, if you actually come with a yellow notepad and you have these things handwritten out, that’s good enough, that means that you’ve actually taken a look at it. Or at least you have some idea of where things are and you’ve jotted it down. It might be that you do everything online and so it’s easier to do it this way, whatever it might be. I’m just coming with some basic idea of what your income, what’s your expenses are. Nobody likes that. I don’t like that. I just, you know, nobody likes doing a budget. It’s definitely four letters, you know, without questions.

Emily Johnson:              06:53                But having some idea of what your inflow and outflow is what’s your assets and liabilities are and then what your objectives are. And that is really, that’s the fun part. And especially when you’re dealing with couples or people that have gone through a lot of transition, if you ask them what their objectives are sometimes they just don’t know or sometimes they don’t agree.

Debi Lynes:                   07:15                I’m just going to ask and I’m cross talking and over-talking but because, what our objectives, what does that even mean? Is it I want to save for retirement or I want to go on vacation. I mean, how do I know what an objective is?

Emily Johnson:              07:27                And it’s so hard for people to define it which is what part of the fun is, is helping them define it, but on their own terms, and knowing full well that it’s going to change because life changes. So we do the best that we can at, what’s the saying? “Man plans. God laughs” and so true. But at least when you have that initial plan, that initial objective and you’re working towards it, it gives you the power to look at it and to be able to pivot at some point in the future if you need to. So, so some basics. I have a almost 13 year old daughter. So of course being the type-A that I am, I started setting up a 529 for her as soon as she was born.

Debi Lynes:                   08:02                And 529 is?

Emily Johnson:              08:04                College savings plan and there’s lots of different ways to skin the cat, but that’s one, you know, one thing. So younger people might be setting up their first IRA. They might have an employer that has a 401k plan or something similar. So they might come to me and say, how should I invest these funds? So very sort of just getting started. Dollar amounts don’t matter. Again, it’s just the consistency. It’s like dieting. It’s doing something consistent all the time.

Debi Lynes:                   08:29                A habit. It’s developing a habit.

Emily Johnson:              08:31                Exactly. And automating it. Automate it as much as you possibly can. So those are some basics.

Debi Lynes:                   08:37                And automate it means?

Emily Johnson:              08:38                Automate it means a withdrawn from your paycheck. If you can have it withdraw automatically from your checking account, if you can. Just basically, it’s money that doesn’t exist. Okay. It’s probably a terrible way of saying it, but that’s what automating it meaning and there’s lots of ways to do it. So then you know, starting to save for retirement of course is also paramount. The earlier that you can get started with that, the better because time and time value of money and the ability to save is really the biggest benefit that we have.

Debi Lynes:                   09:07                When you were talking about saving for retirement, again, is that an IRA? What does that look like? Are those investments, is that CD, I mean, how do you even begin to know where to begin?

Emily Johnson:              09:16                Okay, so, if we’re talking about saving for retirement, then we have to assume that a few other buckets are already filled. Okay. So the first bucket is going to be that, that classic rainy day fund, the, Oh my gosh, something hit the roof or my, you know, my transmission went out type fund. So that’s going to be the first bucket. So you should start filling that bucket. Rule of thumb for that is you want to have somewhere between 3 to 12 months of your expenses in that. And the idea is three months if you have a steady W2-type paying job, 12 months if you’re self-employed. Okay, so that’s a big number and that’s a big nut. So trying to move towards that is a goal. So you don’t have to have that there before you start saving for retirement, but there should be some money directed towards that objective to just sit in a very exciting 2% yielding savings account, which 2% awesome these days, for what it’s worth. Then the next one…

Debi Lynes:                   10:10                So that is bucket one. I love buckets.

Emily Johnson:              10:11                I love buckets too. And you’re not seeing this, but we have lots of buckets and cans in front of us right now. They’re doing fake buckets. So bucket number two is going to make sure that you’re paying down debt. So you, you want to be accumulating some savings while at the same time paying down debt. And this is a common question of which do I do first? And the answer is you kind of want to do all three assuming that your debt is not eating up everything. It’s not 17% debt. Then you sort of, you want to be allocating funds towards each if you can.

Debi Lynes:                   10:45                Can we take a quick break? She took a breath and we’re going to take a break. We’ll be right back to continue filling our bucket. Stay with us on aging in place.

Henrik de Gyor:             10:54                Hi, I’m Henrik, the producer of Aging in Place Podcast. If you’d like more information and transcripts of this podcast, visit aginginplacepodcast.com. And now, back to Debi Lynes with the next segment of Aging in Place Podcast. For every stage in life.

Debi Lynes:                   11:14                We are back on the Aging in Place Podcast. We’re with Emily Johnson and we’re talking about buckets because we can. But these buckets are going to contain very important resources when you need them. So bucket one was something that kind of blew me out of the water. And that is as someone’s self employed, I should have a bucket full of enough emergency funds.

Emily Johnson:              11:39                And this, yes, this is buckets, you know, for getting started planning, but it’s also buckets for every portion of your life when it comes to your financial plan. So we’re really simplifying, but by simplifying it just makes it so much more real and you can apply it to all different stages of your life. So having that emergency fund is something that you do want to have as bucket number one to get started. Making sure that your debt is paid down is another bucket that you want to make sure that funds are going into that bucket to pay down student debt, credit card debt, sort of the debt that is not particularly helpful. Even though student debt is considered helpful, but credit card debt, definitely not. So those would be two buckets or places that you’re, you know, if you have $1,000 of income coming in that you’d want to put a few hundred dollars here, a few hundred dollars there, just dividing it up.

Debi Lynes:                   12:29                And you can kind of decide exactly how many of those dollars we’re going to put in which bucket.

Emily Johnson:              12:35                Oh, Absolutely. So the third bucket…And we’re always dealing with three buckets, you can complicate this as much as you want, but I tend to just focus on three and you can always change the, sort of, structure of the three and how big the three are. But so then the third bucket is going to be saving for future. So it might be saving for future education for a child, that might be saving for retirement for yourself, which that’s a definition that’s constantly changing. So these different buckets, those are the three buckets that we always need to be looking at regardless of what stage in life we’re starting.

Emily Johnson:              13:03                And the catch-22 is when we start talking about financial plans. It’s so much fun to see people get a light in their eye of this is actually something I can actually do. I feel good about taking control of my funds. And then they say, well, you know, of my thousand dollars that is coming in this month, I’d like to put $900 towards each of these 300 here, 300 here and 300 there. And then you’ll usually have the spouse look at them and say, well now honey, how do we pay for food and the mortgage and the kids’ school? So the catch-22 is always wanting to save and then making it work for your cash flows. The reality, right? So my basic advice when it comes to trying to allocate to each of these buckets is you want to allocate enough to each of them on a steady basis that it hurts just a little.

Emily Johnson:              13:52                Because if it hurts just a little, then you actually feel like you’re doing something. It’s like exercise. You know, getting back to the same analogy, you know, if it hurts a little, you’re thinking, okay, I’m making a little progress here and you’re, and you’re cognizant of it.

Debi Lynes:                   14:05                But I can still continue to do it. Just because it hurts little.

Emily Johnson:              14:08                If it hurts too much and you’re finding yourself in a constant cash negative or you’re building up credit card balances or your spouse is upset at you or whatever it might be, then that’s where you’re going to change the plan. And if you change the plan, then you’re no longer moving in the direction that you have, that I have helped you set up according to what you’re saying your goals are. So we want it to hurt just enough so that you feel like you’re doing something meaningful but not so much that you take a step back and, and negate the plan altogether.

Debi Lynes:                   14:40                Is there a time when you should be more risk taking than others? Like I am 66 versus my daughter at 32?

Emily Johnson:              14:47                Okay. So I have two answers to that. One is yes, when you’re younger you have more time. So therefore you should be able to take more risks. That’s the reason that you see, you know, whether it’s on TV or on the internet or with other financial advisors saying that when you’re younger you can take more risks, therefore have more funds and equities. So that’s, that’s one simple answer. The other though is the sleep-at-night factor. And if you’re 37 years old, but you are extremely risk averse because you saw your parents go through a really difficult time financially or because you know you want to change careers or something like that, then you don’t need to take that extra risk. I don’t care how old you are.

Emily Johnson:              15:22                So I mean what you need to realize is that everything is a trade-off. So if you’re taking additional risks early on, history would show that you are going to, over time, achieve higher returns. You could have a few bad years, however, and if you can’t stomach those bad years. And again, with married couples, this is even more complex because it has two personalities. Exactly. So, and when it upsets the home life, chances are the plan’s going to change if they aren’t really in unison on that risk tolerance. So yes, over time if you take more risk in theory, you should actually have higher returns and therefore you benefit if you’re younger by taking more risks. However, if again, it’s, you’re going to be taking so much risk that you can’t stomach it and you’re going to stop the plan altogether, then don’t do it, then dial it back to a level that you can actually sleep at night. And that might mean putting more money in the cash bucket because you know that you can dig into it. It might mean taking less risk overall in your portfolio. And there’s lots of ways you can measure that, that are way more boring than this talk here. You know, so, so I think those are two really important gauges. One is age and one is the sleep at night factor.

Debi Lynes:                   16:31                Well, let me ask you a question about your profession as a whole. Why is it so important that I have someone to help me navigate through this? And I mean, I can give a testimonial. I think for me it was being with someone objective who was also a professional in the field and knew all the nuances and that to me was worth its weight in gold. But I would love to hear your opinion on why is it really helpful to have someone?

Emily Johnson:              16:58                Well, first of all, I just absolutely love my profession. So I’m a certified financial planner. I was an investment banker before that. And I can say I love this part of the job in finance a heck of a lot more than I enjoyed that part of the job.

Debi Lynes:                   17:10                You said that there’s a lot of psychology to it and listening.

Emily Johnson:              17:15                There’s so much to know and it’s just like any other field. I mean, if I have physicians as clients, you know, I don’t know everything that they’re doing. I go to a doctor for a reason.

Debi Lynes:                   17:24                That’s right.

