Recovering from any type of ailment or injury is complicated and time consuming. And for some seniors, it can be dangerous to not have help. That’s when home health care can solve a great many logistical problems for your elderly family member. Here’s some more about what home health services do and how this type of care can make healing much easier for your senior.
The Goal of Home Health Care Is Simple
Your senior’s medical providers might recommend home health services for a variety of reasons, including just helping her to heal and to get better after an injury or illness. This type of assistance is also about helping your elderly family member to remain as independent as she was able to be before her illness or injury. If complete healing isn’t possible for any reason, home health care is able to assist your senior in maintaining her current ability to function in her space.
Skilled Home Health Services Covers a Lot of Ground
But what kinds of specific help can your elderly family member receive through home health care? Wound care is common, especially if your elderly family member has had surgery or has been injured. If your senior needs help with specific medications or medical treatments, then skilled nursing assistance is incredibly important. IV medications or nutritional therapies are also important to have administered by a nurse and home health care offers that assistance. Other therapies, like physical and occupational therapy, are also under the umbrella of home health services.
Home Health Services Work Closely with Your Senior’s Doctor
Your senior’s doctors have a care plan in place for her and home health care providers help to make sure that care plan is followed. They maintain contact with your senior’s medical team, ensuring that everyone is aware of what is going on and what new developments might require changing how your senior’s recovery is handled. This can reduce so much stress for you and for your senior, because you know that everyone is on the same page.
Some Examples of How Home Health Providers Assist Your Senior
But what specifically can home health care do for your elderly family member? Staying on top of symptoms and pain levels is important, as well as making sure that your elderly family member is taking medication when she should. Providers also stay on top of your senior’s vital signs, including temperature and blood pressure. If your senior has a wound, providers watch for signs of complications or infection, which can ensure that she has help quickly if she needs it. On top of that, home health care providers are also making sure that your senior is eating and drinking and that she’s got other types of assistance that she might need.
Every person’s needs are different when they’re in a recovery situation, and that is true for your elderly family member, too. Home health care works with everyone involved to make sure that your senior has every need met while she is healing.