The Frandsen Residence

Caregiving at Home Surrounded by Family

Soon after David Fransden's work-related spinal cord injury, Accessibility Design was contacted by the hospital social worker to join the discharge team on David's case. There are many phases and steps in a worker's compensation case, and Accessibility Design guided the team and family through the entire project while working under budget constraints, hospital discharge timelines, Minnesota winter weather limitations, and a distance of 200 miles. The family's goals included David returning to and remaining in their existing home and providing the majority of his extensive care giving needs themselves.

Working from a Distance - Providing Project Confidence
After assessing David's care giving needs and the family's ability to provide for these needs, Accessibility Design, along with the discharge team, determined remodeling the home would be the right solution. Remodeling the existing home accomplished two important goals. It made it possible for the family to do the majority of care giving, and allowed David to remain at home in an environment that met his needs.

Features of the home remodel include:

• Two additions: a master bedroom/bathroom suite and a "bump-out" off the living room for a therapy area
• A platform lift in the garage allows the garage to be utilized as a protected entrance into the home and maintained existing stall space
• Ceiling mounted track lift system within the home connects the master bedroom to the bathroom with access to the toilet, vanity, roll-in shower, and tub
• Point of use storage
• Reconfiguration of furniture and traffic patterns in the open floor plan that ensures all members of the family are involved in daily family activities
• Three accessible entrances/egress routes

David's employer (which is self-insured) hired Accessibility Design to assist with the project and worker's compensation claim/process. This included design, decision-making, product selection, report and claim submission, contractor selection, and general project management. Throughout the entire process, Accessibility Design assisted both David's employer and his family to move confidently through this difficult stage in the Frandsens' lives.

We can never express our thanks to you for all the effort and time you put into our project. You are very good at what you do and always very enthusiastic about it. It never seemed like it was just a job, we felt you truly cared about the people you were doing it for. We love the way it turned out. Thank you so very, very much.

- Donna Fransden

Minnesota Worker's Compensation: Information and Specialized Services

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