Emily Johnson:              17:24                You know, same thing with my engineer clients, you know, I certainly, I can’t change the oil in my car, let alone any of the things that they could do. So, but they come to me because this is what I do all day, every day and I love all of the little nuances and the little changes that constantly happen. That’s what I do all day and every day and I’ve seen it now over the last however many years in so many different forms and iterations. So I think that’s number one is this is my trade, this is what I do. But the other is, you know, finding somebody that you feel really comfortable talking to about your finances, about your fears, about your insecurities, about your goals about the son in law that you don’t like, but you know, you want to make sure that there’s money there for the grandkids. I mean, it’s things like this and also somebody that you don’t worry about asking questions of. You don’t feel like, Oh, if I ask what an IRA is, is that going to show that somehow I’m going to be taken advantage of? Or something like that. So being open and able to ask those questions. So finding the person that you can do that with is really important.

Debi Lynes:                   18:26                Is the professional really fluid and dynamic? Are things oftentimes changing? Markets are volatile and money. I mean it’s just a chaotic world in many ways.

Emily Johnson:              18:35                It’s definitely fluid, but really, you know what the market’s doing. Yes, that’s sort of the sexy part of the job. And that’s what the news focuses on. But if you look at statistics, actual your allocation and what you are actually invested in only I think I want to say it drives about 3% of your overall success in achieving your goals. So if you look at all of the factors that allow you to, let’s just say you want to retire with $1 million, there’s your standard that you see on TV. You retire with $1 million. So if you start saving when you’re 25 years old and you assume that retirement is 65 then your success and achieving that goal is derived about 97% just from your ability to actually save.

Debi Lynes:                   19:18                Wow.

Emily Johnson:              19:19                And time value of money. So the actual the other percent that’s there, the 3% that’s there, a portion of it is allocation. And a portion of it is what you’re actually invested in. So all these arguments about mutual funds versus ETFs versus individual stocks, whatever. That’s what sells advertising, right? And that’s what sells TV. And that’s what sells CNBC. And that’s where the big money is because saving is not sexy. Saving is boring. But that’s really what drives the success in a plan. So it’s why I think that a plan is so important because it brings you back to looking at what you can do and what is within your control because the market’s outside of your control. You do the best that you can to manage the risk so that you can sleep at night. But what’s within your control is the saving.

Debi Lynes:                   20:05                We’re going to take a quick break, Emily and we’re going to come back and we’re going to talk about the aging in place market over 50 and if we’ve been afraid or haven’t done as well as we should as we’ve gotten older, we’re going to talk a little bit about that, so stay with us. We’ll be back on aging in place.

Debi Lynes:                   20:22                Hi, I’m Dr. Debi Lynes. Design elements are psychologically and physically supportive and conducive to health and wellness. To learn more about what Lynes on Design can do for you, for more information on certified aging in place and facilitative and supportive design. Look for us at lynesondesign.com. That’s L Y N E S on design dot com.

Debi Lynes:                   20:47                We’re back here on aging in place and Emily and I are talking about as we get older, what is it that we all really want to know? Well, of course, everyone wants to know something different. But I think what probably is important for the folks who are 50 and over who really want to get serious now, Oh my gosh, I just had a big birthday and I want to make sure… I’m 66 I want to make sure that at least I have a fighting chance of, if not retiring, at least not being a burden to my kids. So how do you begin to really counsel someone or take someone through the process of getting older and beginning to fill those buckets, if you will?

Emily Johnson:              21:30                So the first part is just asking a whole lot of questions and really trying to get a good feel for if you say you don’t want to be a burden, do you mean that you want to stay in your own home? Do you already anticipate that you have one child that you know you’ll be moving closer to them because that’s just the way that’s going to be. So questions like that just to get a better feel for you, for your family dynamics and things like that. So we start with that. And then of course the next part is going to be asking questions about all of your assets. So very rarely do people think of their home and the equity in their home as something that they can use towards retirement. And there’s lots of different ways to do that. You know, you might have longterm care insurance, which is first a question.

Debi Lynes:                   22:14                I was just going to say, do you have life insurance?

Emily Johnson:              22:16                Life insurance is an interesting one, especially for folks that are, I would say over 60 because life insurance is a new investment and I’m sorry to all the insurance agents that are out there that hear this, but life insurance as a in general as an investment at this point in time where interest rates are, is not necessarily a fabulous investment. However, back in the day when interest rates were a lot higher and whole life insurance was sold in abundance, it was a heck of a great investment vehicle. And if you’ve had it for a really long time, then it’s a great investment vehicle and chances are you have a lot of cash in it. And rarely do people actually look at. And another thing I find interesting about it is people have 15 policies. They bought one from their son’s soccer coach. They bought one from their brother-in-law. They bought another one when they moved in and got a new job. Some are term and some are whole life. But they’ll have a boatload of it and there’s a lot of cash in there. And unless they actually have a state issues, tax issues, you know, different things. and then we won’t even get into any of that. Most families don’t. That’s just suffice to say most families don’t. So unless you have an emotional tie to that insurance for some reason, there’s oftentimes a lot of cash sitting in those policies that can be a great resource to people in retirement. You can take notes from that and better used because it’s sitting there. So we’ll ask about all different assets. Even if it seems like, wow, why are they asking about that?

Emily Johnson:              23:40                That doesn’t make sense. Because when you pull it all together, the idea is trying to make sure that pie stays as large as it possibly can for as long as possible. And the two biggest problems that we have keeping that going is taxes and interest rates. And so because interest rates are really low, fortunately taxes are historically low too right now, but they’re still higher than interest rates. So trying to manage where different funds come from so we keep as much invested as possible and minimize taxes is a key. So those are two big things, you know, trying to get a better feel for the individual, the family dynamics, all of that is paramount. And then number two is okay, if that’s what we have as sort of our environment, you know, what are the tools that we have within that environment to make it hopefully right.

Debi Lynes:                   24:28                Oh, it’s a little overwhelming isn’t it?

Emily Johnson:              24:31                So you basically, if you break it down, so I’m a checklist person, Okay?

Debi Lynes:                   24:33                And actually I’ve actually seen that.

Emily Johnson:              24:37                And I find that, you know, if you started having these conversations very wide open, but then if it becomes overwhelming trying to put things down as sort of an order of operations, sometimes it’s more info gathering as the next step. Sometimes it’s again, budgeting. Nobody likes that. You know, sometimes it’s really having to have the heart to heart with yourself or your spouse or your kids about what your plan is. And earlier on, like when you are 50, that’s probably not even considered. I mean, that’s, you know, that’s right. Yeah. but, but some, for some people it isn’t, especially now with the definition of retirement changing so much and people having multiple jobs throughout their life, you know, 50 might be when they’re actually starting a new career.

Debi Lynes:                   25:18                It’s funny, I’m 66 and when you were saying, Oh, it’s 65 at retirement, Oh, I missed that.

Emily Johnson:              25:23                And I think there are a lot of people that are offended that the idea that 65 is retirement. I mean, I, you know, I’m 42 and I look at that and I think, I don’t know what I’ll do with myself. I mean I do not even have any hobbies now, but it’s probably because I have a kid and a career, but I’m good with that, but still I think because the definition of the workforce and your job progression and the idea of retirement is changing. Yeah. So the whole idea of financial planning is changing too because setting up a plan that says, “Okay, I’m 42 years old and I’m going to set up a plan that says I want to retire when I’m 60 and this is what I think I’m going to do.” Who the heck knows? I’m doing the best I can and I’ll set that up and then I’ll have a game plan, but I know darn well that between now and then, life’s going to happen. And it will allow me to be able to make those changes.

Debi Lynes:                   26:19                Well, talk to me about things that I never thought I’d be asking about. Like social security, reverse mortgages, all of these fun things. Medicare, it’s really like, Oh.

Emily Johnson:              26:30                I know, and they all seem like black boxes. So one thing I want to say from the very, very beginning is that every tool that’s there, whether you call it a product, an investment, a policy, a contract, whatever it is, every tool has its place. So don’t let anybody tell you that what you have in your portfolio is bad or wrong or terrible or whatever, because everything has its place. So you’ll hear people say, Oh, reverse mortgages are terrible. Well, you know what, for who? It might be for you, it might be for your brother-in-law who just told you that it’s terrible, but that’s in a vacuum. If you look at it in your particular scenario, it might be that that’s the best scenario or the best tool to achieve whatever it is that you’re trying to achieve. So, you know, if you’re talking to the folks on your tennis team or you’re forcing the ball, you cannot apply the same logic that somebody else does to your plan.

Debi Lynes:                   27:25                So it is like medical care to me. Everybody’s different. Everybody has different tolerance.

Emily Johnson:              27:32                Same thing when it comes to investment tolerance and that type of thing. So you know, definitely look at everything. What is it they say? Trust, but verify. So you know, definitely consider the opinions that you hear and consider, you know, the different products and solutions that are out there, but verify that that particular opinion at that particular product solution, whatever is right for your scenario.

Emily Johnson:              27:56                And the only way to do that is to really look at your comprehensive plan. It’s like putting together a color palette. You know, if you know that you like blues and greens. You know, that you like blues and greens, but your tennis partner tells you that the latest thing is going to be bright, cherry pink and you say, okay, well let’s put bright cherry pink in here because that’s the thing. It looks terrible with your color. It might look great depending on what you think. Maybe it’s great for you, but the point is that it really needs to fit into your palette. So definitely, you know, listen to other’s opinions about things, become educated, but just consider it as one point of reference. You can work into your plan, take that piece of information to your financial planner, to your financial advisor and say, “Hey, you know, I heard about such and such. Would that work for me?” It just might, it might be something that’s outside the box that they hadn’t considered. It might be, you know, something new. So definitely bring it to your advisor and see if it’s something that fits. If it’s not something that fits, then ask them why it doesn’t fit so that you can at least, you know, you feel that you’ve verified it.

Debi Lynes:                   29:00                Is there a rule of thumb about how often you like to see a client or how often you like to at least touch base or accessibility, things like that.

