Reduce the Risk of Falls for Your Loved Ones! Get Safety/Grab Bars Installed Today (Literally)
As part of our Home for the Holidays campaign, Theresa, our Community Liaison, recently sat down with Jim Orbino and Dennis Orbino, owners of Superior Safety Bars, Inc., on "Healthcare Heroes Unplugged with Theresa." Our Home for the Holidays campaign is all about giving you, our local community, tips about keeping your older loved ones safe and at home surrounded by the warmth of family (and out of the hospitals and other facilities) during this holiday season.
They dive into the world of safety/grab bars as they discuss their tremendous importance in senior care. Learn about the top-notch quality, durability, and convenience of same-day installations, all thanks to Superior Safety Bars' extensive on-the-go inventory!
Don't miss out on the demonstrations that Jim and Dennis showcased during the interview. The safety of your loved ones matters, and they're here to make a difference! They are passionate about what they do and it shows.
Jim & Dennis – Thank you for your time and for all you do to help keep our clients and our community safe and at home where they are happiest.
#HomeHelpersHomeForTheHolidays #HomeForTheHolidays #HealthcareHeroes #SeniorCare #SafetyFirst #HomeHelpersBradenton #SuperiorSafetyBars #HealthcareHeroesUnplugged #SafetyMatters
Transcript:
[Theresa] Oh, geez
[Theresa] Hello, everyone. Welcome to Health Care Heroes Unplugged. I’m Theresa Capuano-Scott with Home Helpers of Bradenton. Today we are interviewing a very special father and son duo. They own Superior Safety Bars, which is based in Sarasota, Florida. We have Jim and Dennis Orbino.
[Jim] Good morning.
[Dennis] Hello.
[Theresa] They have a coverage area all the way from Tampa, Florida, down to Fort Myers. They are a bathroom and home safety company, which all of us need to know about. I think they are so important for our viewers, but also our professional contacts. So I wanted to find out more about their company today. Thank you guys so much for inviting me into your home and allowing us to interview you.
[Jim ]Thank you, our pleasure.
[Dennis ]Thank you. Appreciate it.
[Theresa] So can you please explain to us a little bit about what your company actually does?
[Dennis] Yes, we’re a family-owned and operated company here in Sarasota. We specialize in grab bars, hand-held showers, threshold wheelchair ramps, and handrails.
[Theresa] Wow. That’s a lot of different services available.
[Dennis] Yes.
[Theresa] What are some of the most common areas that you recommend grab bars to go into the home for someone who has mobility issues?
[Dennis] That’s a great question. Typically, the bathroom area is the most dangerous spot in the home with over 50% of the falls occurring there. We also check out the threshold area as far as the entryway exits of windows, and doorways. Also, the garage usually has a step or two on it leading into the interior part of the home. Those are typical high-risk areas where we install grab bars.
[Theresa] And thank God for you guys. So many people need the grant.
[Jim] We also install handrails by the doorways sometimes.
[Theresa] That’s wonderful. Can you guys please take us through a typical process of using your service? If someone were to call you and say, ‘Hey, we had a fall, or if things are just getting a little bit harder around the house. What is the process to have you folks come out? Where are we going to put the bars? Take a look. Do you have to wait to have the grab bars installed?
Oh geez. Hi. Is this Superior Safety Bars? I think I need a consultation. If you guys can come out, I need some grab bars installed around my home.
[Dennis] Hey, Teresa. How are you doing? I understand you need some grab bars and that you had a fall or a potential fall right here about the threshold of the doorway. This is considered a high-risk fall area. Typically, what we’ll do is put a 12-inch vertical bar right here, as well as another one on the other side of the wall. This will also remind you that it’s a high-risk fall area. You grab it here and use it to lock yourself in to get over that area.
Yes. Typically a client will contact us, we’ll set the appointment, arrive at the home, and assess their needs. We find out if they have any balance or mobility issues. And we start in the bathroom. We’ll walk them through and recommend where the best placement will be for the bars. We also check out the commode area and do the same in that area as well. Once that has been determined, they’re comfortable.
