Home Health Care: Cancer, heart disease, and stroke are three of the nation’s leading critical illnesses.
Heart disease is the most common, with more than 18 million adults diagnosed with coronary artery disease. Around 1.8 million cancer cases were diagnosed in 2020. Strokes occurred in almost 800,000 people. Those are facts you should know for National Critical Illness Awareness Month. Critical illnesses require extra care. One of the best ways to ensure a parent with a critical illness has the best possible care is by scheduling home health care services. Several aspects of nursing care at home will help with the recovery.
Medication Administration
Are there medications your mom or dad needs that are injected or administered through an IV? This might be pain medications or antibiotics. Rather than make a trip to the medical office when needed, a nurse can administer these injections or IV medications in your parent’s home.
Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapies
After surgery or while recovering from a stroke, working with therapists is often required to regain strength and abilities. You could transport your parent to a therapist’s office or have the therapist come to the home.
Physical therapy can help a heart patient or stroke victim regain strength and mobility. Speech therapists help relearn speech. Occupational therapists help your parent learn new ways to manage tasks that are more difficult than they used to be.
Hands-On Care
What if your parent’s doctor recommends someone take a pulse, oxygen saturation levels, and blood pressure throughout the day? You might be able to do this, but some people worry about making a mistake.
Have a home health care nurse stop by to record and report vital signs to the surgeon or doctor. Nurses can also check your parent’s weight and draw blood to send to the lab if that’s a requirement.
After surgery, wound care is important in preventing an infection. Nurses can change bandages, check that a wound isn’t showing signs of infection, and replace bandages as needed.
Nurses can take care of keeping catheters in place and draining correctly. They can offer tracheotomy and feeding tube care, too. If your mom or dad has a new diet to learn, they could have a dietitian come to their home. Diabetes care is another option.
How do you schedule home health care? Talk to your mom or dad’s medical team about having nurses helping out with medical care at home. The doctors will work with the home health care nurses to communicate instructions, things to watch for, and other important information. Call now.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering hiring Home Health Care in Waltham, MA, please contact the caring staff at Visiting Nurse & Community Care today. (781) 643-6090
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics
https://www.cdc.gov/stroke/facts.htm