Emily Johnson:              29:10                Sure. It’s probably better to ask the clients that, right? Because each client is so different. So from my younger side…

Debi Lynes:                   29:20                Some of us are hand holders. Need some handholding.

Emily Johnson:              29:22                I know exactly who’s going to call when the market’s down 360 points and I tried to preempt that. And you know, and I know, you know who we need to deal with at year end for charitable gifting. I mean, you know, I know all of those things, but I think that it’s different for each person. So I think that the best is, you know, if we can actually ideally meet to discuss things twice a year, that would be ideal. because really quarterly, even though that’s the, people will say that’s rule of thumb for a lot of people, that’s too much. It’s if you see my phone call coming in, you’re probably thinking, gosh, if it gets to that point then we’re definitely doing it too much. So I’d say, you know, every six months because things can change every six months and also just making sure that people are opening their statements and things. So that’s, that’s a good general rule of thumb.

Debi Lynes:                   30:14                Well, it has been such a treat to have you here today. I’m always a little intimidated when I talk to you as a financial planner because I think, I think it can be, like you said, there’s this element of mystery for a lot of people.

Emily Johnson:              30:32                The key about a really good financial plan is removing the mystery from it and not trying to address it in using words that are made to sound like foreign or lingo or jargon or whatever. But words that actually apply to your situation. I have a client that likes to use the word money market for different things and I know exactly what she means. Is it a money market? No, but I know exactly what she’s talking about when she’s talking.

Debi Lynes:                   30:57                Exactly. Emily, it’s a, it’s a real treat to see. I want to thank you. I want to thank you all for joining us this week on aging in place for any stage in life.

Emily Johnson:              31:06                Thank you very much, Debi, for having me here today. My name is Emily Johnson of Polaris Capital Advisors. If you have any questions about anything that we have discussed today or have anything that is lingering in your mind financially, please give me a call. Our number is 843-686-2425 shoot me an email at emily@polariscapitaladvisors.com or just check us out on Instagram, Facebook. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Erin Lentz:                    31:33                For podcasts, links, information and media inquiries, please visit our website at aginginplacepodcast.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as our host Debi lines and her expert guests discuss relevant topics for creating a home for all decades in life. Don’t miss our weekly podcast on aging in place for every stage in life. Transition through life where you are with the comfort and ease you deserve. Discover how you can start creating a home that will adapt to you as you journey through life and the changes that will bring.

Debi Lynes:                   32:05                I’d like to introduce you to a friend of mine, Tracy. Tracy is naturally curious and always creative and when we were doing the Aging in Place Podcast, she said there are so many quick tips that I can think of offhand. My response, who knew she’s going to be with us every week, giving us a quick tip and to hint that is a practical application.

Tracy Snelling:              32:34                Thanks Debi. A cool selfie with a refrigerator helps your grocery shopping become a little easier. Like I know I have six bottles of salad dressings, but what were they? Is my milk half empty or is it half full? And don’t forget to snap a picture of your freezer too to make sure you have room for that gallon of ice cream. If you like taking pictures when you empty your bottle or jar, snap a picture of it. It comes in handy if you send your teenagers to the store and they don’t really know which brand you like. And if they’re like my kids, they always would buy the cheap stuff anyway because they always got to keep the change. Who knew pictures of food would be so popular. Days don’t think so? Just check out social media. I know what my friends eat almost every day by their posts.

Debi Lynes:                   33:20                Wow. My head is exploding with everything that Emily taught us today on this episode of aging in place. All right, here’s the bottom line for me and the takeaway. It’s never too late to manage your finances. More importantly, hire someone who can help you demystify your finances. Don’t be intimidated by the talk of money, savings or investment no matter what stage of life you’re in. Again, it’s been wonderful having you here with us on aging in place.

Henrik de Gyor:             33:56                Aging in Place Podcast is hosted by Debi Lynes, marketing by Erin Lentz and produced by Henrik de Gyor. If you have any comments or questions, send an email to debi@aginginplacepodcast.com We would love to hear from you. If you’re interested in advertising or sponsoring this podcast, email us at PR@aginginplacepodcast.com. Thank you for listening to Aging in Place Podcast.

 

2. Sean Stewart

~ Henrik de Gyor ~ Leave a comment

Dr. Debi Lynes interviews Sean Stewart about technology in the home for any stage in life

(duration: 34 minutes 47 seconds)

Sean Stewart

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Amazon Echo Dot

Control4

Custom Audio Video

Dusk til dawn nightlights

Josh AI

Motion-activated nightlights

Takeaways

Don’t be intimidated by technology.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

The point of all of this technology is to make your life easier and simplify it, not to make it more difficult, so don’t hesitate to call when it comes to technology.

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Lynes on Design

Transcript

Debi Lynes:                   00:03                Hi and welcome to Aging in Place for every stage in life. What if you could visit or have a home that would accommodate anyone at any age, any physical ability, at any time? How cool would that be? That’s what we’re doing here at aging in place. Why me? Because I’m a doctor of psychology and I specialize in physical spaces and health and wellness. Also, I love designing with intent at any age. Why now? Because we, the baby boomers, want to age in place gracefully and we want our families around us as much as we can. Why you the audience? Because we want you to experience what it’s like to have a home that’s safe, aesthetically pleasing, and that you can live in at any age, with any ability, at any time. I’d like to introduce you now to Aging in Place Podcast for every stage in life.

Debi Lynes:                   01:05                Hi and welcome to the next episode of Aging in Place, the podcast. We’re very excited. My friend Sean Stewart is here from Custom Audio Video. I tell you what, I am more excited to talk to you. We have been trying to demystify, if you will, a little bit of aging in place. And a lot of people think of it is as you get older you want to stay in your home, but you and I have talked about this, Sean, many times. It’s really about being able to live in your home at any age, universally, and we can all function there. And I have to admit that talking about technology is a little intimidating to me. So I’m going to ask you before we even get started to talk a little bit, Sean, about what you do and about Custom Audio Video.

Sean Stewart:               01:53                Yeah. So Custom Audio Video is here in Bluffton [South Carolina] and we cover all kinds of things technology-wise in the home. Now some things may fit more in place with what we’re trying to talk to about today, but overall we do, you know, home theaters, audio systems, stereo systems, networking, and internet throughout your home. We’ll talk more probably about automation and a lot of the smart home stuff that we do. We do lighting control. We do shade control. We can do furniture even. When it comes down to good living room furniture that fits with that home theater feel. So we do all kinds of stuff.

Debi Lynes:                   02:32                And what is your role specifically? Because you have an interesting job there.

Sean Stewart:               02:35                Yeah. My role is kind of multifaceted in a lot of ways. I oversee the showroom so if anybody wants to come through during the week and just want to see what we have, I’ll probably be the one there waiting for them. I also do a lot of this kind of stuff, being the face and the voice of the company, talking a lot about what we do, and working with architects, builders, clients, and designers trying to get the idea out there. A lot of what we do isn’t necessarily common knowledge, but it’s stuff a lot of people want to learn about what we can do, they want it. It really cool stuff.

Debi Lynes:                   03:00                Exactly. And like I said, the psychology of technology in the home can be a little intimidating. And I think that if we can just bust a little stigma and demystify this, we will be good to go for a lot of people. Let’s talk a little bit, if we can, about what an automated home looks like throughout the ages.

Sean Stewart:               03:28                Yeah. So first I want to distinguish that there’s a big difference between a smart home and home automation. I’ll explain why. Smart home: the way to think of it more is a lot of different kind of subsystems. You can have smart lighting in your home. You can have multi-room audio. You can have shades that go up and down. You can have front door locks. You can have thermostat control, for instance. So these are all kinds of individual subsystems, almost individual silos, if you will. Home automation is bringing them all together into one system. So instead of having to go on your phone or your iPad and go, I want to turn on my lights. I want to change the thermostat. I need to unlock the front door.

Sean Stewart:               04:12                With home automation, when I come home with one command, whether it’s just knowing that I’m home or a button that I hit, I am going to open the shade, turn the lights, change the thermostat, and unlock the door. Do all those things. So that home automation is taking the smart home and making it even easier and more convenient.

Debi Lynes:                   04:30                Okay. So let’s start at the very beginning. I am a potential client and again, I’ve got grandchildren and I’ve got aging adults in my home. How do we even begin? Where do I start? So I come to you and say, Sean, help. Here’s what I’ve got. Here are my needs. Here is my home. What helps you? What do you need?

Sean Stewart:               04:48                Yeah, so from our standpoint, we’ve got some designers that are trained on all these systems to create a system and really figure out your needs, to help you understand what’s out there and kind of match what you want. The awesome thing about all this is that it’s very scalable. So if you want something very simple, or you want something that covers the home in a lot of different ways? It’s available.

Debi Lynes:                   05:14                So when cost is no object, you’ve got it, and when cost is an object, you’ve got that too. Can you create a master plan? And we can build on that too.

Sean Stewart:               05:22                You can. Now though, of course there are going to be some pieces that over time maybe change a little bit. There are going to be cornerstone pieces that you want to put into place and the little things you can add here or there as convenience or time…

Debi Lynes:                   05:37                You’re so good. Cornerstone piece. Let’s start at the very beginning. So I walk in and I want to create an automated home. I want Clementine, my one year old, and my dad to be able to function… Not equally, but you know what I’m saying. What would you recommend as a first step? It’s a blank slate for you. So we’re going to kind of do a wishlist or master plan, if you will. We’re building a home. We’ve got no walls or windows yet. Where do I want to start for universal design?

Sean Stewart:               05:58                Well, if you’re starting that early, we always recommend starting with a good pre-wire. Essentially, you are wiring the home for the future. You know, things used to be co-ax everywhere, but thankfully we’ve moved to ethernet cat[egory] five or cat[egory] six [cables]. That can do a lot of different things.

Debi Lynes:                   06:33                So what do I do? Do I sit down with my architect? My builder? You? Do we come as a team and decide what that’s going to look like for us?

