Sewell's Aging-in-Place Home Modification Provider

Sewell and Mantua Township: A Family Suburb Where the Original Families Are Still Home

Sewell is the identity that most Mantua Township residents use for their community — a Gloucester County suburb of approximately 15,000 people situated between Turnersville to the south and Deptford to the north. The township developed during the 1970s and 1980s as part of the same suburban wave that transformed all of Gloucester County from rural farmland into residential communities. Young couples from Camden, Woodbury, and Philadelphia’s working-class neighborhoods moved to Mantua Township for the same reasons their neighbors moved to Washington Township and Deptford — new construction, affordable pricing, good schools, and the promise of a stable suburban life.

They found exactly that. Mantua Township delivered on its promises, and the families who settled here built deep roots. Children attended Clearview Regional High School, joined the sports leagues, swam at the community pools, and grew up alongside their neighbors’ children. The parents who made the decision to move to Sewell made a permanent choice, not a temporary one. Decades later, those parents are still in the same homes, on the same streets, surrounded by the same community connections that defined their adult lives.

The challenge is that these homes were built for thirty-year-old parents with small children. They are now occupied by seventy-year-old retirees with replaced joints, diminished balance, and the accumulated physical changes that come with five decades of living. The stairs that were effortless in 1978 now require concentration and a firm grip. The bathtub that a toddler was bathed in every night is now a fall hazard that nobody uses. The front steps that were walked without thought every day for forty years now represent a calculated risk every time the resident leaves or enters the home.

Accessible Solutions modifies Sewell homes so that long-term residents can stay in the community they built, in the homes they paid for, with the dignity and safety that every stage of life demands.

The 1970s Colonial: Sewell’s Signature Home and Its Accessibility Deficits

The two-story colonial is the signature housing type of Sewell’s growth era. Drive along Main Street, Lambs Road, Center Street, and the residential streets that branch off the township’s arterial roads, and you will see the same home repeated in dozens of variations — a rectangular two-story structure with an attached garage, a front entry with three to five concrete steps, four bedrooms and a full bathroom upstairs, and a kitchen, living room, family room, half-bathroom, and laundry downstairs.

This floor plan works well for the family it was designed to serve. It fails comprehensively for a single older adult or retired couple who cannot climb stairs reliably. Every bedroom is on the second floor. The only full bathroom — with a tub or shower — is on the second floor. The half-bathroom downstairs has a toilet and sink but no bathing facility. The front entry steps have no ramp alternative.

Our standard modification strategy for Sewell’s two-story colonials follows a logical sequence. If the resident can still use stairs with assistance, a stairlift on the main staircase connects the living level with the bedrooms and full bathroom. Upstairs, we convert the full bathroom from a tub-shower combination to a barrier-free walk-in shower with grab bars, a fold-down bench, and a handheld showerhead. Grab bars are installed at the toilet, along the upstairs hallway, and at the top and bottom of the staircase. A modular ramp at the front entry replaces the concrete steps as the primary entrance route.

For families planning for a future when stairs will be entirely off-limits, the long-term solution is converting the ground floor into a complete living space. The downstairs half-bathroom is expanded into a full accessible bathroom — incorporating space from an adjacent closet, pantry, or laundry area to accommodate a barrier-free shower. A ground-floor room — typically the dining room or home office — becomes the bedroom. The result is a self-contained first-floor living arrangement that eliminates all dependence on the staircase.

Split-Levels and Cape Cods: The Other Housing Types That Shape Sewell’s Neighborhoods

While the two-story colonial dominates, Sewell’s housing inventory also includes split-levels and Cape Cod-style homes that were popular during the 1970s construction boom. Each presents distinct accessibility challenges.

Sewell’s split-levels follow the same problematic layout found throughout Gloucester County — living space distributed across three or four staggered half-floors, with short stairways connecting every functional area. There is no single level that contains a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and living space. Aging in place requires either a stairlift system that covers multiple short flights or a comprehensive renovation that consolidates living onto the most accessible level.

Cape Cods — compact one-and-a-half-story homes with dormered second-floor bedrooms — present a different scenario. The first floor typically contains a bedroom, a bathroom, the kitchen, and the living room, which means single-level living is already partially achievable. The modification focus in a Sewell Cape Cod centers on the first-floor bathroom, which is often small and equipped with a tub-shower that must be converted to a barrier-free shower, and the front entry, which may need a ramp. If the existing first-floor bedroom and bathroom are adequate in size and location, the modification scope may be more focused than in a colonial or split-level, reducing both cost and timeline.

We assess every Sewell home individually, regardless of type. The modification plan is based on the home’s actual construction, layout, and condition — not on assumptions about what a 1978 colonial or a 1975 Cape Cod should look like.

Clearview Regional and the Community Connections That Keep Sewell Residents in Place

One of the factors that makes aging-in-place work in Sewell meaningful is the strength of the community connections that long-term residents have built. Mantua Township is served by the Clearview Regional school district, and the shared experience of raising children through Clearview creates bonds that last decades beyond graduation. Neighbors know each other. Block parties still happen. The community pool is a landmark of shared summer memories.

These connections are precisely what older Sewell residents lose when they are forced to move to an assisted living facility fifteen or twenty miles away. The modification work we do is not just about physical safety — it is about preserving the social infrastructure that gives people a reason to get out of bed in the morning. A Sewell resident who can safely exit their home via a ramp, drive to the community center, visit a neighbor, or walk to the mailbox maintains the social engagement that research consistently identifies as the strongest predictor of health and longevity in older adults.

Our modifications keep people connected to Sewell, not just housed within it.

NJ Medicaid Benefits and Affordable Modifications for Sewell Families

Mantua Township is a middle-income community. Many older residents live on fixed incomes — Social Security, pensions, or modest retirement savings. The cost of professional home modifications, while far less than institutional care, can seem burdensome to families watching every dollar.

NJ MLTSS Medicaid provides a lifetime benefit for home accessibility modifications. For Sewell residents enrolled in the program, this covers a comprehensive modification package — a modular ramp, a bathroom conversion with grab bars and a bench, grab bars throughout the home, and doorway widenings. We are a certified NJ Medicaid provider and manage every element of the authorization and billing process. Qualifying Sewell families pay nothing out of pocket for covered work.

Every Modification Sewell Homes Need From One Licensed Contractor

Accessible Solutions is Sewell’s complete aging-in-place provider. Modular ramp installations and monthly rentals starting at $300. Bathtub-to-shower conversions and barrier-free roll-in showers. Tub cuts for reducing bathtub entry thresholds. Grab bars and safety handrails in bathrooms, hallways, bedrooms, and stairways. Stairlifts for full-flight and split-level staircases. Doorway widenings to 36-inch ADA clearance. Ground-floor bedroom and bathroom conversions. Basement finishing for accessible living spaces. Durable medical equipment including hospital beds, wheelchairs, and power scooters.

Licensed New Jersey contractor. Certified NJ MLTSS Medicaid provider. Serving Sewell from our Atlantic County warehouse. One call, every modification, every home in Mantua Township.