Seniors who live at home can benefit from a number of safety precautions including hand rails, alarm systems which call for help if they fall or need assistance and a well thought out plan both for evacuating them from the home in an emergency or allowing others to enter in an urgent situation. We have helped a number of seniors in Carmel, Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove and other parts of Monterey County make their homes safer so they can remain independent in their own homes.
Slip and falls can be extremely dangerous to the elderly, and even life threatening. A number of our private-duty clients at Family inHome Caregiving have hired us only after a bad event like a fall which landed them in Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula or Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. Following surgery or other treatment at the hospital, they often end up staying in a skilled nursing facility. This can be very stressful being away from your own home for an extended period of time.
Another issue for the elderly, particularly those that live at home, is that they are sometimes unwilling to admit they need help. It's important to have friends, family or neighbors check in on them periodically and have a way to get into the house to check on them if there is no response.
There was a story in USA Today this week about a home health aid worker who found help for her unconscious patient, which she could only see through the window, from an unexpected source: her patient had given emergency crews the combination to a lockbox which allowed them easy entry to the home.
As the number of elderly needing assistance continues to grow, this trend of giving emergency services easy access to the house should continue. "It makes it a lot easier for us," Jack, Parow, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs told USA Today January 13.
The Knox Company in Phoenix has made key models for home for about 20 years, and there are also those with combinations which range in price from $20-$200. Some fire departments are using cash from drug forfeiture funds to pay for them.
Simple things like allowing emergency crews, friends, family and neighbors access in case of an emergency can be life saving. I keep a care plan book in the home of each Client with important information which is easily accessible such as phone numbers of family, names and numbers of Doctors and which hospital the patient would like to be taken to in an emergency.
As I have written on my blog many times before, it's important to make your wishes known before it's too late. This includes having a Physician's Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) and Advanced Health Care Directive (AHCD) available for emergency workers. Companies such as Shary Farr's Partners for Transitions in Carmel, can help you with these forms as well as setting up a living trust so that all of your affairs are in order.
A typical AHCD appoints someone to make medical decisions when you are unable to, as well as giving guidance as to how far you want physicians to go to keep you alive. POLST takes this one step further as it is actually signed by the Doctor, and a hospital or other facility can use it as doctors orders so there is no confusion as to what should be done in a life-threatening emergency medical situation.
For medical interventions, you can choose 'comfort measures only, limited additional interventions (with a choice of do not transfer to a hospital for medical interventions) or full treatment. For artificially administered nutrition, it gives the choice of no artificial nutrition by tube, defined trial period of artificial nutrition by tube, or long-term artificial nutrition by tube. For a copy of the California POLST form, click here. If you live in another state, just type the name of your state and POLST into the google search box, and you should have no problem finding it.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-13-lockboxes13_ST_N.htm
http://www.familyinhomecaregiving.com/Blog/
http://www.familyinhomecaregiving.com/blog/index.html?entry=make-your-medical-wishes-known
Slip and falls can be extremely dangerous to the elderly, and even life threatening. A number of our private-duty clients at Family inHome Caregiving have hired us only after a bad event like a fall which landed them in Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula or Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. Following surgery or other treatment at the hospital, they often end up staying in a skilled nursing facility. This can be very stressful being away from your own home for an extended period of time.
Another issue for the elderly, particularly those that live at home, is that they are sometimes unwilling to admit they need help. It's important to have friends, family or neighbors check in on them periodically and have a way to get into the house to check on them if there is no response.
There was a story in USA Today this week about a home health aid worker who found help for her unconscious patient, which she could only see through the window, from an unexpected source: her patient had given emergency crews the combination to a lockbox which allowed them easy entry to the home.
As the number of elderly needing assistance continues to grow, this trend of giving emergency services easy access to the house should continue. "It makes it a lot easier for us," Jack, Parow, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs told USA Today January 13.
The Knox Company in Phoenix has made key models for home for about 20 years, and there are also those with combinations which range in price from $20-$200. Some fire departments are using cash from drug forfeiture funds to pay for them.
Simple things like allowing emergency crews, friends, family and neighbors access in case of an emergency can be life saving. I keep a care plan book in the home of each Client with important information which is easily accessible such as phone numbers of family, names and numbers of Doctors and which hospital the patient would like to be taken to in an emergency.
As I have written on my blog many times before, it's important to make your wishes known before it's too late. This includes having a Physician's Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) and Advanced Health Care Directive (AHCD) available for emergency workers. Companies such as Shary Farr's Partners for Transitions in Carmel, can help you with these forms as well as setting up a living trust so that all of your affairs are in order.
A typical AHCD appoints someone to make medical decisions when you are unable to, as well as giving guidance as to how far you want physicians to go to keep you alive. POLST takes this one step further as it is actually signed by the Doctor, and a hospital or other facility can use it as doctors orders so there is no confusion as to what should be done in a life-threatening emergency medical situation.
For medical interventions, you can choose 'comfort measures only, limited additional interventions (with a choice of do not transfer to a hospital for medical interventions) or full treatment. For artificially administered nutrition, it gives the choice of no artificial nutrition by tube, defined trial period of artificial nutrition by tube, or long-term artificial nutrition by tube. For a copy of the California POLST form, click here. If you live in another state, just type the name of your state and POLST into the google search box, and you should have no problem finding it.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-13-lockboxes13_ST_N.htm
http://www.familyinhomecaregiving.com/Blog/
http://www.familyinhomecaregiving.com/blog/index.html?entry=make-your-medical-wishes-known