Sean Stewart:               06:40                Yeah. So from our standpoint, we always say as early as we can get involved as possible, that’s the best. We have a lot of jobs that we start, and then there’s a big period where maybe we’re not doing work, but we’ve answered questions that don’t have to be redone when we get there. So we can sit down with the plans and say: Hey, this is where you want TVs. This is where you want shades. This is where you want lighting control. This is what we need to do to get all that done.

Debi Lynes:                   07:05                Do I have to have done research? Do I have to be an expert? Or am I really relying on you to help guide me as to what I need and can afford?

Sean Stewart:               07:13                No, you don’t have to do any research. Of course we welcome it if people are interested, but we also have customers that go, you know what, I don’t really want to worry about it. I’ve got my own thing. This is what you are for. I happily say that nobody on our team is a salesman.

Debi Lynes:                   07:29                That’s a really good thing.

Sean Stewart:               07:32                They’re there to figure out what you need, what you really want, and help get to that point.

Debi Lynes:                   07:37                So let’s talk about the different silos and the basic component pieces. What would you call a basic component piece for home automation?

Sean Stewart:               07:45                Lighting control for instance. You know, making it simple. We call it the critical path. Where are you going to go from the time you come home? For instance, whether you always come through the front door and you go to the living space or you come from your garage and you go to living space. What lights need to come on to make it very convenient for you to get in?

Debi Lynes:                   08:06                It’s really interesting that you say that, because we were talking on previous episodes about the entry of a house is probably one of the most important things you can do for universal design in aging in place. Making sure that you have safe access. And that’s really what you’re saying. So lighting would be the first… what did you call it? Critical path.

Sean Stewart:               08:26                Yeah, the critical path. Where are you going to walk pretty much very time you come in your home. Whether it’s coming in the garage and going to the kitchen and that’s kind of where the hub is. I know that’s how it pretty much works in my house. I come in, I go into the main living space.

Debi Lynes:                   08:38                So what do you have? Do you have something on your phone? Do you have a panel? What does all that look like?

Sean Stewart:               08:44                Yeah, so there’s a couple of different ways to do it. The most common way is using your phone and setting up what’s called a geo-fence. So essentially when your phone recognizes you’re within a certain area of your home, it’s going to activate a system that is going to trigger certain things. In this case, turning on maybe your porch light and your entryway light and your kitchen lights so that when you come home, maybe you’ve got some groceries. You don’t have to worry about finding the switch it’s already on for you.I

Debi Lynes:                   09:09                I mean, what a great age to live in. Okay, so that’s amazing. So now I’ve entered my home, my lights are on and is it going to go ahead and take me through the critical path all the way back to my bathroom, my bedroom?

Sean Stewart:               09:23                That really comes down to how in depth do you want to go. Can you control every single light system in your house? Absolutely. But not everyone wants to put that kind of cost into it. Right, because you really need to control your guest bedrooms?

Debi Lynes:                   09:40                Teenage bedrooms. That would be fun. Yeah, I see exactly what you’re saying. So what I hear you say is lighting the critical path is probably the first thing we want to look at, a silo that we really want to take into consideration. But, again, you can build as much or as little as you want to do. I absolutely love that. We’re taking a quick break. We’ve got about a minute to go. We’re going to come back cause I want to spend a little more time in this next segment talking about some of the other silos that we have for aging in place and technology. Again, we’re with Sean Stewart, Custom Audio Video, stay with us.

Debi Lynes:                   10:14                Hi, I’m Dr. Debi Lynes. Design elements are psychologically and physically supportive and conducive to health and wellness. To learn more about what Lynes on Design can do for you, for more information on certified aging in place and facilitative and supportive design, Look for us at lynesondesign.com. That’s L Y N E S on design dot com.

Debi Lynes:                   10:31                We are back here on the Aging in Place Podcast. We are here with Sean Stewart and we are learning about technology as it affects your home at any stage in life, at any age. And Sean is a wonderful source for us to be talking to. So thank you so much. Actually, during the break, it was kind of fun because we were talking about whether it’s an adolescent or a kid or someone who’s broken their leg or an aging parent, many times you’re at home alone. And, it’s interesting to me because I don’t think of cameras and looking in as something that you do or part of technology.

Sean Stewart:               11:20                Yeah. You know, there’s a lot of technology kind of evolved I think around this aging in place idea, but I think there’s also just a lot of other technology that we have, that can be re-purposed for what we’re trying to do. So for instance, you mentioned cameras, surveillance. Of course you can do surveillance outside the house. You can do looking at your driveway to make sure that motion’s coming in or out, or just making sure that there is no motion if you don’t want people around your house. But then for what we’re talking about today, there’s also the monitoring side of it.

Debi Lynes:                   11:55                So what does that even mean?

Sean Stewart:               11:57                One way to look at it would be, you know, we’re here on Hilton Head Island [South Carolina] right now. Let’s say this is where my mom is or my grandmother is, but I live in Atlanta [Georgia].

Sean Stewart:               12:07                I can’t always keep an eye on her and make sure that she’s fine, but I want to make sure that if something happens, I know at least as quick as possible. So with some programming, for instance, you can have a camera that looks over a common space in the home and it has a way to detect motion. If it doesn’t detect motion for a certain amount of time, you can set an alarm to alert me for instance, and go, you know what? I need to check on mom because there’s no motion. And that way it’s kind of, you know, you don’t have to worry about it because there’s something watching that’s taking care and you don’t have to have that constant worry. Do I need to check on her now? Do I need to check on her now? Because I mean, of course, you should call your mom anytime, but you don’t have to worry about it because that’s where technology comes in to help.

Debi Lynes:                   12:52                And all of this again can be tied in and pulled into our…

Sean Stewart:               12:57                Yeah, home automation.

Debi Lynes:                   12:59                I’m going to get this by the end of this. This is my project to be able to get the lingo right. All right, so we talked a little bit about, I love this, critical path lighting. Now we’re talking about surveillance. That’s another kind of cool word and cameras. Take me through some of the other things that come to mind for you.

Sean Stewart:               13:19                So, surveillance is an iffy word too, because a lot of people think of surveillance as like bad. Monitoring overall and camera monitoring is one way to do it as well. But there’s all kinds of sensors that you can put throughout your home that help keep you safe, keep your home safe.

Debi Lynes:                   13:37                What does that mean and what does that look like?

Sean Stewart:               13:39                Well, of course, you know, you’ve got smoke detectors. We’ve had smoke detectors for a long time. So there are ways to tie your smoke detectors or CO [carbon monoxide] detectors into your home automation.

Debi Lynes:                   13:54                You hesitated to see if I could fill that in that home automation piece. Smoke detectors and CO [carbon monoxide] detectors I didn’t even think about as part of what you would do. Wow.

Sean Stewart:               14:04                I mean there’s, there’s that. So think about this. For instance, something happens. Fire happens. It sets off the alarm, you can detect it, but then also you can have programming set to where maybe whenever it’s going off, you start flashing your outdoor lights. One, that can help emergency personnel find your home easier. Those few seconds can be the difference between a really bad day and an absolutely awful day. But then it can also, if you’ve got these locks on your door can unlock your door to make it easier for them to get into the home. So, you know, there’s the technology overall. I think a lot of people sometimes can think of it as a scary thing, but it 100% is intended to make our lives better and easier. Now, we can have some issues. Maybe our personal contact gets limited because of technology, but overall life’s definitely better and it’s easier in a lot of ways because of all the different things we can put in our homes to improve our homes.

Debi Lynes:                   15:01                Is there a learning curve to technology or are you finding that things are becoming more streamlined and overall not so intimidating to manage?

Sean Stewart:               15:14                There’s definitely some sort of learning curve, but it’s easier and easier. And that’s where that home automation system comes in a control system because what it does is take that learning curve that may be four or five different apps and brings it into one and you really only have to worry about one.

Debi Lynes:                   15:34                So what does that look like? What is it? Is it an iPad? Is it a phone? Is it a panel on my wall. What am I looking at? What am I seeing?

Sean Stewart:               15:44                All of the above. Honestly. So for instance, one of the ones that we use most often is Control4. So Control4 is the company. It’s a control system. Now it can be very, very simple and control my TV and my Blu-ray player and that’s all I want it to control.

Sean Stewart:               16:01                Or I can start throwing things in like lighting, shades, security, all these different things. You can access it from an app on your phone. You can access it from an iPad. They have specified wall panels that make it very simple. So we always recommend, for instance, if you’re doing a Control4 system, have one or two wall panels in the home. They’re never going to move. They don’t do anything other than the Control4 system. So nobody’s going to take the iPad and hide it somewhere. It will be very easy to get to. It’s right there with all the buttons. Very simple to find, very easy to customize and make it… I mean, it’s really what we’re talking about. Taking all of this technology and making it accessible and custom for whoever needs it.

Debi Lynes:                   16:46                Talk to me about unlocking and locking doors. I didn’t realize that that was even an option either.

Sean Stewart:               16:50                Yeah. So there’s a lot of options for door locks.

Debi Lynes:                   16:55                Because I think that as we get older, again, I’m talking about young kids or aging adults, I would think that locking a door or unlocking it would be something that would be easy to forget.

Sean Stewart:               17:06                Yeah, one of these things with control systems, they take security very seriously, so it’s a whole lot easier to lock the door than it is to unlock the door. And that’s what we really want. Right. If anything, I want my door to be accidentally locked rather than left open all night. So you can have a program, for instance, that our guys can help with that when it’s time to go to bed, you can… we haven’t been talked about voice assistants. You can use your voice or you can hit a button on the iPad and lights go off or dim to a certain way. So it’s not completely dark. Your shades are closed, the AC changes and your doors all lock.

Debi Lynes:                   17:44                I think Sean’s just trying to see if we’re all paying attention. I want to, because you just said, Oh wait, we haven’t even talked about voice assistants. So what are ways to actually, what’s the right word.. activate the system? You said voice system. Because what I’m thinking of is my dad, it would be so much easier for him to be able to voice activate than to probably maneuver on an iPad.

