Home Safety Assessments in St. Louis
After over ten years of practicing as an adult rehab occupational therapist and writing about occupational therapy here at My OT Spot, I’m excited to share something new: I’m now offering professional home safety assessments for adults and children in the St. Louis area through my new practice, Casara Home Safety.
If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you know patient safety and fall prevention is the topic I’m passionate about and return to again and again. Falls remain the leading cause of injury-related death for adults over 65, and the majority of these falls happen at home.
What you may not know is that most of those falls are preventable, and the evidence shows that occupational therapist-led home assessments are one of the most effective interventions we have.
If you are new to My OT Spot, you can read more about me and my background here.
Why I started Casara Home Safety
As an OT specializing in older adults, I’ve walked into many homes over my decade-long career. I can usually spot a future fall within the first five minutes: the throw rug at the bottom of the stairs, the bathroom with nothing to hold onto, the dim hallway between the bedroom and toilet that gets navigated half-asleep at 2 a.m.
Families usually call someone like me after the fall, after the ER visit, after the broken hip, after the rehab stay, when everyone is scrambling and scared. I started Casara Home Safety because I want to meet families before that day. A proactive home safety assessment in St. Louis costs a few hundred dollars. A fall-related hospitalization averages more than $35,000, and that’s before you count the loss of independence that so often follows!
Sarah Stromsdorfer, founder of Casara Home Safety
What a home safety assessment actually involves
This isn’t a walkthrough with a clipboard and a generic checklist. During a Casara home safety assessment, I will spend about 60-90 minutes in the home evaluating 9 areas:
- Entryways
- Exterior Access
- Bathrooms
- Kitchen
- Bedrooms
- Stairways
- Lighting
- Flooring
- Emergency Preparedness
Because I’m evaluating the home as a CAPS-certified Occupational Therapist, I’m not just looking at the house: I’m looking at how this specific person moves through it.
I look at how your mom actually gets out of her favorite chair. Where your dad steadies himself in the bathroom. Whether the grab bar should go where the contractor would put it, or where your hand actually reaches.
Within 48 hours, you and your family will receive a detailed written report with a room-by-room safety score and a prioritized list of affordable recommendations, starting with the changes that matter most.
Some recommendations will cost nothing (removing or taping down the rug). Others are simple upgrades (motion-sensor night lights, a raised toilet seat). Some involve modifications like grab bars, handrails, or a ramp to get into the house. My goal is to give you affordable home modifications recommendations that typically won’t cost you thousands of dollars in renovations.
The missing piece: someone trustworthy to do the work
Here’s the frustration I’ve heard from families for years: they get a list of recommendations, and then…nothing happens. Finding someone who understands accessibility work, shows up, and doesn’t treat a grab bar installation as too small a job is genuinely hard. Worse, safety equipment installed incorrectly – a grab bar anchored into drywall instead of blocking, a ramp at the wrong slope – can be more dangerous than nothing at all.
That’s why I’m proud to partner with Tyler Breitenstein of TB Home Services. Tyler is a a CAPS-certified handyman serving the greater St. Louis area. CAPS – Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist – is a designation from the National Association of Home Builders that means a contractor has been specifically trained in home modifications for older adults. (I hold the CAPS certification myself, alongside my Missouri OT license, so I know exactly what this training covers and exclusively choose those with the CAPS designation to partner with.)
Tyler Breitenstein of TB Home Services
When your home safety assessment is complete, you’re not left holding a to-do list. Tyler at TB Home Services can complete the recommended modifications properly installed, correctly placed, done right the first time. My goal is assessment to action in one seamless process.
After the home modifications are complete, I offer a complementary return visit to the home to make sure you or your family member feels confident and comfortable with the completed modifications.
Who should consider a home assessment?
In my experience, the right time is earlier than most families think. Consider booking one if you want to age in place (at any age), you have a parent or loved one in the St. Louis area that is over 70 and living independently, has had a fall or a “near miss” in the past year, is coming home after surgery or a hospital stay, has a new diagnosis affecting balance, vision, or mobility – or if you’ve simply noticed them holding the wall on the way down the hallway.
And if you’re an adult child living far away, worrying from a distance: this is exactly the situation an assessment is built for. You’ll get an objective, professional picture of how safe the home really is, and a concrete plan instead of a vague worry.
Serving the St. Louis metro area
Casara Home Safety provides in-home safety assessments throughout the St. Louis region, including St. Louis City, Webster Groves, Maplewood, Richmond Heights, Brentwood, Clayton, Ladue, Kirkwood, Chesterfield, Ballwin, Sunset Hills, South County, and surrounding communities in St. Louis City and County.
How to book a home safety assessment in St. Louis
You can schedule a free discovery call here to see if a home safety assessment is right for you and/or ask me any questions/book directly at sarah@myotspot.com.
My home safety assessment fee is $250, which includes an initial home safety assessment with follow-up report and recommendations, and a complementary follow-up visit to the home after the modifications are complete.
If you’re a fellow healthcare professional based in St. Louis (a case manager, occupational therapist or physical therapist, home health clinician, physician, etc.) looking to help your patients/clients age in place, I’d love to connect about how we can best support your patients’ safe transitions home.
I look forward to helping St. Louis families age in place in the best way possible for them – one home at a time.
