What Is Heart Failure?

As a family caregiver, hearing the term heart failure can be frightening. This term might make it sound as though your parent’s heart has stopped working, it will no longer work, it has stopped, or there is nothing that can be done to help your parent’s heart work any longer. This is not really the case. Instead, heart failure is a condition and one that can be managed in order to help your parents stay as healthy as possible and live a higher quality of life as they age in place.

Home Health Care Darby PA – What Is Heart Failure?

By understanding what this condition is, you can recognize what your parent is going through, keep your eye out for symptoms and signs that may indicate that they need for their care, and ensure that they can take the steps to live as healthy and fulfilling a lifestyle as possible throughout their later years.

The term heart failure happens when the heart is at the point that it is no longer capable of pumping the blood that the body needs. This means that the body does not receive the oxygenated blood necessary to continue functioning properly, and that waste products such as fluids cannot be removed from the bloodstream as effectively. With this condition, the heart is unable to keep up with the workload that the body demands, leading to potential consequences such as the body not getting sufficient oxygen, swelling, and increased risk of serious problems such as heart attack.

While there is generally no cure for heart failure, there are ways that your parent can manage their condition so that they can live a full life and continue enjoying their favorite activities. If your parent is suffering from heart failure it is important that you keep in close contact with their doctor so that together you can ensure that your parent is getting what they need to maintain their best health and protect their heart from future consequences.

If you are a family caregiver for an elderly adult, you will need to make a wide variety of decisions for your parents. One of the best can by to start home health care for them. An in-home health care services provider can fill care gaps, be with your parent on a regular basis, and help them to pursue their own care goals as well as supporting you and giving your parent to care that they need.

This home health  care provider can be there for your parent to provide safe and reliable transportation so that your parent can get to where they need and want to go for a more active and fulfilling lifestyle. They can also provide assistance with personal care needs and activities of daily living such as bathing, grooming, dressing, meal preparation and eating, grocery shopping, housekeeping, and other tasks to help you or loved ones live the highest quality of life possible at the age in place.

Sources: https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_heart_failure.htm

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartFailure/Heart-Failure_UCM_002019_SubHomePage.jsp

If you or an aging loved one are considering Home Health Care Services in Darby PA, please contact the caring staff at True Direct Home Health Care today.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Perry C. Doc Alleva, Owner & Administrator

Owner & Administrator at True Direct Home Health Care

True Direct HHC owner and administrator, Perry C. Doc Alleva has been in the health care community for over 10 years as a therapy solutions provider, as well as a home care services coordinator. He has extensive experience in caring for the disabled and the surgical acute, sub-acute, and rehab population. Rooted in his home-town city of Philadelphia, with strong ties to it's vast neighborhoods and communities, he's now focusing all his energies towards innovating the home health care agency's role in providing the essential care needed from individual to the family throughout the community.

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.

Latest posts by Perry C. Doc Alleva, Owner & Administrator (see all)

• How Home Health Providers Offer Education Amidst Physical Health Changes - March 5, 2024
• Spring Activities for Seniors - February 21, 2024
• How to Help an Older Loved One with Cataracts? - February 6, 2024