Sean Stewart:               18:10                We see it left and right nowadays, you know where we’re heading into the holiday season now and we’re going to see even more of it. Google Assistant and Alexa. So those are two big ones we use. And we also have another one called Josh AI that we partner with as a voice assistant, a home automation, a voice automation.

Debi Lynes:                   18:30                How does that work?

Sean Stewart:               18:30                It’s pretty complicated in some ways, but it’s very simple in other ways.

Debi Lynes:                   18:35                Like a “Hey Google” kind of thing.

Sean Stewart:               18:36                Yeah, I mean that’s with everything we’re talking about, it’s as simple or as a complex, I don’t want to say complex as much as comprehensive maybe as you want it to be. Some people want that voice assistant to do nothing other than play music when I want my music played; or you can control your lights, control your shades, and control your TV with your voice.

Debi Lynes:                   19:00                Let’s talk about shades for a minute because I know that when I think of window coverings and window treatments, I think of them as kind of multifaceted. Number one they can insulate, they can keep out sun, they can keep cool in and warm out. So that’s a really important thing. Number two, they’re oftentimes very cumbersome and they’re very hard for young people or older people to navigate and negotiate. So I never really thought of them in the same sentence as home automation.

Sean Stewart:               19:28                Yeah. I mean definitely. One you mentioned, your window treatments, and what that brings to your home and the value of your home. But then not having to worry about whether you want some more light in here. You want to shade up?

Debi Lynes:                   19:41                Exactly. Or I’m facing West and it’s five o’clock in the afternoon. Whoa!

Sean Stewart:               19:45                Absolutely. Yeah. You can control that a lots of different ways. Or to take it out of your worry you can automate it. You can program it to a solar clock that as we’re starting to head towards sunset start lowering the shade incrementally so that it’s blocking the sun from coming in and not looking out at the bright sun.

Debi Lynes:                   20:05                Wait. You can set it to a solar clock? So what does that mean?

Sean Stewart:               20:09                So let’s say, you know, you’re looking over the [lowcountry] marsh and the sunsets, you know, at this time of year [around winter soulstice], it’s terrible. It’s about 5:30 pm. Well, the sun is going to start beaming in that window about three o’clock. So about two hours before sunset you can start with programming to lower of the shade in increments, however you want it so that it blocks the sun. So you can keep that view without having to worry about the increased heating costs or the sun just beaming in and kind of making everything uncomfortable.

Debi Lynes:                   20:38                Or the glare on my TV, just saying. Because again, trying to tie all of this stuff together, it’s amazing how when you’re talking about it, Sean, I’m getting an overall visual of how the pieces play together, where I thought it would be really, tough to understand.

Sean Stewart:               20:59                Yeah, I mean that’s my ultimate goal is to try to make this as easy as possible. That’s what our designers are there for, is to figure out all these different pieces that you want to put together in your puzzle and then make that puzzle super easy.

Debi Lynes:                   21:11                What’s the super, we’ve only got 30 seconds or about 30 seconds in this segment, so I have to ask… The super coolest, newest sort of, Whoa, thing. I wish I had a good one.

Sean Stewart:               21:23                Can I think about it for a little bit?

Debi Lynes:                   21:27                We’ll have to think about that one for a few minutes. Well, let me go onto another question and we’ll come back to that super coolest grooviest thing ever. I want to talk when we come back about watches because that was kind of an interesting thing. I also want to talk about, sound systems. We haven’t talked about surround sound. We haven’t talked about it from a design point of view. I don’t want to trip over a speaker. All of those things. I think again, the more we talk, the more questions I have. So stay with us. We’ll all be back here on Aging in Place.

Henrik de Gyor:             22:04                Hi, I’m Henrik, the producer of Aging in Place Podcast. If you’d like more information and transcripts of this podcast, visit AginginPlacepodcast.com and now back to Debi Lynes with the next segment of Aging in Place Podcast. For every stage in life.

Debi Lynes:                  22:23                We are talking to Sean Stewart from Custom Audio Video. We’re talking about technology and home automation and demystifying it and learning a lot about it. And again, it’s a great topic because the more you know, the more you realize, you don’t know and the more there is to know. One of the things I [am] really, really, really curious about is you checked your watch. I’d like to know about some of the ancillary pieces that sort of tie in to home automation. You found a great Forbes article on technology and aging and I find a lot of what that’s going to be interesting too.

Sean Stewart:               22:58                There’s so much with technology and we’ve talked a lot about kind of the protective side of things. How do I make sure that my house is secure? How do I make sure that I’m not tripping over things because the lights are off? How do I monitor where my mom is to make sure she’s fine if I’m out of town, but there’s also just using technology to increase the interactivity, the engagement and enjoyability of life.

Debi Lynes:                   23:22                Which makes a lot of sense because I know as we get older there’s a lot of isolation and I see it even with my dad, he spent a lot more time on the television or listening to music as a way to stay socially connected. What about that? I know there were new TVs. I mean, you’re fantastic TVs that look like you’re right where you are. So talk to us a little bit about those.

Sean Stewart:               23:46                Yeah. Well, one of the great things I think in today’s world with technology is video conferencing, right? Whether it’s FaceTiming or Google Duo or, I mean, even Control4 that we talked about has an intercom ability to go from a wall panel in your home to an iPhone somewhere. Yeah. So it’s, there’s tons of options to interact with people.

Debi Lynes:                   24:08                So, let’s take that from an isolation or socialization point of view. I can have grandchildren in California and I can have a grandparent here and that is a great way to not be isolated. Absolutely. That makes so much sense to me.

Sean Stewart:               24:22                Yeah. So there’s all kinds of ways that you can, you can talk to each other, you can see each other. I was talking to somebody the other day whose grandkids just moved a couple of States away. And the thing that they hate the most was they seem to age so much faster when you don’t see them every day. You know?

Debi Lynes:                   24:39                It makes a lot of sense.

Sean Stewart:               24:40                When you can video with them, it kind of takes that away and then it brings that grandparent – grandchild relationship to a new level.

Debi Lynes:                   24:48                Well let’s talk about really important things cause I know all the guys who are listening are like, “yeah, yeah, yeah, this is great. But could you tell me about TVs and what’s hip and cool and some audio surround systems and what about music?” We got to talk about that.

Sean Stewart:               25:00                Yeah, I mean that’s, that’s right in our wheelhouse of what we do with Customer Audio Video. I mean at Audio Video, we love great TVs, we love great sound systems. And I think you probably talked to one of your other guests about creating spaces in your home that are enjoyable to be in. And that’s what we do as well. We want to create great experiences with your spaces.

Debi Lynes:                   25:19                So what does that look like? What would that feel like? How do I even begin to put that together from a design point of view?

Sean Stewart:               25:26                Yeah, so there’s all kinds of ways to do that and it really like, I don’t want to keep repeating myself on it, but this, it really depends on how much… what kind of scope do you want to go with?

Debi Lynes:                   25:36                Exactly. Well, let’s do this. The cost is no object. Let’s have a wishlist.

Sean Stewart:               25:40                Well, I mean my cost is no object, dedicated theater room somewhere in the house. So you know, great big projector with a great screen. Incredible sound system.

Debi Lynes:                   25:51                Well, let me say this and you and I have talked about this before with sound. I found that the older that I get and I have hearing aids, the older I get, the more sound is really important to my quality of life. And actually when we’ve talked before, that’s a huge thing with people now. The sound systems being able to have that kind of quality. And you said the sound capabilities are…wow!

Sean Stewart:               26:14                Yeah. We get a lot of people who go, “you know, don’t worry too much about sound. My hearing’s going out anyways” and I get the logic behind it, but it’s actually the opposite. When your ears start getting a little iffy, better sound helps because better sound…. I was like to say if you take kind of the spectrum of what a speaker can do and if the sound waves that can hit or this versus this small versus large, a bigger, a bigger range.

Debi Lynes:                   26:43                It’s a podcast that we have to say small versus large.

Sean Stewart:               26:47                So a larger range that is, that the speaker can do, the more difference you can hear in sounds. So you’re watching TV. I think a lot of people have to deal with this. You’re watching TV and there’s a lot of stuff going on and somebody talking, I can’t hear what they’re saying. A lot of that is because all those sounds are coming from one speaker that has a small range. So it’s very hard to differentiate where maybe a good surround sound system is going to take some of those background noises of the cars going by and separate them in other speakers. And then the vocals are going to be dedicated to that center channel with a better quality. That’s going to let you differentiate a lot.

Debi Lynes:                   27:26                So let me ask you a question about just soundproofing a room. Are there ways to do that? If I already had the room intact and I’m going to try to… I’ve got the room, I’m just going to I guess renovate it. What do I do about sound? How do I deal with making the sound… Making the room a better place to absorb sound.

Sean Stewart:               27:48                Yeah. So soundproofing is pretty difficult. So you want to start soundproofing as early as possible in the build process because a real soundproof room is going to essentially be disconnected from all the other systems in your home. But once you start realizing that, okay, well how do I sound easier, right? How do I not bother my neighbors? That kind of thing. And there’s a lot of ways to improve the acoustics of a room.

Debi Lynes:                   28:17                That’s what I’m trying to ask.

Sean Stewart:               28:18                We’ve talked a lot in the past about essentially removing the room from the equation. Right? And, and if you’ve got a room that’s drywall or it’s wood paneling or it’s designed for it, it’s got, you know, good acoustic walls, you want to still remove it from the equation when it comes to what kind of sound quality am I getting? And there’s ways to do that. There’s a technology in receivers for instance, that can our guys can run some tests in the room and it essentially detects the room and it removes it from the equation. It’s a little more complicated with that. A lot of computer programming and algorithms.

Debi Lynes:                   28:58                I’m just mesmerized sitting here listening to it. Are there things like canvases can artwork absorb silence? Are there other ways that we can absorb sounds that are a little more just natural?

Sean Stewart:               29:11                Absolutely. We have some pieces on the wall, for instance that look like a great picture. In fact, they are pictures that somebody on our team took when they were on vacation and you can get them printed on this sound absorbing material. So it looks like nothing more than just a beautiful picture on the wall, but it really improves the quality of the room because if you get a room that’s full of drywall, hardwood floors, you know a lot of reflective surfaces sounds going to bounce everywhere, which is not great for the best sound systems. So it absorbs the sound, stops it from going everywhere and really improves the sound quality.

