Are your elderly relatives safe in their homes?

Do you have elderly relatives and how safe are they in their homes?

Well, let's find out. Hello, I'm Jason Ratcliffe, the home health

expert, and this is the latest episode of heal your

home. Heal your home is a podcast designed to help you and your

family feel safer within your home environment and make sure that you

have better energy efficiency, lower running costs for your home, and

most importantly, your home is right and safe for you and your

family. Coming up in this episode, we're talking about the

elderly and vulnerable. Are they at risk in their own homes? And if so,

we're going to figure out how. I have an interview with industry

expert doctor Ronke Komaloff about the physical and mental

impacts of your living conditions. I'll also be sharing another

tenant top tip and answering a listener email. But first,

heal your home with Jason Ratcliffe, the home health

expert. If you're lucky enough to still have your elderly relatives

around, or you have someone in your friends and family, family that may be

vulnerable, such as respiratory issues, asthma, low immune

system, or any further ill health that may

cause an impact on their living conditions, how do you

know that they are living in a safe environment? Well, let's

find out. But who are classed as elderly and who are classed as

vulnerable? And who are we to be able to decide or determine who is what?

Because obviously people can be within quite

insecure areas or people may not want for you to

approach them. And that's, you know, it's a very sensitive

subject. So make sure that however you deal with this, you

deal with it amicably and also with empathy. Now,

people over 60, 65 typically are at an age

that they're maturing. Their health becomes more of an issue or

noticeable. And we need to make sure that

when we hit that age, we are comfortable and able to live in an environment

that's going to healthily and positively impact our

living conditions and how we feel and how we can live our day

to day life. So these things are small, they don't take a

lot of money, but also they can go all the way through to full renovations

of homes, depending on your own situations, both

financially and what you're looking to achieve.

So internal environments of where we live, typically,

in a nutshell, this is our home. So our living rooms, our kitchens, bathrooms,

bedrooms, we spend a lot of our time in

these environments. And especially as we get older,

these environments become almost our safe haven.

And it's important then to make sure that our ventilation,

our heating is adequate to make sure controlled living

temperatures are in place. We're not getting the greenhouse effect, where

things get massively hot or cold spots, where it's very

difficult to obtain adequate living temperatures, which can in

itself lead to poor health, and

from a simple cold all the way through to flus and things that can be

a lot more dangerous to health. So on

this factor, how do we make sure that

everybody that we care about within our circle and within our

family are safe within these environments and able to take care of

themselves? So making sure simple things, thermostats,

thermostats are really important to make sure they have batteries, they work, they're

in a location where the occupants can easily

access them. Making sure, whatever the heating system,

it's efficient. Night storage heaters, electric

panel heaters, they do some job, but they are

expensive and they don't really

do an efficient job when compared to things like modern

day central heating systems or underfloor heating. So maybe look

at potential grants that may be available, energy

efficiency improvements, or if you've got

financial funds available to actually look at upgrading these. This is a

really important element of a home and can cause

a lot of issues, but also can resolve a lot of issues for

occupiers. Because if you've got a decent heating system, whether that's

gas, oil, photovoltaics, solar panels,

thermal, voltage, solar panels, whatever you

decide to have in your home, to make sure that 18 to 20

degrees is consistently within a property will

really help reduce condensation, build up black spot mould,

also keep damp at bay, depending on the type of property.

And just make sure that a general comfortable living temperature can be

maintained. And also helps keep budgets and

financial costings for bills greatly

reduced, especially if you've got a modern heating

system. Now, additional things,

simple things such as reducing risks of falling, tripping,

hazards, causing damage to yourself physically. If you have a

cluttered living area, it's going to be a hazard in itself. So

make sure that there are clear pathways around the home, getting

to bathroom facilities, kitchens, bedrooms. It

sounds obvious, but there is so many people that even

if they're not able to physically move

stored items from one thing to another, may accidentally

place something on top of the staircase. And nobody who visits

then kind of recognizes that as a risk and that can then cause

a fall down the stairs, for example. These are some very basic things

that can cause serious health issues and

risks. So just removing the clutter, making sure that it is a

safe environment, can also really help. But also it helps with cleanliness. Being

able to then clean a home with less clutter,

really can make a massive impact. There's a lot less dust, there's a lot less

areas that black swap mould and fur and bugs and

all sorts of things can end up residing in and

causing almost an outbreak in a

property, in areas that you may not be able to

identify and easily be able to then spot and clean.

