Care control center opens model apartment for barrier-free living
Housing advice
The Hofer Land Care Control Center was founded jointly by the city and district of Hof in autumn 2022 with the aim of providing citizens with assistance on all aspects of care.
One area of this is housing advice (over 200 consultations in the first year alone), which focuses on enabling people to live independently at home for as long as possible. The housing advisors provide individual advice on how to make your own living space suitable for the elderly or disabled.
To make this advice even clearer in future, a show apartment has been created in recent months and has now been officially opened. The model apartment is located just a few meters from the Hofer Land Care Control Centre at Ernst-Reuter-Str. 70 in Hof. It was rented by the control center and was designed and furnished according to various criteria to be barrier-free and low-barrier.
Opening hours
The show apartment at Ernst-Reuter-Str. 70 in Hof is now open every Thursday from 9:00 to 17:00. In addition, viewing and consultation appointments can be arranged with the housing consultants Tina Bauer and Dorothea Giannaros by telephone on 09281/546994907 or 09281/546994917 or by email at wohnberatung(at)leitstelle-pflege.de.
Assistance on 105 m²
"Over a quarter of our people in the city and district of Hof are aged 65 and over and this number will continue to rise. We see that people like to live at home, but that the living space is often not barrier-free. It is therefore important for us to provide information on how to create barrier-free living space. It is particularly important to be able to present the various options, to be able to touch them and see them on site. That's why we created this show apartment," says District Administrator Dr. Oliver Bär.
The aim is to show those affected and interested a wide range of options to ensure self-determined living into old age. "We have installed a barrier-free bathroom in the show apartment, we have created options in the kitchen to overcome limitations and cope with everyday life alone. We have also installed digital support systems in the apartment and purchased a special standing bed, for example, which shows how care can be provided at home," explains Alexandra Puchta, Head of the Hofer Land Care Control Center.
The model apartment shows the whole range of support options, both for citizens with disabilities and for young families who are about to build a house or renovate an apartment.
"We don't just want to present construction measures that cost a lot of money, but also show many small helpers and aids that can help to simplify and improve life. All with the aim of enabling people to live a long, happy life within their own four walls," continued District Administrator Dr. Bär. The 105 m² show apartment thus offers a tangible environment for citizens to gain a practical impression of the various accessibility options.
"The show apartment is a permanent exhibition that everyone can and must see. There is so much great information and aids here that everyone should know about. Because you can get ideas and help here and that's the most important thing of all," says the 2nd Mayor of Hof, Angela Bier.
Hof University of Applied Sciences on board
The model apartment project was scientifically supported by the Faculty of Interdisciplinary and Innovative Sciences at Hof University of Applied Sciences, Kronach Campus.
Ten students worked on the development of products and barrier-free design options as part of their semester project. On the one hand, they used existing aids and installed or arranged them sensibly in the apartment, but on the other hand they also developed their own little helpers and digital support options to make everyday life within their own four walls easier.