Home Safety & Mobility Specialist — PT/OT
- Location
- Richmond, Virginia
- Schedule
- Full-time, M–F, appointments between 8am and 6pm, with possible weekend appointments
Bring your PT or OT training into older adults' homes. You'll see how a person actually lives and moves, spot what could put them at risk, and help families understand what matters most.
Read the full job description +Hide job description −
About Burnie's Way
Burnie's Way is building a better way to help people age safely at home, for longer. We are human-led and tech-enabled—bringing together home safety, safety net technology, and trusted ongoing support to help older adults maintain greater control over how and where they live, while giving their families greater confidence. We're an early-stage company building something we believe can fundamentally change the experience of aging at home. Think of us as air traffic control for aging at home: helping families see what's ahead, understand what may need to change, and put a plan in place before a crisis makes the decisions for them.
The Role
At Burnie's Way, we don't assess a house in isolation. We assess how a person lives and moves within it. You'll conduct in-home safety assessments throughout the Richmond area, observing how someone gets out of their favorite chair, navigates the stairs, steps into the shower, moves through the house at night, and manages the everyday activities that matter to them. The goal isn't to find everything that could be changed. It's to help families understand what matters most.
What You'll Do
Understand the person in the home
- Talk with the older adult and family to understand their routines, concerns, priorities and goals for living at home.
- Observe how the client moves through and uses the spaces that are part of everyday life.
- Apply your PT/OT training to recognize mobility, balance, transfer and functional considerations that may affect safety.
- Consider the individual's abilities and routines alongside the physical environment rather than either in isolation.
- Listen for what matters to the client—not simply what may present a safety concern.
Conduct comprehensive home safety assessments
- Walk the home room by room using the Burnie's Way assessment methodology.
- Evaluate bathrooms, bedrooms, stairs, entrances, lighting, flooring, pathways and other frequently used spaces.
- Identify conditions that may contribute to falls or make everyday activities harder.
- Consider how changing mobility or functional needs may affect the home over time.
- Document observations thoroughly and consistently.
- Install safety net technology for monitoring and preventing falls.
Develop clear, prioritized recommendations
- Translate observations into practical recommendations clients and families can understand.
- Distinguish between what should be addressed soon, what makes life easier, and what to consider for the future.
- Recommend categories of safety solutions while our home modification team determines installation scope.
- Explain the reasoning behind recommendations without creating unnecessary fear or urgency.
- Help clients feel informed and empowered to make decisions about their home.
Create a strong handoff
- Complete a clear assessment summary that becomes the foundation for the client's Burnie's Way Forward plan.
- Communicate important findings and context to the client's Care Navigator.
- Flag concerns that require additional attention or expertise.
- Collaborate with the team when clarification about a recommendation is needed.
Your job is to understand the person in the home, identify risks and recommend what should change. From there, the Care Navigator helps the family decide next steps, and our Safety team carries out the right installation solutions.
Help Us Build Something Better
We're a startup developing a new model for aging safely at home. You'll help improve our assessment methodology based on what you see in real homes, identify recurring risks and unmet needs, and help set standards that Home Safety & Mobility Specialists can one day use in communities across the country.
What We're Looking For
Required
- Current or previous professional experience as a Physical Therapist or Occupational Therapist.
- Appropriate PT or OT education, credentials and professional experience.
- Meaningful experience working with older adults.
- Strong understanding of mobility, transfers, balance, activities of daily living and functional challenges at home.
- Ability to translate observations into clear, practical recommendations.
- Exceptional interpersonal skills and the ability to build trust quickly with older adults and families.
- Strong written communication and documentation skills.
- Comfort working independently in clients' homes throughout the Richmond area.
- Excellent judgment, professionalism and discretion.
- Valid driver's license and reliable transportation.
- Ability to successfully complete required background screening.
Especially valuable
- Experience in geriatrics, home health, rehabilitation, senior living or aging-in-place services.
- Experience conducting home safety or fall-risk assessments.
- Knowledge of common home modifications, adaptive equipment and accessibility solutions.
- Experience working with families supporting an older adult from a distance.
- Additional education or certification in aging in place, fall prevention, home modifications or gerontology.
You'll Be Great at This If You Are...
- Observant. You notice the small things—the hesitation before a step, the furniture someone reaches for when standing, the path they take to the bathroom at night—and understand why they matter.
- Practical. You don't believe every home needs to be rebuilt. You look for the changes that make the greatest difference.
- A great communicator. You can explain what you're seeing without jargon, alarmism or talking down to someone.
- Respectful of control and choice. Your role is to help older adults understand their options, not tell them how they must live.
- Curious. You want to understand not only what someone can or can't do, but how they actually live and what matters to them.
- Comfortable with ambiguity. Every home, person and family is different. You apply expertise and judgment rather than simply working through a checklist.
- A builder. You want to help create a better model—not simply step into a system that's already finished.
Compensation & Benefits
$60,000–$90,000 annually, commensurate with experience.
- Medical, dental and vision insurance
- 10 days of paid time off
- Paid sick leave and company holidays
- Mileage reimbursement for required business travel or company supplied van to use
- Flexible work arrangements where the role allows
Why Burnie's Way
Most of the aging-care system responds after something has already happened. We're trying to get there sooner. A fall prevented. A bathroom made safer before it becomes a problem. An older adult who gets to remain in the home they love with greater confidence. You'll use your expertise not simply to help someone recover from yesterday, but to help prevent what might happen tomorrow.