We’ll bring out the samples of bars and then show them what we have to offer and let them make the final choice.
[Jim] A lot of times people are having surgery or just coming home after surgery, but most people call us and we’ve set up the grab bars before they come home from the hospital, so they’re well aware of what they need.
[Theresa] So, they’re ready to go when they come home?
[Jim] Correct.
[Theresa] It was going to decrease a lot of safety concerns, and decrease falls.
[Dennis] Yes. And also the van is fully stocked. We have a couple hundred bars at any given time on the van so we can do the installation the same day. We don’t have to come back and make an order for the bars. And that’s usually a question they ask, ‘Can you do it this day?’ Because they need them?
[Theresa] So that’s something unique, I think, to Superior Safety Bars, because I worked in senior living for a very long time and had to refer different grab bar companies out to my clients and residents and their family members, most grab bar companies that I’ve dealt with in the past, they have to order the grab bars. And you’re waiting a week sometimes too. That’s increasing the fall risks. You can’t afford to wait, especially when you’re coming home from knee surgery and surgery, any type of surgery. So you guys have a big van that has a big inventory in there and you can install those grab bars the same day.
[Jim] Exactly. Right there while we’re at the appointment.
[Theresa] That’s fabulous. So as you can see on the table here, they have an array of different varieties of grab bars, different styles, and different colors. And we are going to show you a close-up of those now.
[Dennis] These bars here are actually in store for my father. He had knee surgery and had a knee replacement. This is a 16-inch bar. We put a horizontal bar to assist you in getting on and off the commode area. Someone has knee surgery for 2 to 3 weeks. Normally they only have the use of one leg. This is okay for stability, but you need to be locked into a grab bar and push up. And there you go to get off the commode.
This is also a typical three-by-five shower enclosure. Normally we’ll put a 12-inch vertical bar through the entry exit of the shower area. As you can see, there’s an elevation change here. This is another high-risk fall area. Once again, in the shower, you’re grabbing for the 32-inch bar we put on the back wall. This will allow you to walk down to the shower. And then we need to do the same thing when you’re exiting. Grab the bar. One or two hands, get over the threshold, and so you’re safely at level ground and then you can let go. This is an example of a bar or grab bar that we use. It’s called a floor-wall bar. If you don’t have a support wall on either side of the commode area, this is typically the only option you can use. This comes out 30 inches from the wall, and 13 inches down the floor. And my father, Jim, will show us how to use it.
[Jim] This is an almond powder-coated shirt grip with an outrigger for added support. No matter what I do, I can’t move this bar because we installed it. It’s infantile. It’s into the studs. I can get up like this and then use this bar. It’s a 42-inch almond bar also. And we installed these bars back in 2005 when we first started our business. And they’re still here. This isn’t going anywhere.
[Theresa] Guys, I want to thank you so much. There is so much information that I’ve learned today that I had no idea about grab bars. They are super, super imperative to have in your home, no matter what age you are. Just to give you an example, I am 44 years old, believe it or not, and we just had a brand new home built. My tub is super high. It is hard for me and my husband to make that huge step over. I’m literally scared that I’m going to fall in or out of that shower's most dangerous spot. So I think I’m hiring Superior Safety Bars to come in and put grab bars in both of our showers. You’ll be in good hands. Is there anything else you’d like to tell our viewers about your amazing company?
[Dennis] We’ll go down the selection of the grab bars we offer. Everything we use is three or four. Stainless steel is the highest grade of stainless steel on the market available. That’s a very high grade. Yes, it is. The reason I mention that is that a lot of our clients, Alaska’s winter bars, rust, carbon, steel or rust or low-grade steel, civil Rus, After about 3 to 4 years in one environment, usually the screws or rust first and then underneath the bar where the water sits or on the flange covers, where water can sometimes collect on, that’ll start to rust and then it will deteriorate and rust on your wall and it can potentially ruin your tile and your grow. So you won’t ever have to worry about that. These bars are guaranteed for life. They will not rust. We actually have them on the outside of our van. For many, many years they still look like they’re brand new. We’ll go down the selection grab bars well for now.