Debi Lynes:                   29:45                One of the things that we’ve talked about in in some of the podcasts and on one episode specifically is the out of doors and how important it can be to health and wellness to be part of nature. Can we take the same technology outdoors now for outdoor living?

Sean Stewart:               30:03                Absolutely.

Debi Lynes:                   30:04                So what does that look like?

Sean Stewart:               30:06                All kinds of ways. Yeah. The most common ones that we see around here are sound systems outside, right? I’ve got a nice space outside. Looking in the Marsh. I’ve got a beautiful wooded backyard and I want to kind of enjoy nature but also love music. I love that ability. Lots of different options for sound systems that you can put out there draped on wall speakers or in ceiling speakers or even some speakers that you put throughout your landscaping that hide. I mean, if you look around it’d be really hard to find them. We like to call it the Disneyland effect, right? When you walk around Disney World, you’re like, I hear music, but I have no idea where it’s coming from.

Debi Lynes:                   30:43                Well, and I, and I’ll tell you, I really appreciate you coming today, Sean. I’ve learned a lot. I think our goal today was sort of an overarching broad spectrum taste of what technology can do for the aging in place home. And what we’d love to do is have you back and sort of get into some of these silos. I love your word, get a little more specific.

Sean Stewart:               31:06                Do you have any more questions? We always say, you know, call, click or come in our showrooms here in Bluffton, South Carolina in Sheridan park. We’re always welcoming people to come in and see and experience what we’ve got. You can check us out customaudiovideo.com or if you could give us a call at 843-815-5130.

Debi Lynes:                   31:26                So thank you so much for joining us here on the Aging in Place Podcast. Thank you all for joining us. Also stay tuned for the next episode.

Erin Lentz:            31:33                For podcasts, links, information and media inquiries. Please visit our website at aginginplacepodcast.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as our host Debbie Lynes and her expert guests discuss relevant topics for creating a home for all decades in life. Don’t miss our weekly podcast on aging in place for every stage in life. Transition through life where you are with the comfort and ease you deserve. Discover how you can start creating a home that will adapt to you as you journey through life and the changes it will bring.

Debi Lynes:                   32:07                I’d like to introduce you to a friend of mine, Tracy. Tracy is naturally curious and always creative and when we were doing the Aging in Place Podcast, she said there are so many quick tips that I can think of offhand. My response, “who knew”. She’s going to be with us every week, giving us a quick tip and to hint that is a practical application.

Tracy Snelling:              32:35                Thanks Debbie. Light it up like a Vegas strip stub, bruised knees, countertop, hit to the hip. I’ll usually happen in the night. You know those water pills are keeping the blood pressure down or the little one needs that last sip of water all seem to happen after 8:00 PM or when the sun goes down for safety nightlights are a must. There are ones that are motion-activated, ones that simply come on when it’s dark and some that just stay on 24 hours a day. Whichever ones you choose, you will be glad you did. Light your path. Buy four or five or more. Walk the direction you need to take installing them and every outlet, if it will prevent you from a fall or even an ouchie, even your little ones may just get that last drink by himself if he wasn’t afraid of the dark, so light it up like Vegas. Your toes will thank you and that’s your “who knew”.

Debi Lynes:                   33:28                Sean Stewart, you’re a wonderful guest and I tell you what, I learned so much about custom audio, video and all the opportunities that are available. As always, it’s fun to have our takeaway. What did we learn from this segment? I can be very clear. Here’s what we learned: Don’t be intimidated by technology. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. What we learned today is the point of all of this technology is to make your life easier and simplify it, not to make it more difficult, so don’t hesitate to call when it comes to technology. Thank you all for joining us here on Aging in Place Podcast. Have a wonderful week.

Henrik de Gyor:             34:17                Aging in Place Podcast is hosted by Debi Lynes, marketing by Erin Lentz and produced by Henrik de Gyor. If you have any comments or questions, send an email to debi@aginginplacepodcast.com. We would love to hear from you. If you’re interested in advertising or sponsoring this podcast, email us at PR@aginginplacepodcast.com. Thank you for listening to Aging in Place Podcast.

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1. Geoff Roehll

~ Henrik de Gyor ~ Leave a comment

Dr. Debi Lynes interviews Geoff Roehll about designing the outdoors for any stage in life

(duration: 35 minutes 31 seconds)

Geoff Roehll

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Takeaways

By nature, anything in the out of doors is therapeutic and is a conduit to health and wellness.

What biophilia means simply is bringing the outside inside.

Transcript

Debi Lynes:                   00:03                Hi and welcome to aging in place for every stage in life. What if you could visit or have a home that would accommodate anyone at any age, any physical ability at any time? How cool would that be? That’s what we’re doing here at aging in place. Why me? Because I’m a doctor of psychology and I specialize in physical spaces and health and wellness. Also, I love designing with intent at any age. Why now? Because we the baby boomers want to age in place gracefully and we want our families around us as much as we can and why you the audience? Because we want you to experience what it’s like to have a home that’s safe, aesthetically pleasing and that you can live in at any age with any ability at any time. I’d like to introduce you now to aging in place podcast for every stage in life.

Debi Lynes:                   01:05                We are here today on this episode of aging in place at any stage in life with Geoff Roehll from Hitchcock Designs. Geoff, I really appreciate you joining us today. One of the things I feel really strongly about is bringing the out of doors inside and the out of doors as a source of health and wellness. What I would love to do, Geoff, is talk a little bit to you about what you do about the importance of landscape design and landscape architecture really in the whole scheme of living. And then we’ll kind of get to more specifics.

Geoff Roehll:                01:41                Sure. As a landscape architect for the past 30 years, I’ve kind of focused my career on exactly that type of environment where the outdoor environment can provide an opportunity for folks and the markets that I serve are primarily in the senior living arena. So we’re trying to make better places to live and also in the hospital environments where we’re trying to create a place where not only family and staff, but patients can have potentially a better outcome.

Debi Lynes:                   02:13                Why is the outdoors so important?

Geoff Roehll:                02:16                You know, it’s interesting, I think intuitively all the way back to Zen gardens and the way that, the Japanese have treated the outdoor environment is, a source of relaxation. Inherently, they felt that they felt better outside. And I think people do that when they walked outside or they walked into a greenhouse, they took a breath of fresh air and they just inherently felt better. There’s a concept called biophilia design or the biophilia hypothesis, which basically says that humans are innately attracted to the natural environment. So they like being surrounded by natural light. They liked being surrounded by winds and other calming elements. They liked being surrounded in nature and flowers and the color and the wildlife. They’re inherently attracted to that. It wasn’t until more recently back in 1985 that there was research done to see if we can prove this hypothesis, that being exposed to the natural environment can be positive.

Geoff Roehll:                03:19                And so one of the things that was done at Texas A&M was the primary research to this, where they monitored and measured people’s recovery rates, when they’re exposed to the natural environment and when they’re not. And they found evidence that the ones that recovered, with a natural view of a natural environment, use less pain medication and they have less post recovery surgery time. So, and this wasn’t designers doing the research, these are researchers doing the research. I’m not a researcher. What we do is we apply the research to the landscape. Since then, several other studies have been conducted and one specifically that was done for senior living communities and it was done at an Alzheimer’s wing and they monitored, about 25 residents over a five year period of time that we’re all suffering from dementia. One of the things that they recorded was the type of medications that they were using, their behaviors, what kind of aggressive behaviors they had, what their blood pressure was, what their indications were, and then how they felt.

Geoff Roehll:                04:31                They monitored those behaviors and medications. One of the things they measured was their weight and weight loss is a key indicator of failing health with dementia. And so, they monitored that over five years and then they restricted and, restricted access to the outdoor environment for certain ones. So some only had as little as five minutes in the garden and others had up to a half hour in the garden. And what they discovered over that five year period when they looked at the behaviors and the physiological attributes, the ones that had a longer period of time in the garden had marked improvement over the ones that didn’t. And so it was the first time that there was really credible evidence that exposure to the natural environment could have a positive influence on whether it’s a residence wellbeing or whether it’s a patient’s outcome.

Debi Lynes:                   05:24                So let me ask you this. We’ve kind of generalized that. How do I bring it back to the home environment?

Geoff Roehll:                05:30                It’s one of the things that we promote all the time. We take the same philosophies that we have for a healing garden, whether it be in a senior living environment or a hospital, why not apply that to a college campus and create a respite garden? Where is there more stress? In colleges. You know, why not an office buildings? You know, you used to think about the old atrium gardens that were in older buildings. Why not create a space designated for the users of that office building, that it is a respite and it is a retreat. One of the other elements that we’ve been applying it to in hospitals and senior living environments is for the caretakers. Why not have a garden setting for a caretaker and because talk about stress, it’s the number one element within senior living environments is keeping and retaining key staff people.

Geoff Roehll:                06:30                If you can create an environment that gives them an opportunity where they can get a respite and get away from the stress, that stressful environment that makes their quality of life better as an employee; then we’re doing good as well. We recently completed at a local high school an honor garden that has all of the same elements that we talk about within a healing garden, but within a high school setting. And so now at lunch breaks and in good weather, you’re utilizing that space for socialization for some outdoor classes, art displays. So It is that tie of creating an outdoor environment where you’re attracting people from an institution into an outdoor environment.

Debi Lynes:                   07:12                I think it’s really interesting when we start talking about doing things like honor gardens, what did that actually look like physically?

Geoff Roehll:                07:19                Well, it was a space. They had a courtyard. The interesting part of the reason it’s called an honor garden is they had the unfortunate circumstance where they had several students who, while they were students, pass away, whether it be through illness or car wrecks, and some of the parents and families and friends of the students who passed away wanted to create a Memorial on the campus of the high school for those students. And it got to be a little, consuming about where these were going. Does a popular student get a bigger one and a less popular student get not so big of one. So they wanted to bring some kind of political correctness to how they represent, who gets memorialized and not. And so they created, instead a Memorial garden. We were the ones who said, why don’t we honor the life of the student as opposed to memorializing the death.

