Hospital stays are especially serious for senior citizens. Nearly one in five Medicare patients wind up back in the hospital within 30 days of being discharged.
If you have an elderly parent living alone, it’s clearly best to help them stay out of the hospital in the first place. Here’s how we can help.
We make sure they take their meds correctly. The typical 65-year-old will take 14 prescription medications in the coming year. The typical 80-year-old will take 18. So, by the time your mom or dad needs help staying at home, they’re likely to be on a very complex regimen of meds, one that would challenge the most organized among us.
Some of these prescriptions must be taken in the morning, others at night. Some on an empty stomach, others during or immediately after meals. And some may make you drowsy or lightheaded. On top of that, over-the-counter pain relievers and cold medicines can have hazardous side effects when they interact with prescription meds.
Now imagine having to keep up with all these meds as you are suffering the forgetfulness of old age.
Stay at Home doesn’t prescribe or administer drugs, but we excel at helping our clients take their medications safely and on schedule. We’re your personal assistant when you need one the most.
We make sure they eat properly and stay hydrated. It’s not too big a surprise that seniors sometimes suffer from malnutrition and dehydration. Meals often lose their importance when children are out of the house and you’re all alone. What were once joyous social occasions become mere chores. On top of that, we often lose our senses of hunger and thirst as we grow old, and forgetfulness sometimes causes the elderly to miss meals and become dehydrated without even noticing.
When you work with Stay at Home, we’re the ones who make sure your mom or dad eats regular meals and drinks plenty of water. And when we’re there, meals can once again become social occasions. We don’t have to be around during meals, but we’re happy to sit together with your parent and gab, sharing gossip and news of the day. There’s nothing we enjoy more than helping to make mealtime fun again.
We help them keep up with exercises and physical therapy. Many of our clients are going through physical therapy, a process that often relies on home exercises as much as in-office visits. It’s easy for anyone to let stretching and weight training slide, especially when you’re going through the pain and discomfort of recovering from an injury.
We’re there to remind your parent to keep on a schedule of exercises while we provide encouragement and praise. After all, who doesn’t exercise better when they have someone to cheer them on?
Regular visits help alleviate depression. While depression among senior citizens is common, depression medications can be very hard on the body. Regular visits from a Stay at Home caretaker can help ease depression without medication. Not only do we provide conversation and companionship to relieve the isolation many seniors feel, but we help keep the home tidy, make sure our clients are eating right and drinking water, and provide encouragement.
Please get in touch if you think we can help you.