Home Care Services Can Help After Cardiac Surgery

Posted in After Surgery Care, Senior Care |

July 10, 2022

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During National Heart Month, your elderly loved one can show their heart some extra love! Learning how to keep their heart even more healthy! Also, how to best understand what’s needed in order to recuperate if they have to undergo cardiac surgery! Home care services is a great choice for assistance.

 

Home Care Services in Abbeville AL: After Cardiac Surgery Care

Home Care Services in Abbeville AL: After Cardiac Surgery Care

 

Care For the Heart

Always keep cholesterol and blood pressure levels monitored. Cardiovascular illnesses, heart attacks, and strokes are all contingent on what these levels are. Therefore, keep them monitored at all times! If needed, you can hire home care assistance providers to help your elderly loved one with this.

  • Foods full of saturated or trans-fat, salt, and sugar need to be replaced with much healthier alternatives. Good replacements would be vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean meats, lentils and beans, and low-fat dairy. Remember you are what you eat! Pay attention to eating habits!
  • Be sure to talk to your elderly loved one’s doctor first, and start slowly, though reducing your body weight by 5% can make an impact on blood pressure levels. Working out for thirty minutes by doing aerobics, most days of the week is a realistic way to drop some weight. It will also strengthen the heart too!
  • Avoid starting the habit of smoking, smoking, and/or secondhand smoke! If your elderly loved one does smoke, it’s important to quit. Even secondhand smoke is harmful to their heart.
  • Make time for themselves each day for at least fifteen minutes. It’s important to reduce stress. Try to participate in soothing activities that are enjoyable! Listen to music, read, go on a walk, or chat with friends for instance.
  • Don’t skip out on doctor visits! Visit the doctor regularly, at least once a year, and arrange for a checkup. It’s important to ensure your elderly loved one is in top physical and mental shape. Anything that could pose a problem is best caught and addressed early on, and any existing conditions need to always be kept under control.

You’ve Experienced Cardiovascular Problems Yourself…

It’s a complicated process, as you know, recovering. It can take weeks or even months when dealing with cardiovascular problems.

During this time, you can experience:

  • Swelling, numbness, tingling, or itchiness at the incision site
  • Chest pain
  • Weakness and lack of energy
  • Trouble with sleeping
  • Depression or moodiness
  • Changes in appetite
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Short-term loss of memory or confusion

Working with a home care professional is one way to best get through this healing process, like with our home care agency. Doctors typically recommend that for at least the first few weeks there is someone in the home for recovery.

If your elderly loved one had heart surgery, they need caregivers that are completely trained on top of experience in their ability to care, assist, and be observant to see changes in conditions in order to report them immediately.

Along with additional support and help, such as:

  • Companionship to engage in conversations with activities to brighten each day
  • Assistance with safe bathing and showering and getting dressed
  • Motivation and encouragement to adhere to the doctor’s recommended fitness program
  • Meal planning and preparation
  • Transportation to follow-up appointments
  • Housekeeping and laundry
  • Medication reminders
  • Picking up prescription medications and running other errands
  • Much more

Contact us today if you need to book post-cardiac surgery home care assistance services for your elderly loved one.

 

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Home Care Services in Abbeville, AL, please contact the caring staff at Wiregrass HomeCare today. Call us at 334-539-5900.

Sources

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000102.htm

Why Does Your Mom Struggle to Recognize Scams?

Posted in Caregiver Tips, Senior Care, Senior Scams |

March 30, 2022

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Two years ago, older adults lost around $600 million to scammers. Pandemic-related scams fooled many people, leading to a swift increase in many scams. Shopping scams increased by 129%. You’ve told your mom all about recognizing scams, yet she still believes many of the emails or calls she gets. You can’t take her phone away, but you see that as the only way to keep her from answering calls. Why does she have such a hard time recognizing scams? Having a senior care services provider on hand to help out with this is a great idea.

 

Senior Care in Dothan AL: Senior Scams

Senior Care in Dothan AL: Senior Scams

 

Scams Can Be Incredibly Convincing

Some scams are extremely convincing. Scammers use the power of social media and the internet to find out as much as they can about your mom. The grandparent scam is a good example of this.

Scammers will look at social media accounts to find photos that show where a grandchild is going to college or on vacation. They know information that convinces your mom the caller knows or is the grandchild in question.

