Colorado’s mountain towns often lack the services and facilities available in major metropolitan areas. For many older adults in mountain communities, staying in their homes can depend on whether those homes are built or modified to support aging.

Home modification assessors at Honeycomb are working to address that issue. 

Founded in 2025 by Eagle County resident Maggie Gannon, the company helps older adults in Summit, Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties assess their homes for safety risks and make renovations that allow them to age in place. Gannon said she hopes to eventually expand to Grand County. 

As an adult gerontology clinical nurse specialist with more than 30 years of medical experience, Gannon said the idea grew out of what she repeatedly saw in her clinical work: otherwise healthy older adults whose homes were not designed for the realities of aging.

She said the area she lives in has many aging adults, and she got a lot of calls for help when those adults had falls. Aging adults in the mountains want to stay in their homes and communities, Gannon said, but do not think to make safety modifications to their homes preemptively.

“They don’t know who to call to create that safe environment,” Gannon said. “If they had a grab bar in the bathroom, you know, they might not have fallen.”

Gannon decided to create Honeycomb to help people age in place. She said that when communities lose their older adults, they lose “something rich and vital.”

Many of the changes are relatively simple. Installing grab bars in bathrooms, improving lighting in hallways or removing clutter can significantly reduce fall risk. Larger projects might include replacing a bathtub with a walk-in shower, adding ramps or stair lifts or reconfiguring a home so daily living can occur on a single floor, she said.

“Aging isn’t static, and the home shouldn’t be either,” Gannon said. 

More than 80% of Honeycomb’s calls come after someone has already been injured in a fall, she said. Stigma around aging and uncertainty about where to turn often prevent people from planning ahead.

“It’s hard … I think that there’s stigma in our culture around aging, and there’s a lot of denial going on,” Gannon said.

Cost can also be a barrier, though some financial assistance exists through veterans programs, grants and certain county services. And while major renovations can be expensive, Gannon said smaller modifications done early can help people avoid far more costly long-term care options, which often require moving away from the mountain lifestyle.

Gannon also emphasized the need for post-installation assessments and check-ins to ensure the home modifications are still working for seniors. 

“We continue to monitor households over time,” she said. “There aren’t many people doing what Honeycomb is doing by combining clinical assessments with contractor partnerships.”

For more information about Honeycomb, visit Honeycomb.house/. For other home modification information, visit DOH.colorado.gov/home-modification-program
or AgeWiseColorado.org/blog/home-modifications/.