About
Mission
Integrative Aging In Place helps individuals with health- and age-related challenges extend healthspan and enhance wellbeing through health and wellness coaching.
Who We Are
Founder, Chris Burba, promotes well-aging by supporting the Person and modifying the home Environment. Integrative Aging In Place supports the Person by helping them develop a vision of their best life, and set and meet goals to live it, amid whatever challenges they face. Through health & wellness coaching, the individual identifies and draws on their strengths and supports to succeed. The process centers on empowering the client to own the behavior change process. The coach's role is to help nurture the autonomy necessary for "durable" improvement in lifestyle choices, not to prescribe and direct.
Meanwhile, Burba partnered with Mark Greenberg to form Boast Home Management, which performs aging-in-place home remodeling, modifications, and repairs and maintenance. Boast provides a unique care-informed approach combining Burba's expertise in health and functional challenges in the home with Greenberg's 27 years of experience in construction and real estate.
Burba is a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach. He completed his training through the Mayo Clinic. He is a Certified Aging-In-Place Specialist through the National Association of Homebuilders, and a Certified Independent Consultant through Positive Approach to Care. Burba draws on his backgound in occupational therapy, in which he holds a license in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and registration through the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy. He no longer provides therapy services.
Burba is a second-generation care partner for older adults, standing on the shoulders of Marge Burba, who founded Winter Growth, Inc. in 1979. Through his work as an occupational therapist at Mercy LIFE and Penn Medicine At Home, Burba specialized in developing solutions at the intersection of two areas: (1) management of chronic and acute health conditions, and (2), addressing barriers to safety and function in the home environment.
Burba feels a deep connection to community health. He is living his best life and finds great joy in sharing his energy toward wellbeing with those he serves.
Message From the Founder
The Great Undoing and You
There is reason to be optimistic about aging in America. Our country is embarking on what could be called a "great undoing." An unintended consequence of the industrial revolution and the medical model was treating aging as a problem rather than a natural stage of life. An unfortunate result was housing older adults in nursing homes. This is being critically reassessed.
Most people want to grow older at home, surrounded by family and friends, embracing the natural progression of life that existed before aging was medicalized. Paying for aging-in-place solutions is often substantially less expensive than funding nursing home or assisted living residency. The average monthly cost for a private room in a nursing home in Philadelphia is nearly $13,000, while the cost for assisted living averages $5,000 to $6,000 (on top of an up-front deposit in the hundreds of thousands). Investing in home modifications and remodeling, making positive lifestyle changes that promote health and wellbeing, installing home safety equipment, and working with a home health aid a few days a week can be more affordable while enhancing equality of life at home.
I started Integrative Aging In Place and Boast Home Management to serve my community by joining this trend toward the "undoing," to support people in our communities and their families. My hope is that every intervention translates to one more moment families share enjoying life instead of agonizing over difficult health, housing, and life choices.
Certified Health & Wellness Coach
Certified Aging In Place Specialist
Certified Health & Wellness Coach
Burba completed training through the Mayo Clinic and obtained his certification as a health & wellness coach through the National Board of Health & Wellness Coaching. He specializes in coaching middle to older adults seeking to age well. The spirit of coaching rests in helping individuals identify their strengths, envision the life they wish to lead, and empowering them to set and meet goals to live that life.
Occupational Therapist
Certified Aging In Place Specialist
Certified Health & Wellness Coach
Burba holds an occupational therapy license in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and is registered with the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy. The OTR designation indicates the clinician meets the highest standard of competency and ongoing training in the field. As a coach, Burba draws on his clinical experience supporting seniors in the community. He does not provide therapy services.
Certified Aging In Place Specialist
Certified Aging In Place Specialist
Certified Aging In Place Specialist
The Certified Aging In Place Specialist (CAPS) designation through the National Association of Homebuilders is earned by occupational therapists, general contractors, architects, and designers who have completed extensive training in aging-in-place design. Aging-in-place design principles address the unique needs of older adults, promoting safety, function, and independence in existing or new constructions.