Mail scams are also common. One person received a letter from a major cellphone company thanking the customer for applying for a new phone account. The letterhead seemed authentic. The company address checked out.

Nothing in the letter seemed false, but the person hadn’t applied for a new phone. Questions arose as to why it claimed credit reports were pulled. The recipient had credit freezes in place. One number in the credit report section turned out to be a fake. Had the recipient called that number, they would have connected with the scammers.

Scammers Work to Improve Their Tactics

As scams fail, the reasons why they failed help con artists improve their tactics. When people smartened up to gift cards or money orders being a sure sign of a scam, con artists asked people to withdraw cash, put it in a box, and send it via a delivery service.

Some scams could use something as simple as answering the phone and saying “yes” to pull off scams. Recording the “yes” was all it took to sign people up for costly services or charges they never agreed to.

Does She Lack Companionship?

Sometimes, older adults don’t have many people to talk to. If the phone rings, they answer it. Once they’re on the line, the scammer can use persuasive techniques to convince your mom they genuinely want to help her.

Have you considered that your mom is lonely and likes having someone to talk to? If she keeps answering the phone due to loneliness, hire senior home care aides for companionship and assistance with her mail, phone calls, and emails.

When she has caregivers available to talk to each week, she may no longer feel the need to rush to answer the phone. Call a senior care agency to learn more.

 

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Senior Care in Dothan, AL, please contact the caring staff at Wiregrass HomeCare today. Call us at 334-539-5900.

Sources:

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2020/ftc-top-scams.html

Senior Care: 6 Ways that Senior Care Makes CHF Easier for Your Family Member

Posted in Congestive Heart Failure, Senior Care |

December 22, 2021

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Senior Care in Ozark AL: Congestive Heart Failure

Senior Care: CHF, or congestive heart failure, can be incredibly draining for your senior on a daily basis.

One way to help her to deal with her illness is to make sure that she’s got help from senior care providers. This one change can improve your senior’s quality of life immensely.

 

Companion Home Care in Manhattan NY: Congestive Heart Failure

Companion Home Care in Manhattan NY: Congestive Heart Failure

 

Preparing Meals

Eating the right foods and eating them regularly is very important for someone with congestive heart failure. Senior care at home can assist your senior with this, reminding her to eat and providing healthy options. Having companionship during meals can also be important.

Reminding Her about Medications

Medications can be crucial for someone with CHF, and your senior is no different. Reminders to take her medication as prescribed can be incredibly helpful. Whether they’re new medications or ones your senior has taken for a while, it can still be way too easy to forget them.

Helping with Household Tasks

Conserving energy is often crucial for someone with heart disease. Your elderly family member can rely on home care providers to keep up with those tasks for her so that her home is clean and safe for her. Knowing that’s handled can be a tremendous stress reliever for your senior as well.

Helping with Mobility

Safe mobility is always vital. Your elderly family member doesn’t need to complicate her life by adding fall injuries to her CHF symptoms and daily challenges. If there are ever times that she feels dizzy or unstable, it’s crucial to know that she’s got help when she needs it.

Senior Care: Watching for Symptoms of Trouble

CHF symptoms can worsen very quickly with no notice. Senior care at home can watch for signs of trouble and can help your senior to get the help that she needs right away. That can make all the difference for both you and your senior, especially if you’ve been worried that she might have difficulty and no one there to help.

Senior Care: Offering Companionship

Companionship means so much, especially if it’s difficult for your elderly family member to socialize as much as she used to. Knowing that caregivers are there for her can be a huge weight off your mind. That’s especially true if you and your senior don’t live near each other.

Your senior can live at home safely with congestive heart failure for a long time. It’s a lot easier and less stressful when she has the right assistance such as a senior care provider, there with her.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Senior Care in Ozark, AL, please contact the caring staff at Wiregrass HomeCare today. Call us at 334-539-5900.

Senior Care: Is It Possible to Be a Family Caregiver When You Live in Another Country?

Posted in Long Distance Caregiving, Senior Care |

November 24, 2021

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Senior Care: Your job brought you to Europe, but you worry about your mom and dad being alone as your parents get older.

You can’t visit often enough to make sure they’re doing well. Phone calls and video chats are the only way you can check on them. Have you ever considered the benefits of senior care services?

