In The News

Perrysburg Company Aids in Residential Accessibility

The American Home Elevator Company (AHE) – based in Perrysburg – provides a range of accessibility solutions for residential and public use facilities. It works with disabled and elderly individuals to create ease of movement solutions within a home, church, or school.

John H. Anderson founded AHE in the early 1970s as a response to the inquiries of the disabled community who were seeking easy, economical solutions to overcoming the barriers that steps present to many individuals. Anderson’s daughter, Helen, later took over the business before passing it on to the current president, Ed Recker.

AHE’s products include stair lifts, residential elevators, vertical platform lift, inclined platform lifts, dumbwaiters / homewaiters, and limited use / limited application (LULA) elevators. LULA elevators are designed to meet the needs of a public building to bridge the gap between vertical platform lifts and commercial freight or passenger elevators. It has sliding doors, travels faster and has a larger weight capacity than AHE’s other units, and is fully automatic. AHE’s other products are “constant pressure” units, meaning a button must be held down until the destination is reached.

According to Recker, his company can install elevators and lifts in newly constructed as well as retrofitted homes. When a homeowner is building a new home, AHE can work with the individual and architect to include the elevator into the original specifications. In a retrofitted project, the company can work with the homeowner to build the elevator inside or outside, depending on what works best for the individual’s needs.
Once a contractor builds the hoistway, AHE can install an elevator within three to four days.

The cost of equipment and installation of an AHE elevator or lift can vary from a few thousand dollars (for a stair lift) to about $45,000 (for an elevator), depending on the amount of space needed for the product to travel, the amount of floors it encompasses, and the type of product selected). Construction of an elevator shaft is an additional cost.

“A lot of people think that elevators are much more expensive than what they are,” Recker explained. “They think that they’re a luxury and can’t afford them, even though they may have a need for one and not necessarily just a want.”

Recker described a situation in which one of his products allowed a junior high-aged girl in Napoleon to have mobility throughout a home that had previously been inaccessible to her. Confined to a wheelchair, the young girl was only able to move around on the main floor of her home. The stairway to the basement was wide enough to hold an inclined platform lift (designed to ascend or descend a staircase with a platform for wheelchair access), which AHE installed. This addition allows the child to go downstairs in her home and into the family room to spend time with her parents, brother, and sister.

Separately, AHE worked with a gentleman in Van Wert who was confined to a wheelchair after being injured in an accident. AHE worked with a construction company to add an elevator shaft to the outside of a home that was – and still remains – on the National Register of Historic Places. Previously resorting to sleeping in a living room chair for four months, the gentleman is now able to comfortably access each level of his home.

“It’s always a pleasure to see somebody’s face when they’re able to get someplace where they haven’t been,” Recker stated. “Because, he had never seen his upstairs until we took him up there.”

According to Recker, the aging in place trend has benefited his business. “We’re finding people who want to stay in their homes, and they almost have to because they can’t sell them,” he noted. “So, rather than move into a ranch-style house, a one-story house, or a condo that may already have an elevator, they’re [renovating] their own homes.

“The cost of nursing homes right now average nationwide from $60,000 to $80,000 per year. It’s only $30,000 to install an elevator in an individual’s own home. The saved money could be used for a nurse or caregiver. People are happier when they’re in their own homes.”

Recker was recently certified through the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) as a certified aging in place specialist. This designation allows him to work with an individual or a family to go into their home and see what would be needed to create a livable space for a longer period of time.

In the next year, Recker hopes to create an aging in place subsidiary to his company. He plans to create a team including a builder, contractor, electrician, interior designer, and himself to provide services for the aging as well as individuals with limited mobility after trauma or accident situations.

“Our purpose is to touch the lives of handicapped and challenged people,” Recker concluded.