So all of these things can then cause a huge issue,

especially for elderly and vulnerable people. So again, we mentioned

quite a lot about ventilation. Ventilation is important, we all know

that. But why is it important and what are the impacts?

Poor ventilation is very common, especially with people that are

elderly, because obviously they want to keep the warm in, they want to keep their

property as warm as possible. And therefore there's a direct

link to not opening windows and keeping everything shut tight. Now, there

is an argument for that, yes, of course, but also there's a huge

risk if you don't allow windows to be open and you don't have adequate

ventilation in a property, that you're going to end up with black spot mould,

condensation, and you're going to end up with things such as potential

timber decay and all sorts of nastiness, as well as

pollutant and toxin and microtoxin

increases within the air. And then therefore you have pollutants and

things that can cause respiratory issues, illnesses. Even if

you don't leave your home, it can cause a massively increased detriment and

impact on your physical and mental wellbeing. That in

itself, in my professional opinion, and it's

shared across quite a lot of experts, it is so much more

important to make sure you open your windows 1015 minutes

a day at the very least, just to make sure that your

home has fresh air coming in, replacing all of those pollutants,

toxins, all of that absolute humidity in the air which can lead to

condensation and then just allow that to be replaced.

And then even if you shut it up for the rest of the day, at

least that's something now going on. Further, depending

on individuals funding and

how they react to these environments, mechanical

airflow systems are fantastic. They

won't break the bank. And there's all sorts of different types available

for any flats or houses. Roof void

access, no roof void access. And basically what this does, it

creates a forced airflow through a property which causes

continuous filtration of the air, reducing any pollutants,

toxins, humidity. So even if the property

is kept shut tight, no windows are open, we can

then still maintain a healthy living condition for those within. So

that is something that can be really helpful. So all of these

things, as well as making sure black spot mold or any kind of

mould is dealt with, with environmentally healthy and

sustainable products that are not going to cause formula hide and

build up of nasty pollutants in the air, which

again, can have a detriment impact. Just making sure

that all of these things, when spotted, can be cleared away and dealt

with.

Now, what happens if something is spotted

and not maintained? Well, these things get worse. They don't

heal. A property is not like humans. They don't. If you,

if you get it damaged, they don't heal themselves. It will only get

worse and therefore it will only impact,

financially and health wise, a lot more. So

it's always important just to make sure that every couple of months the property

is checked over and if anything doesn't look right, get a contractor

in to see if there's any remedial works that are

required. A simple crack in an external facade, for example, may

just be that it may cost a few hundred pounds to have a contractor in

and it be dealt with. However, most people do not recognise that and

therefore they can lead to further deterioration as water

ingresses. This can expand, especially over winter months. As

the water freezes, it can cause additional fracturing to the external

facade. More water gets in and then therefore you've got a much bigger

and greater issue as it can affect electric structural integrity. And

then rather than a few hundred pound fix, this can be thousands, if not

tens of thousands of pounds. So it's really, really important to make sure

the maintenance of the property is well maintained. And if you're not a freeholder,

if you're in a leasehold flat, making sure that the management company is on top

of these things. It's really important because even down to

simple things as block guttering or a small hole in a roof

can not only cause financial stress, but also it can

cause black spot mold to occur, thermal bypass and lots of

things that can affect the occupiers of that property as well. So

always be on top of these things and make sure that

whoever's in charge of the maintenance, that they understand and are aware

of these issues. That also goes for tenants. You have the right

to make sure your landlord and a letting

agent are on top of these things for you, because inevitably, this is your home,

this is your family's home, and it's their job to make sure you're safe in

that home the best they can heal. Your home with

Jason Ratcliffe, the home health expert. Doctor

Ronke Komalov has over 15 years of industry

experience within healthcare. She is the CEO and

board chair of integrated Physical and Behavioral Health alliance.

