About Us
Living Solutions co-founders Ken Heyman and Dr. Kate Tulenko saw first hand the challenges their grandparents faced in maintaining their chosen lifestyles as they aged. Their grandfathers died young but all four grandmothers had to leave their own homes and communities due to changes in their daily functioning and the lack of services to enable them to stay in their homes. When their grandmothers came to live with them, Ken and Kate saw the difficulties they had becoming accustomed to a whole new house, loss of privacy and control, and accommodating to new schedules. One of Ken’s grandmothers had early Alzheimer’s and was confused and disoriented, missing her familiar surroundings. She would often try to walk through the new house as though it had the floor plan of her former home and searched for rooms where they had previously been in relation to each other.
Ken through his work in construction, design, and technology for medical training, saw the possibilities of adapting people’s surroundings to allow them to live more independently, continue to enjoy their favorite activities, and reduce their risk of injury.
Kate through her clinical work as a physician and her policy work in preparing countries for their increasing aging populations saw huge gaps in independent living services to give seniors and people with disabilities live their own independent lives. Services that did exist were fragmented and difficult to coordinate and integrate. She saw the value of offering integrated home assessments, home modifications, assistive devices, and other services all within the same organization.
Together we created Living Solutions to help seniors, people with disabilities, and their families maintain control over their own lives. We designed Living Solutions unique approach to home assessments and maximizing clients’ functioning and have provided services to a variety of public and private clients including Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, and nationally known nursing homes. We look forward to working with you.
Ken Heyman, MA, CAPS
Ken Heyman is co-Founder and Executive Director of Living Solutions and is responsible for day to day operations, quality assurance, and home modification design and installation. He has a Masters of Arts from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and six years of experience designing health training products. He received the 2002 Frank Netter award from the Vesalius Trust for Special Contributions to Medical Education. The award recognizes creative products exhibiting innovation and excellence in design for visual communication in the health sciences. He is a licensed contractor in Maryland, DC, and Virginia. Mr. Heyman served as director of the Caroline Ladd Pratt House Project managing a crew of restorers to modernize and update a nineteenth century neoclassical mansion in Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Heyman brings to Living Solutions a sense of design and creativity based on his training in Fine Arts at Pratt Institute.
Kate Tulenko, MD, MPH, MPhil
Dr. Kate Tulenko is co-Founder and Executive Director of Living Solutions. She is a Johns Hopkins trained physician with a masters in international health management and quality assurance and ten years experience in clinical medicine and public health. Dr. Tulenko is responsible for Living Solutions’ assessment, planning, and consulting work. She travels and lectures widely on the topics of home modifications and aging-in-place. She has presented at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, the Family Caregiver Expo, The US Department of Transportation, the National Association of Retired Federal Employees, and the Lifetime Living Institute, among others.
Dr. Tulenko is a member of the American Society on Aging and is active in a variety of voluntary groups including the American Public Health Association as a section councilor. She is the recipient of many awards including the Herchel-Smith Fellowship ( Cambridge), Phi Beta Kappa (Harvard), Delta Omega (Johns Hopkins Honor Society), and the Rainer Arnhold Fellowship. Dr. Tulenko received her bachelors in biochemistry from Harvard University, a masters in history and philosophy of science from Cambridge, a masters in public health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and her medical doctorate from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.