Walk-In Showers for Seniors in San Antonio, TX

San Antonio has been an Army and Air Force town for well over a century. Fort Sam Houston was designated in 1890, and Kelly Field, Brooks Field, Randolph and Lackland followed. Today Fort Sam Houston, Lackland, Randolph and Camp Bullis operate together as Joint Base San Antonio, the largest joint base in the Department of Defense, and Brooke Army Medical Center is the DoD's largest hospital.

The bases shaped the houses, too. The city grew from about 254,000 people in 1940 to nearly 588,000 by 1960, spreading outward into new neighborhoods as service members and their families arrived and, in many cases, stayed after their service ended. Homes from that period are now sixty to eighty years old, and many still have the compact bathrooms and built-in tubs of their era.

The Census Bureau counts more than 90,000 veterans living in the city and about 13% of residents, roughly 190,000 people, aged 65 or older. For many of them the hardest moment of the day is stepping over a wet tub wall on one foot. A low-threshold or curbless shower removes that step, which can help reduce fall risk and makes it easier to keep showering without help.

Veterans with a service-connected or qualifying condition may be able to use a VA Home Improvements and Structural Alterations (HISA) grant toward an accessible bathroom. Eligibility is decided by the VA, typically starting with a prescription from a VA provider, such as one at Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans' Hospital on Merton Minter Boulevard. Our HISA grants guide explains the steps, and we are glad to walk a family through them.

We design each shower around the person using it: their height, which side they transfer from, whether they use a cane, walker or wheelchair, and where a grab bar needs to sit for them. Our CAPS-certified team can talk that through with your parent and with you during the free in-home assessment.