She is also one of the top industry experts on internal

health quality and how this links to behavioral and physical

health. I recently caught up with Ronquet over Zoom, so let's find out

more. For those

who don't know, would you like to give a bit of an introduction? Thank you

Jason for having me. I'm the CEO of Advanced and

Integrated Health, located in Austin, Texas and the

United States. We focus on integrating mental and physical health,

making sure that providers payers, patients

health systems are able to provide care that meets patients

where they are fantastic. And I mean within the UK,

it's quite a big issue with black spot mold and poor

indoor air quality, thermal efficiency. But there

seems to be a lot of different, I suppose,

misguided or useful information. But it's all blended together and it's

difficult to identify what really is,

I suppose, useful, what you should really kind of

ignore. But there is research about the long

term neurological exposure to mold growth and pouring door

air quality. Is that something you could kind of. Go into a little bit? Mold

affects people very differently. Two people can be in a mold

environment and only one person will be affected. But the most important

thing when you're dealing with mold, or when you live in the mold infested

environment is to always make sure your environment is checked right. Most

people do fabrication. Most people have old nip inspections.

But once you start having symptoms, we call it psychosomatic

symptoms. If you're having headaches, fevers, blurry

vision, difficulty breathing, but the symptoms do

not lead to an exact diagnosis. But you really want to

start looking at your environment and the psychosomatic issues that

may be causing it. A lot of times doctors will just roll the

symptoms out as psychosomatic symptoms, which are symptoms that are

caused by stress, symptoms that the doctors believe is just in your

mind or your head, and you're just going through something emotionally

reflecting physically. But in the case of mold, it's

typically persistent and it happens over a course of several

years. So if you feel you're going through your

revisions, difficulty breathing. That's the most common one that we see.

Headaches, anxiety, difficulty

sleeping, your environment feels uncomfortable,

humidity, just something just doesn't feel right. It's

always okay to have a routine check with your can make a

physician or get a neurological check to see if there's

something wrong. A lot of times doctors can pick it up, but when it

comes to mold, it could be tricky. It's really up to each individual

to be an advocate for themselves. So you're saying it can

affect people differently? That's really interesting because I'm very

susceptible to a poor environment, and my

partner, she wouldn't even affect it. Would you say that

there was more. Vulnerability or groups

of vulnerable people that may have to look into this a bit more seriously than

others? Or does that matter? People who have I. Smart and low

immune system, people who have nerve

disorder tend to get more quickly

affected by mole. People who are also more stressed out.

So if you're under a lot of stress, your immune system will be down.

If you're sensitive to dust or environmental

toxins, you'll be more likely to be affected by mole.

And a lot of us know this. Right. If you're allergic to falling, then you

want to be sure that you're checking your environmental mole.

Yeah, they fantastic. Really interesting. Because I've never thought about stress kind

of giving more sensitivity to respiratory issues. That may

be touching on maybe why, I must say sensitive some of the time. I

think from now on, from what you're saying, I may look at my stress levels

and see if there's any direct correlation to being more prone to

black swamp mold. But apart from sort of being

affected by black swan role, are there any other symptoms or any other

environmental factors that you can kind of think of from your experience that

may affect somebody's health? It's hard to

tell. I think from my experience, it's just really getting

checked by a prescriber, by a doctor. That's

the quickest, best way to really know what happens. Some of the

neurological things we see is mood changes. Some people will go

through mood swings, depression, anxiety, when they get exposed

to mold. Some people might develop nerve disorder. People

who have chronic fatigue syndrome may be

more prone to neurological conditions and

difficulty concentrated. They may have memory

problems, foggy brain insomnia.

Everybody's symptoms is different. So a lot of times

in integrated mental and physical health, we always say when you see

a physical health issue happening, like

insomnia or headache and migraines, look at your

environment. Has it been raining too much outside? Have you had a water

leak in your environment? Has it been too humid? Compared

to the emotions you're going through, if you're also going through more

changes like depression, mood swings, anxiety, look at

what you've been going through on a physical perspective. You've been going through

a lot of stress. Have you been going through. Maybe it's been

raining a lot, so you haven't been able to go out, which in some cases

might increase humidity and increases the exposure

to mold. Look at what you're going through, both from a physical health

perspective and mental health perspective, for your personal well

being, and then talk to a prescriber from. A

longevity or time scale perspective, how long afterwards do

you think you're at risk from having those effects? I

would say it depends on the mole. It depends on the building. It depends on

the exposure. Right. So one of my area of

speciality is integrated mental and physical health. Right? So if you

be, if you're exposed on a daily basis, and the quantity of mole

in your environment is a lot, the symptoms would be very aggravated. It

will require medical intervention as soon as possible.