Geoff Roehll:                08:14                And so we wanted to create an honor and to honor the life of the student who passed. We chose a courtyard space that was defined by the building itself. It happened to be adjacent to the cafeteria. And so it was convenient that the space is probably less than an acre, probably about a quarter of an acre in size. It has a variety of seating areas in it, because one of the elements within the landscape that we like is to provide choices on a day. Like today in Chicago, you wouldn’t want to sit outside, but if it was 70 degrees, you would want to be sitting in the sun. But if it was 90 degrees, you would want to find a shady spot.

Debi Lynes:                   08:55                You want for any kind of outside living for there to be choices.

Geoff Roehll:                09:00                Absolutely. Choices are important, whether it’s the physical environment, how the temperature feels, and also socially in some of our healthcare settings we want a doctor and a patient to go outside and they might be in a more private conversation. They want a section within the garden that they can have that private conversation. We also in our senior living environments like to incorporate areas for socialization. So we’ll have areas within that garden that enable and has the flexibility for those chairs and tables and furnishings to offer more of a social representation.

Debi Lynes:                   09:41                One of the things we talk about all the time about aging in place is that it really isn’t about getting older. It’s about anyone, at any time, at any stage in life, with any physical ability. I tell you what I think we’d like to do is we’re going to take a quick break. We’ve really given a wonderful overview of what landscape architecture is and what you specifically do and why you’re really qualified and a great candidate to talk to us today about aging in place on the podcast. When we come back. I’d love to talk a little bit about if I live in an apartment, if I live with my grandchildren, if I only have a deck, if I don’t have anything but the inside of a window sill, what are some things that I can do to age in place gracefully? Stay with us. We’ll be right back. Again, we’re with Geoff Roehll, Landscape Architect.

Debi Lynes:                   10:33                Hi, I’m Dr. Debi Lynes. Design elements are psychologically and physically supportive and conducive to health and wellness. To learn more about what Lynes on Design can do for you, for more information, on certified aging in place and facilitative and supportive design. Look for us at lynesondesign.com. That’s L Y N E S on design dot com.

Debi Lynes:                   10:58                We are back here on aging in place. We are talking with Geoff Roehll who is a landscape architect and that brings us to some questions. We had been talking really more broad-spectrum about some of the things that you do with healing spaces with senior living facilities and hospitals and really how to generalize that to a population. Whether I have a one-year-old or a 91-year-old, how we pull all of this together. One of the things I really want to talk about is elements of landscaping that can really entice someone and why biophilia is so important. Why landscaping is so important, why bring in the outside in is so important.

Geoff Roehll:                11:41                Yeah, that’s a great question Debi. And I think the idea of engaging the senses is what this is all about. Whenever we create these environments, whether they’re for young kids or for people engaging the senses is what really matters.

Debi Lynes:                   11:57                Let me ask you what that really means. Talk to me about what that specifically means and why engaging the senses is so important.

Geoff Roehll:                12:04                Yeah. I’m not sure if we’ve fully understand why it’s important, although we know that the outcomes of people who are engaged with those senses feel better. I’m not sure if anybody really has done the research as to why or what physiological things occur in the brain that makes someone feel better. We know that one of the elements that we like to engage is when somebody goes outdoors, there’s a change in temperature. So there’s a sensory thing that is either positive or negative. It can be really humid and hot out or it could be a little bit more comfortable out, but when somebody might fit that fresh breeze that they were hot inside and they hit that fresh breeze and it did two things, made them feel better physically, but, it was also very calming and soothing. We look at all of the senses. And another one that I just mentioned with the wind is sound.

Geoff Roehll:                13:02                What does that wind and what plants does it hit? It creates that rustling noise that is calming or is it the waves in the background? We all sat on the beach. Why do you feel good when you go to the beach? There’s all these senses that are engaged that are positive. We’re creating these positive distractions. Other senses that we look at are color, sight and whether it’s something that is visually stimulating. When we look at our plant palette we are looking at plants that are complementary to one another. Some might have very coarse textures and some have very fine textures. Sometimes we’ll put a green backdrop with something very vibrant in the foreground to create that sensory contrast combined, with the things that you hear, and the things that you can feel. Then also the things that you can smell.

Geoff Roehll:                14:02                Smell is another sense that we like to entice in the environment that some people find very, very refreshing and some people in certain health conditions can find kind of nauseating. I think smell is an important sense that, gets overlooked sometimes in the garden setting and in particular an area that we pay close attention to the smells are in our cancer gardens. Cancer gardens are designed specifically with the cancer patient front and center because that’s who the ultimate person that we’re designing that space for. You could also design it for staff and families, but when you’re dealing specifically with the cancer patient, because of the type of treatments that they’re going in, they become very photosensitive. So sunlight is a real issue where glare can be very painful. So creating an environment that has the choice of finding deep shade really matters.

Geoff Roehll:                15:03                A lot of times, you’ll see the cancer patients who are going through chemotherapy go in these gardens settings with the dark, heavy sunglasses on. It’s because the glare can be very painful for them. Similarly, the smell. The smell of a fresh lilac in the springtime to you and I in a very healthy condition, maybe is very, very appealing, but somebody going through chemotherapy, it can make them nauseous. And so we have to balance that when we’re thinking about design within a garden setting, what elements are going to make someone feel comfortable? And if you’re healthy, it’s different than if you’re healing. Understanding what those elements are that we’re including in the garden. Plants that don’t have quite as much odor to them as others. There’s specific pallets that we can choose from that those plants are a difference that still offer the color and the other sensory components.

Debi Lynes:                   15:58                So we’ve talked about temperature. We’ve talked about wind. We’re talking about all the different senses. Talk to me about natural light, different kinds of light. What about a nature experience or an outdoor experience in the evening as well as in the day?

Geoff Roehll:                16:16                Yeah, I think that’s an important component. You know, especially in Chicago, where I live, where it gets dark and about four o’clock in the afternoon, we just did a cancer garden where the infusion rooms overlook the natural environment and they wanted to do something to make it more attractive at nighttime because some of those patients are coming after work. They’re not getting there until 3:00, 3:30 or 4:00 o’clock. It’s starting to turn dark and the garden is in the dark. So what elements of the landscape that we can add that are sensory, that can be viewed from the indoors out. And that’s where lighting has really become popular. The use of LED lighting technologies that have changing colors. We can introduce those elements within the landscape. And let’s say you have an evergreen backdrop, we can incorporate colored light as part of the sensory experience from somebody in an infusion room is going to get the same benefits that you and I might get in our backyard. Or you know, a children’s environment where you’re trying to create a very playful setting you can do with somebody in an infusion room.

Debi Lynes:                   17:30                It’s really interesting to me. One of the things I’m thinking about as we’re talking is how to take some of these things and again, integrate them into just the home environment. And when we’re talking about behavioral health centers, we’re talking about hospitals, we’re talking about, you know, five-year-olds, 30 year olds, 80 year olds. It seems like nature and the natural environment is a great way to connect people. And I often times think, and I think you and I have talked about this before, I love to… I don’t have a lot of time or a lot of space, but I love raising my herbs. I love how they smell. I love how they taste. I love what I can do with them. Do you find that there is a connection between the outdoors, how people relate, how you can sort of bring people together just organically?

Geoff Roehll:                18:16                Well, I think the use of plants is a great therapeutic element. Matter of fact, there’s an entire profession called horticulture therapy where these therapists utilize plants to help heal. At Rogers Memorial hospital, they have a courtyard within an adolescent wing where they’re treating young kids with mental disorders, behavioral disorders, and they’re working with these patients for anywhere from 30 to 90 days. And they use horticulture therapy as one of their treatment protocols in an outdoor setting. So they developed a garden that has a greenhouse component to it and they’re working with kids with plants so they can sew the seeds, they see the certain seed germinate now they have to take care of the plant. So every day they have to go down and water it. So they have a responsibility. They have to then watch it grow and understand the different cycles. It’s going to bloom and then it’s maybe producing fruit. Some of them are producing herbs that they make other elements out of, but it’s an amazing transformation of having a garden setting to do those therapies in. They get much greater benefit and impact when they’re conducting the therapies in that garden setting than when they don’t.

Debi Lynes:                   19:37                Yeah. Well, let’s think about this. Let’s think about young children and let’s think about older adults and those in between. I think that the idea of being able to plant a seed, watch it grow, look at the life cycle of it. Talk about giving you a sense of purpose and being needed in a time where it may be tough to find purpose.

Geoff Roehll:                20:00                Absolutely. And then doing that in an outdoor setting where you’re not in an institution where people are telling you what to do, you’re in a natural environment where you’re surrounded by birds chirping and the wind blowing into the evergreen tree and the smell of the evergreen tree. You’re engaging the senses differently. If you’re in your therapist’s office and it smells funny and the door’s locked and you’re confined by four walls, your behaviors are different than if you’re outdoors and you hear a bird chirp, or if there’s a water feature gurgling in the background that makes you calm down. And it’s that calming environment that I think that they’re getting effective treatment from.

Debi Lynes:                   20:44                Geoff one of the things I would love to do, we’re to take a quick break, is come back and share a beautiful story that you shared with me about a woman who was moving from her home to an apartment and how you and your group creatively brought the outside in for her and made the transition much easier. Stay with us. We’ll be back on the aging in place podcast.

Henrik de Gyor:             21:08                Hi, I’m Henrik, the producer of aging in place podcast. If you’d like more information and transcripts of this podcast, visit aginginplacepodcast.com . And now back to Debi Lynes with the next segment of aging in place podcast for every stage in life.

Debi Lynes:                   21:27                We are back here on the aging in place podcast. We’re here with Geoff Roehll and we’ve been talking about biophilia. We’ve been talking about landscaping. We’ve been talking about using our senses. We’ve been talking about interconnectedness. We’ve been talking about how bringing the outside in can create a feeling of health and wellness. Now I’d like to talk about a story that you told me that just resonated with all of us here in the room. We’d like to share with the audience about a woman that was moving to an apartment from a home she’d lived in all of her life.

