What Can You Do to Be Prepared for Sudden Medical Visits?
Sudden medical visits, either to your senior’s doctor or to the hospital, are not an easy thing to prepare for, but it is possible. These tips can help you to feel more in control when these out-of-control situations pop up.
Home Health Care Chester PA – What Can You Do to Be Prepared for Sudden Medical Visits?
Keep an Updated List of Medicines Handy
If your aging adult is like many people with health issues, she probably takes quite a few medications. Remembering all of the different medications, dosages, and other details is not easy to do, especially when you’re in an emotionally tense situation such as a medical emergency. It’s helpful for these situations to have an updated list of medications somewhere that you can access it easily, such as on your phone. The key is to remember to update it regularly.
Keep a “Go Bag” Packed and Stocked
Having a “go bag” stocked and ready to go at a moment’s notice is really important for getting out the door quickly. You definitely want to include a change of clothes for each of you, any necessary items, snacks, water bottles, and phone chargers. It’s also a good idea to include an updated medication list in the bag, just in case. Make sure that home health care providers know where to find your senior’s go bag, too, just in case you’re not there when your senior needs to go to the hospital or doctor.
Make Sure Emergency Phone Numbers Are Easy to Find
Like your senior’s medications list, emergency phone numbers are a bit of crucial information for you and for home health care providers to have. Establish a list of the most important numbers and make it readily accessible somewhere like the fridge door or a dedicated spot on the kitchen counter. Keeping a copy in her go back is helpful, too, because anyone else caring for your elderly family member can contact family members to let them know what is happening.
Don’t Forget Activities to Entertain Your Senior
Hospitals and doctor’s offices are often boring places to be, even in an emergency situation. Your senior could also be scared to be there because of her existing health issues. Keeping something in her go bag that is entertaining for her can help to distract your elderly family member from what is going on around her. This can make waiting for her doctor a little more tolerable.
As scary as sudden medical visits can be, preparation can help them to feel less intimidating. Tweak your plan over time to better account for your needs as well as the needs of your elderly family member. When something isn’t working well, determine what would work better and put it into place.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Home Health Care Services in Chester PA, please contact the caring staff at True Direct Home Health Care today.
Doc, as he is called by everyone - staff, patients and clients - first experienced home health care and hospice care while as a colleg student at King's College as he cared for his mother every day while she first battled COPD and then lung cancer. It was during this time that he came to understand that caring for a patient was more than just clinical expertise.
"Admittedly, my strongest attribute is my communication skills and the simple fact that I love to help people. Even the smallest thing you can do for someone really can mean so much to them long term. In fact, it could change them forever. That's what providing quality personal home health care should be all about."
In his spare time, he cooks for homeless shelters and children's music and arts events. He also is highly involved in his local youth sports soccer academy as a coach and Board member.
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