The only way you would know is based on your physical health symptoms or your

mental health symptoms, right. Unless you get your environment checked. A

lot of us do, at least in the states. I know a lot of us

do. At least once a month we get the environment humidated. That's

very common for us to do, especially if you have a house

or even if you live in an apartment. Some states require that

apartment complexes do this every month. A lot of times. I,

based on the research I've done in the past, I've seen exposure, people

showing chronic physical health conditions five years

into the exposure. I've seen people ten years into the

exposure. So they all started with this mild

symptoms, and it just gradually grew to become a

huge chronic condition. So in reality, it depends on

the quantity of exposure and the length of exposure and of course, your

immune system. And now a listener question for

heal your home. Email from Sally in Penzance.

Jason, I need to keep my heating costs down in my 1930s

property. That's a great question. Thank you so much, Sally, for sending it

in. A lot of people were probably asking the same thing. And to be honest

with you, it really depends on so many different factors. In

the sense insulation and thermal efficiency of your property is, number

one, has your loft space got adequate insulation? Has it,

is it consecutive constant? You know, you need a minimum of

300 depth if you've got mineral wall or sheep wall

insulation, making sure that that's no heat escape coming through

your roof space. Also, are your windows double glazed? At least

adequate thermal breaks in between? And your windows and doors are not

leaking any energy and heat. It's always worth having a

thermographic inspection done because this can highlight areas that you may not

even consider having heat escape from. And therefore, rather than

plowing money into things that you think or you've been advised by

salespeople to go and have done, make sure you know

the full scope of your individual property. 1st 1930s

homes always have excessive heat escape, especially around

windows or footings, places where there's areas

and junctions of buildings that connect with each other. You also probably notice

you may get condensation and blacksmith mold around those areas. These are

very common factors and end results from

poorly thermally insulated properties. So depending on if

you're in a listed building or if you're in a conservation

area, you may need planning consent, but you can always look at

external cladding, additional insulation internally. I would

strongly advise against retrospective infill cavity insulation

as this can cause excessive water ingress and potential wall tie

failure in the future. This is kind of an area that is a

bit controversial at the moment in the industry as there is a lot of people

pressing for it. And yes, on paper it does work, but it's

the after amount, the after effects that actually cause a lot of

issues with properties like that and insulation when you're filling a cavity.

So it's really important to understand that insulation and thermal

efficiency is also the most primal thing to do prior to

anything else. If you've got old outdated heating

systems at that point, it would then be worth upgrading those,

as you know, LPG or liquid petroleum gas, oil tanks,

things like that are, I suppose, very expensive for

fuel and to fire up heating systems would always then

be worth looking at. Swapping those out for potential underfloor heating,

you could get zoned heating, things like that, solar panels to offset those.

So it's a whole entirety of how

your property can work throughout, rather than just an

individual resolve. So it is these systems working

together. So Sally, I would definitely advise looking at the first

step, thermographic survey. Get a thermographic survey done and then figure

out the other steps after that. So thank you so much for emailing

in your question. It's really appreciated. Jason's tenant top

tip Today's tenant top. Tips for this episode of Heal

your home extractor fans are

massively underused in properties and as an

inconvenience they can cause noise and general

disturbance when you're trying to go to sleep or if you have young

children, which is why a lot of people turn the isolator switches off.

However, if you're then using a shower, a bath, you're making

dinner or putting the kettle on and you're not using these

extractor fans and allowing them to have an adequate runoff time

afterwards, then it can have a buildup of condensation in your home.

And this is one of the biggest reasons why black swap mould can cause

a lot of issues and start growing in your property. So always make

sure you're properly using extractor fans, extractor

hoods, wherever and whenever possible. Heal your home

with Jason Ratcliffe, the home health expert thank you so

much. For listening to this week's episode. It really does mean a lot to me

and my team. Check out the website at

homehealthexpert dot co dot UK for more information to check out

the services that we can help with for you and your family and improve

your home's health. And also for the top tip guides that we

have available for you. You can submit listener

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really does mean a lot. We could not do this without you and in actual

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questions and I look forward to you joining me in the next episode of

heal your home, your health, your

future. It all starts here.