Turnersville's Aging-in-Place Home Modification Contractor

Turnersville and Washington Township: Gloucester County’s Largest Community Confronts Its Aging Housing Stock

Turnersville is the commercial heart of Washington Township, Gloucester County’s most populous municipality. Anchored by the Black Horse Pike corridor — Route 168 and Route 42 — Turnersville is where Washington Township’s retail centers, restaurants, and commercial services cluster, surrounded by the residential developments that house the township’s approximately 48,000 residents. The community carries the informal identity of Turnersville even though it is formally part of Washington Township, and the residents who have spent decades raising families in the neighborhoods off Egg Harbor Road, Glenwood Avenue, Hurffville-Cross Keys Road, and Fries Mill Road think of themselves as Turnersville people living Turnersville lives.

Those lives are getting longer. Washington Township’s explosive growth during the 1970s and 1980s drew young families from Camden, Philadelphia, and older inner-ring suburbs who were looking for new construction, good schools, and safe neighborhoods. They found all of that in Turnersville and its surrounding developments. They stayed. Their children grew up and moved on. And the parents — now in their sixties, seventies, and eighties — remain in the homes they purchased thirty, forty, and fifty years ago, homes that were perfectly designed for the young families they once were and increasingly inadequate for the aging individuals they have become.

Accessible Solutions serves Turnersville and the broader Washington Township community with every aging-in-place modification required to keep these long-term residents safely in their homes.

The Bi-Level Boom and Why Washington Township Has So Many of Them

Washington Township’s residential landscape is dominated by a housing type that creates particularly challenging accessibility problems: the bi-level. During the 1970s and 1980s, when the township experienced its most intense period of residential construction, bi-level homes were among the most popular and affordable options builders offered. The design was economical — by splitting the home into two staggered levels connected by a central stairway, builders maximized living space while minimizing foundation footprint and construction cost.

The typical Turnersville bi-level places the main entry at a landing between the two levels. Walking into the front door, the resident faces a half-flight of stairs going up to the kitchen, living room, and bedrooms, and a half-flight of stairs going down to the family room, laundry area, and garage. Every movement between functional areas requires stairs. There is no single level where a resident can sleep, bathe, eat, and relax without climbing steps.

This layout is the most challenging suburban housing type for aging-in-place modification, and it is the most common housing type in Turnersville. Our approach is strategic. We begin by identifying the most functional level for the resident’s daily living — usually the upper level, which contains the kitchen, a bathroom, and bedrooms. A stairlift on the central stairway connects this level to the lower level and the front entry. The upper-level bathroom is converted from a tub-shower combination to a barrier-free walk-in shower with grab bars and a fold-down bench. Grab bars are installed at the entry landing, along the hallway, and at every transition point.

For residents who want to eliminate stair dependence entirely, we evaluate whether the lower level can be converted into a self-contained living area — a bedroom in the existing family room, an accessible bathroom installed in available space near the laundry area, and a ramp from the lower level to the exterior. This approach creates ground-level living that bypasses the central stairway completely.

Raised Ranches Along Egg Harbor Road and the Northern Developments

Beyond the bi-level inventory, Turnersville’s neighborhoods contain a significant number of raised ranches — homes that elevate the main living floor above a ground-level garage and utility space. The developments along Egg Harbor Road, in the Birches and Whitman Square neighborhoods, and throughout the northern portions of Washington Township are particularly dense with this housing type.

The raised ranch accessibility challenge is concentrated at the front entry. The main living floor is four to six feet above grade. The only entrance to the primary living space requires climbing exterior steps. For a Turnersville resident who now uses a walker, cane, or wheelchair after a hip replacement, a stroke, or progressive mobility decline, those front steps are the barrier between independent living and institutional care.

Our modular aluminum ramp systems solve this barrier for raised ranch entries throughout the Turnersville area. The ramp must span a vertical rise of four to six feet, which requires a ramp run of 24 to 36 feet at ADA-compliant slopes. We configure the ramp path to fit each property’s yard dimensions — wrapping along the front of the home, turning at the driveway edge, or approaching from the side yard. Intermediate landings at turn points provide resting areas and meet code requirements. The aluminum construction withstands Gloucester County’s freeze-thaw weather cycles and road salt exposure without corrosion.

Inside the raised ranch, the modification focus shifts to the bathroom. Builder-grade tub-shower inserts from the 1970s and 1980s are replaced with barrier-free showers, grab bars are installed at the shower and toilet, doorways are widened to accommodate walkers and wheelchairs, and slip-resistant flooring replaces original vinyl or tile.

Jefferson Washington Township Hospital and the Local Healthcare Network

Jefferson Washington Township Hospital — formerly Kennedy University Hospital — serves as the primary healthcare facility for Turnersville and the surrounding communities. Located within the township itself, the hospital provides emergency care, surgical services, and rehabilitation that generate a steady stream of patients who need home modifications before or after discharge.

The hospital-to-home transition is a critical moment for Turnersville families. A parent admitted for a fall, a surgical complication, or an acute illness enters a healthcare system that will eventually discharge them back to the same home where the fall occurred or where the accessibility barriers made daily living dangerous before the hospitalization. Without modifications, the cycle repeats.

We work directly with Jefferson Washington Township’s discharge planning team. When a patient is identified as needing home modifications before a safe return, the referral reaches us and we move into action. The home is assessed during the hospital or rehabilitation stay. Materials are staged from our Atlantic County warehouse, approximately 40 minutes from Turnersville. Installation is completed on the discharge timeline — ramp in place, bathroom converted, grab bars mounted, hospital bed set up if needed. The patient comes home to a modified environment, not to the same hazards that contributed to the hospitalization.

Working Families and the Financial Reality of Home Modifications in Turnersville

Washington Township is a working-class and middle-class community. The families who live in Turnersville built their lives around steady employment, modest savings, and homes they paid off over thirty-year mortgages. When a parent or grandparent needs home modifications to remain independent, the family’s first concern is often cost. Can we afford to do this? Is there financial help available? Is it less expensive than a nursing home?

The answers work in favor of home modification for most Turnersville families. The monthly cost of assisted living in Gloucester County ranges from several thousand dollars and up. The one-time cost of a comprehensive home modification package — ramp, bathroom conversion, grab bars, and potentially a stairlift — is a fraction of a single year’s facility cost. And for families enrolled in NJ MLTSS Medicaid, a lifetime benefit covers the modification work at zero out-of-pocket cost.

We are a certified NJ Medicaid provider. For Turnersville families who qualify, we handle every step of the Medicaid authorization — documentation, submission to the managed care organization, approval coordination, installation, and direct billing. The family pays nothing for covered modifications. Their only responsibility is identifying the need and letting us do the work.

Complete Aging-in-Place Services for Turnersville and Washington Township

Accessible Solutions provides Turnersville with full-service aging-in-place modifications. Modular ramp installations for raised ranches, bi-levels, and standard entries. Ramp rentals starting at $300 per month. Bathtub-to-shower conversions and barrier-free roll-in showers. Tub cuts for lowering existing bathtub thresholds. Grab bars and safety handrails in bathrooms, hallways, bedrooms, and at every stair transition. Stairlifts for bi-level half-flights and standard full-flight staircases. Doorway widenings to 36-inch ADA clearance. Lower-level bedroom and bathroom conversions. Durable medical equipment including hospital beds, wheelchairs, rollators, and power scooters.

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