 

Senior Care in Elba AL: Long Distance Caregiving

Senior Care in Elba AL: Long-Distance Caregiving

 

What Can Senior Home Care Aides Do?

Senior home care aides help your parents with all daily activities of a non-medical nature. Suppose your mom fell and broke her hip. She’s not confident getting in and out of the bathtub/shower unit anymore. She can have a caregiver available to help her with bathing and grooming.

Your dad doesn’t cook. He’s never been good at it, so he limits his meals to canned soup or pasta that he can microwave. He could have a caregiver cook nutritious meals for him.

Caregivers can do the housework. If your parents don’t have the stamina or strength to do things like vacuum pet hair from the stairs or wipe down counters, a caregiver can do it for them. They can vacuum, mop, wipe surfaces, organize cupboards, and do the laundry.

Your parents can have their caregiver drive them to stores, local businesses, area attractions, and medical offices. If they don’t want to go to their doctor’s appointment on their own, their caregiver can accompany them. Caregivers can take them grocery shopping, pick up prescription refills, and put their purchases away when they return to your parents’ house.

 

Are You Locked Into a Care Plan?

One of the best features of a home care plan is that it can be adapted to fit your parents’ changing needs. Your parents only need companionship services right now. But, a year from now, a health issue arises that requires daily help with bathing and personal care. It’s easy to make those changes.

You’re not locked into anything. If your parents decide to visit you in Europe for a month, they can put their care services on a hiatus for those weeks and resume services when they return.

 

How Do You Make Arrangements?

Call a home care agency and ask about services in your parents’ city or town. You’ll discuss availability and prices. Once you’ve narrowed down the services they need, arrange the days and times for caregiver visits.

Senior care services can be there for your parents when you live too far away. Support them through video chats and phone calls. Leave the rest up to their caregivers to handle. Together, you and your parents’ caregivers will ensure they age at home independently and safely.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Senior Care in Elba, AL, please contact the caring staff at Wiregrass HomeCare today. Call us at 334-539-5900.

Senior Care Tips: Ways That You Can Help Your Elderly Loved One Stop Hoarding?

Posted in Senior Care, Senior Care Tips |

August 6, 2021

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Senior Care Tips: When you go to your elderly loved one’s house, what do you see?

Does it seem like your elderly loved one has their belongings on every surface of their home? Does your elderly loved one keep all old newspapers? Maybe, your elderly loved one has hundreds of books they never read. These are just a couple of things that many senior citizens hoard. However, it could be anything else, as well. Hoarding is often a sign of depression, dementia, or loneliness. Learn more about it today with these senior care tips, so you can start helping your elderly loved one.

 

Senior Care Tips: Hoarding

Senior Care Tips: Hoarding

Talk About Safety

One of the ways that you can help your elderly loved one to stop hoarding is to talk to them about safety. Many senior citizens don’t realize the dangers of having so much in their house. Some of these dangers include:

  • Fire safety
  • Tripping

These are the most common safety issues with hoarding. If you talk to your elderly loved one about these dangers, hopefully, they will see that having so much in their house could be a huge problem.

After having this talk, if your elderly loved one is willing to let go of some belongings, you or an elder care provider can help them sort through things.

Getting Extra Help

If it seems like your elderly loved one is hoarding, you should talk to them. They may not be purposefully keeping everything. There could be many reasons why your elderly loved one doesn’t get rid of things. Some of these things include:

  • Hurting too much to pick things up
  • Feeling overwhelmed with all their belongings
  • Needing help doing household chores
  • Needing help sorting through items to decide what to keep and what to get rid of

If these things are happening, hopefully, you or an elder care provider can help your elderly loved one. All it would take is for someone to help your elderly loved one work through each section of their house.

Regular Cleaning

Once you can help your elderly loved one get their hoarding under control, regular cleaning is important. If you or an elder care provider can help your elderly loved one clean their home at least once a week, hopefully, it won’t get that messy or cluttered anymore.

If you go to your elderly loved one’s house and clutter keeps accumulating, be sure to talk to them again before it gets too bad. Find out what is happening again and see what your elderly loved one might need help with. The senior care tips above can help you with this.

 

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Senior Care in Abbeville, AL, please contact the caring staff at Wiregrass HomeCare today. Call us at 334-539-5900.

Sources

https://www.oprah.com/home/how-to-overcome-hoarding/all