Geoff Roehll:                22:01                Right. This was a wonderful opportunity where a lady who was aging in place in her home, her spouse had passed away recently. Her family had moved away and so her kids no longer lived in the area. It was getting unsafe for her and so she needed to find a safer living environment. She chose a facility, that was much like an apartment. It was independent living within a retirement community. However, she was a naturalist. She loved the outdoor environment and she loved her backyard and she had multiple fruit trees in our backyard along with some other terrific vegetation. Well, the sales representatives who sold her the apartment, said that they would love to move her into the new apartment, but they also wanted to see if we could take a look at her fruit trees to see if we could move them as well. Quite honestly, she was worried about what would happen to her fruit trees.

Debi Lynes:                   23:01                Oh, I love that. I get that.

Geoff Roehll:                23:04                And so we took the extra step and went to her house. She was in the process of transitioning to the apartment, so she was getting ready to move out and we looked at the plants that she had in her backyard and we agreed that several of the fruit trees could be very easily relocated. And so we decided to move about a half a dozen of these fruit trees. But we asked the sales person where the room was. Fortunately, she had a room on the first floor and we were able to go into her room and look out her window while we have the contractor placed the fruit trees and we put them in an area that when she moved into her room there were her fruit trees, you know, right there that she could continue to nurture and take forward. And that made her transition to this next level of her life, so much easier to accept. She knew that her fruit trees were going to be well taken care of because she could do that.

Debi Lynes:                   24:00                Well, talk to me if you will, about people of different disabilities or abilities, if I can use it that way. You know, I’ve oftentimes wondered if you’re in a wheelchair or if I’m not quite as mobile as I was. The thought of bending over to do gardening, even if it’s just a tiny plot is really challenging. Are there sort of tips or rules or techniques that we can use that really make a planting and having a garden more accessible or easier?

Geoff Roehll:                24:32                That’s a great comment because most gardening is done on the ground and it’s difficult for older adults or some people with different levels of ability to reach. And so raising the plants, so they’re the elevation where they need to be is desirable. You can do that in many ways. We’ve designed numerous raised benches that allow for someone in a wheelchair to access the plants, like a kitchen table, but you’ve got to have a location for their feet to go. And that can be expensive. It could be an expensive detail. But what we found really effective that could be done at home, or it could be done in an institution, is the use of round circular planters, freestanding planters, similar to the clay pots. And so by using these clay pots, they might be 24 inches tall and they might be 30 inches tall and they might be 36 inches tall. But the fact that they’re round means that they can be accessed by somebody, a wheelchair, and all sides of it. So you can maintain the vegetables or you can maintain the herbs or you can maintain the flowers. We do cutting gardens in these raised beds, they’re easy for staff to maintain, but more importantly is it gives the residents the right elevation to work with these plants.

Debi Lynes:                   25:49                I never even thought about that. What about square planters? Are there advantages or disadvantages to those? You said that you really like round. Why is that?

Geoff Roehll:                25:59                I like round. I think square is fine as long as it’s outside corners. I mentioned before the idea of having a planter that has an inside corner, which means you have an intersection of two walls and if you’re in a wheelchair you can imagine to try to get to the corner of that inside corner. You can’t because your feet are in the way. We tried to design those planters, if they’re a rectangular planter, that’s fine. If it’s a rectangular planter that is T-shaped, you can see how all of a sudden you have two inside corners that really aren’t accessible. So we would put 45 degree angles in those corners so that somebody in a wheelchair has the ability get all the way around that planter. The height of the planter, we like the idea of that it can vary. We had one designed by one of our guys who was six foot two and notice that everybody working on it was less than five feet tall.

Geoff Roehll:                26:58                And so their ergonomics matter when you’re trying to design these environments, especially with the older adults or with kids. You know with kids, you’ve got a very similar challenge. You know, you got to make the planters a little bit lower. That’s why we like those freestanding planters. They’re inexpensive. You can get them in the right height. Even done, instead of a horizontal garden, we’ve done a vertical garden where we take a planted area, we put a grid across the front that’s very similar to a channeling fence. Plastic up against that and then it’s back filled with top soil and it gives somebody with different levels of ability and different height challenges, the ability to plant within a vertical surface and then watch it grow.

Debi Lynes:                   27:46                Are there times where it’s not just about the plant, but it’s also about the wildlife that surrounds the plant that’s important?

Geoff Roehll:                27:55                Yeah. I think when we say natural environment, people think automatically of plants, but I think it’s a variety of things, the flora and the fauna. We introduce plants that attract butterflies, for example. It’s a great element. It adds to that positive distraction that we talked about earlier of creating those elements of landscape. It just so happens that the plants that are providing that visual sensory experience are also attracted to butterflies. So butterflies bring in butterflies into a garden are desirable. Bringing birds into a garden setting. So providing fruit trees that, you know, like a service berry where the robins might want to come in and nibble on the service berries is something that we see is a desirable element within these garden settings.

Debi Lynes:                   28:45                It makes so much sense to me. If I were to ask you basically, what are a couple of things that you would recommend to anyone who’s starting out creating a natural environment? Are there ways to begin? Are there places to… where do I start I guess is what I’m asking you?

Geoff Roehll:                29:04                Yeah. I think one of the things I mentioned earlier is that the idea of, the orientation of your home starting way back from the apartment that you’re going to be renting. Is that the South face or is it the West face? Is the balcony facing the right view? All of those elements. So when you purchase your home or you’re moving into that apartment, be conscious of thinking about the orientation. If there’s a choice between a unit on the East side and the West side, think about what it’s going to be like on your patio in the hot afternoon sun or where the winter breeze is going to be coming from or that summer breeze. Do the windows move? In other words, do you have fixed windows or do you have the ability to open your window to get natural ventilation? Are there skylights?

Geoff Roehll:                29:53                I think another element within that that people respond well to is when there’s a room with a skylight. So I think even stepping back further is the actual environment that you’re moving into and then also being conscious of what the views are from when you’re in the room. Let’s say that you’re not as mobile as you were in the past or there might be stairs going out to the environment, the view of what you’re looking at from indoors to out matters. And so when, if you buy a new fruit tree, do what we did and go inside and look at the view and then think about where the placement of that plant is going to be, whether it’s a fruit tree or a lilac or some sort of flower garden to get the best value out of its location.

Debi Lynes:                   30:38                Let me ask you this, we’re almost out of time and I would be remiss in not asking you, is there somewhere or a resource or some places that we could go if we’re interested, both in biophilia, in landscaping, in creating a beautiful environment out of doors as we age?

Geoff Roehll:                30:58                Yeah, there’s a terrific resource that I utilize a lot. It’s called the therapeutic landscapes network. And just Google therapeutic landscapes network and you’ll find their a website and it’s chockfull of wonderful information, whether it’s books that have been written on biophilia, books written on research, the actual research papers that have been published it includes a list of, in your area who are landscape architects, who design therapeutic environments. It includes a lot of the research that we discussed today. It’s a great place that people can go to. A lot of the information with links that take you so you can at least try to find the path of information that you’re looking for. It’s a great place to start.

Debi Lynes:                   31:43                One of my takeaways today is by nature, anything in the out of doors is therapeutic and is a conduit to health and wellness. I really appreciate you joining us today. We appreciate everyone for joining us today here on aging in place podcast. Goeff Roehll, Thank you so much.

Geoff Roehll:                32:01                My name is Goeff Roehll, and I’m a landscape architect with Hitchcock Design Group. You can reach me at GROEHLL@hitchcockdesigngroup.com. Thank you, everybody.

Erin Lentz:                    32:14                For podcasts, links, information and media inquiries. Please visit our website at aginginplacepodcasts.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as our host Debi Lynes and her expert guests discuss relevant topics for creating a home for all decades in life. Don’t miss our weekly podcast on aging in place for every stage in life. Transition through life where you are with the comfort and ease deserve. Discover how you can start creating a home that will adapt to you as you journey through life and the changes it will bring.

Debi Lynes:                   32:46                I’d like to introduce you to a friend of mine, Tracy. Tracy is naturally curious and always creative and when we were doing the aging in place podcast, she said there are so many quick tips that I can think of offhand. My response, “who knew”. She’s going to be with us every week, giving us a quick tip and a hint that is a practical application.

Tracy Snelling:              33:15                Thanks, Debi! Cut the rug out. Area rugs, throw rugs, kitchen rugs are all dangerous when it comes to aging in place. From a toddler learning to walk to your seniors having walkers or canes. Rugs can be hazardous as pretty as they look, safety needs to come first. Tripping and falling can be a grueling ordeal for any age and falling can lead the hospitals, rehabs, and even more health issues. If you feel you cannot do without that floral design on your floor, please make sure you take precautions. First, look for a rug with no fringe or any thickness on the edge. Secondly, on the market are several products. Rug tape, when applied properly, will do the trick. Make sure you play it all the way around your rug to adhere all the edges to the floor, not just the middle. Tripping on the rug happens at the edge. Remember that, and that’s your “Who Knew!”

Debi Lynes:                   34:18                Goeff Roehll was with us this week and he’s a landscape architect. Here’s my takeaway. The word biophilia. What biophilia means simply is bringing the outside inside and what does that look like? It can look like raising an herb smelling the herb eating them. You’re bringing the outside inside. It can mean deck gardening. It can mean doing vertical gardening. It can mean having a painting of a scene. All of these things promote health and wellness and are so important as we age in place at any stage in life.

Henrik de Gyor:             35:01                Aging in Place Podcast is hosted by Debi Lynes, marketing by Erin Lentz and produced by Henrik de Gyor. If you have any comments or questions, send an email to debi@aginginplacepodcast.com we would love to hear from you.

If you’re interested in advertising or sponsoring this podcast, email us at pr@aginginplacepodcast.com.

Thank you for listening to Aging in Place.

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