[Jim] So our basic bar is we install a 12 and a 32-inch set and stainless steel. So the plant is well into the tube. It meets the ADA guidelines because of the flange as well, which is the American Disabilities Act guidelines. And we have five flange covers covering our bars. We have a neuron's grip. Also, if somebody wants to have a safer bar, non-slip, all the bars are an inch and a quarter in diameter. This bar is like all our bars three or four stainless steel, ensuring a quarter in diameter the flag is welded to the tube meets ADA guidelines, which is the Americans with Disabilities Act. Typically at a hardware store, if you went there and bought a grab bar, you would be buying an inch and a half inch in diameter. And a lot of times the bars are 18 inches. And if you were going to install a grab bar in his studs, in a bar 18 inches, you need a 16-inch bar. We carry 12-inch, 16, 24-inch bars and 32, 36, 42, 48, whatever your needs are, we have it.
[Dennis] So and a couple of other bars. We have someone who wants to match their tile or blend in with the tile. We offer a powder-coated white grab art. It’s called sure grip. Supposed to be the water, the better for the hands. This is an almond-colored bar. The same type of bars. The white one. That’s polished stainless steel last. A lot of times a client want to match their fixtures in their bathroom. This will be a bar to use for that as well as this one. This is also a polished stainless steel grab bar with a knurled finish on it. And if they have oil raw bronze for their fixtures, here’s a bar for them. A lot of homes have oil or bronze as well as brass. Some people do have brass in the shower. They still do. Yes. That will match.
And this is a bar we took out of a condominium. It does not meet ADA guidelines.
[Theresa] Show the camera. Good, because that one stunned me.
[Jim] It cracks. It’s plastic. It’s still better than a suction cup. The grab bar which basically a suction cup grabber. We see them and pulses. I cringe. It’s nothing more than a ticking time bomb. They will fall down in the middle of the night. I wouldn’t risk my mother-in-law's life on it. There’s a bar we took out this week. It was. It was put in and installed by a handyman who used one screw at the bottom and one screw on top. And it came off the wall, rusted, and it’s rusted far here. It’s starting to rock. It’s a carbon steel bar. The bar weighs, you know, it doesn’t weigh on anything. Definitely not three or four stainless steel. So what happened here is the water was collecting at the bottom of the flange, and the bar started deteriorating and rusting down the walls, replaced these five and used all three holes to secure the bar properly. As he mentioned, it was only secured by one screw on each. And that is not the proper way to secure the grab bar to a wall.
[Theresa] So the weight of the bar is also very important.
[Dennis] Yes. Did you feel the difference in these two? Feel that bar? You can tell the difference. It’s like nothing. It’s like say it’s a different gauge of metal. So like we said, all our bars are made in America. It’s important. We know we want to support the United States.
[Theresa] Very good. So thank you so much for showing that to us. Like I said, I had no idea there were so many things that go into it. Yes, I assume that you guys are fully licensed and insured.
[Jim] We are fully licensed and insured. I follow all ADA guidelines. Like we said.
That is amazing. Guys, please be sure to call Superior Safety Bars. You will come into the home and do a free consultation as well. We will list their contact information right down at the bottom.
Don’t wait to fall. Give us a call.
Thank you so much for allowing Home Helpers to interview you today. We really appreciate it. And I hope that our viewers see the importance of having grab bars no matter what age you are installed in your home.
Home Helpers of Bradenton is one of the region's leading home care franchises specializing in comprehensive services for seniors. Home Helpers' sole mission is to make life easier for clients and their families. Based in Bradenton, Florida, the company serves all of Manatee County, including the communities of Anna Maria, Bradenton, Bradenton Beach, Ellenton, Holmes Beach, Lakewood Ranch, Longboat Key, Palmetto, and Parrish. For more information or to request a free in-home care assessment, contact our office at (941) 499-5946 or visit our website at www.homehelpershomecare.com/bradenton
