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4 Practical Tips To Find The Best Medical Care For Your Elderly Parents

As the years go by, you get to see so many different specialty doctors that it’s hard to remember who’s who. On the other hand, that clinical doctor who cared for your parents throughout your life may no longer be available or is no longer appropriate to care for older adults. Sometime a specialist is involved. Fore example, if you require nasal reconstruction, you will want to contact the best rhinoplasty expert in Miami.

1- Listen To The Opinion Of Your Parents

Unfortunately, there is widespread social prejudice in relation to old age, which is to consider all older adults as sick or disabled. This situation of rejection leads to their not being considered competent to make certain choices, but their rights to decide regarding their health and their person, in general, must be respected.

On the other hand, it is highly unlikely that any treatment or medical indication will be successful if your father or mother does not trust the doctor or simply does not like him. Unless your cognitive ability is very altered, you should talk to your parents about the doctor they chose and discuss together the advantages and disadvantages that may arise.

2- What Specialty Should Be Searched

Unless you are looking to replace a specialist that, for some reason, is no longer available, your parents should ideally have a geriatrician as their primary care physician and that he or she knows which specialists you visit. Or else decide if you need one and refer you to it.

3- The First Impression Matters

All older adults should have a general practitioner or family geriatrician. But undoubtedly, the most important thing is to identify one that is compatible with your parents, in terms of personality and the care they provide. If your parents are not satisfied with this first consultation, if they feel that their questions have not been answered or simply that they do not like this professional, do not insist. It will be a losing battle. Better try to find another doctor.

4- The Location Of The Elderly Doctor

In small cities, it is very common for people to decide to go to the big cities for medical advice, regardless of the distance they are. This may be correct in other cases, but really, do you want your parents’ GP to attend in another city, an hour or more away? Your parents will not always be able to travel there, and they may need a home consultation, which will be really impossible if the doctor is from another city. Unless they live in a city without too many medical resources, always consider first that the professional work close to home.

Planning Tips

Discharge Planning Tips For Seniors And People With Disabilities

Independence and power to decide for yourself are very important aspects of planning during the recovery stage. To ensure that patients meet the requirements of a safe plan once they are discharged, locations, where they can receive support and medical care, should be identified before they can return to independent living. It is worth mentioning that the objective is for these people to be located in places with the least restrictions.

Important things to consider:

  • You are working with people who did not need the assistance of any institution before the natural disaster.
  • Because they have some needs as a result of the emergency, these patients require temporary care or rest in hospitals or clinics.
  • These patients need a safe plan after they are discharged from the hospital. They may not be able to return to their homes or stay healthy if their home was damaged in the structure or they have limited access to basic services such as water, electricity, communication, or transportation.
  • These patients should not be taken to an institution by mistake. Everyone should be able to be in the least restrictive places possible. Planning should focus on finding the right places for these individuals. This can take time because to support these people to live independently, support services at home and in the community must be fully available.

Planning to register and steps to follow:

    • Discharge is the process of moving people from temporary shelters back to the community for permanent placement during the transition to the recovery phase.
    • Appropriate planning to discharge patients is a long-term process. The focus should be on returning people to the independent lifestyle they had before the disaster and keeping in mind that these people may need short-term care and support to ensure their health, safety, and well-being.
    • The needs of these individuals should be assessed and the resources, services, and supports available in the community identified.
  • Patients should be connected to these resources and followed up to ensure that services and supports are acceptable. This can help confirm that patients find a less restrictive place to live.

Covid-19

Covid-19: Measures To Be Taken By Older Adults Against The Coronavirus

Here are the key tips for preparing older adults and their caregivers for a coronavirus outbreak in your community, adapted from the CDC’s list of tips for older adults:

Know the symptoms

  • If you have symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, cough, and trouble breathing, call your doctor first.
  • Some doctors offer telephonic and telehealth consultations to avoid the possibility of spreading the virus to other patients and to the medical personnel in the office.
  • Not everyone infected with the virus needs hospitalization. You may be able to recover in your own home. Follow your doctor’s instructions and CDC guidelines on how to care for yourself at home.

Stay prepared

  • Have a COVID-19 plan for yourself and create one for your loved ones. Check them out.
  • Make a list of your daily medications (in English) and the time of day you take them. That way, a caregiver can help you if you get sick.
  • Get a 30-day supply of your prescription drugs.
  • Stock up on tissues and over-the-counter medications for fever, cough, and other symptoms that may appear.
  • Have enough food and household products to make you comfortable staying home for a few weeks. Make sure you have enough supplies.
  • Create an emergency contact list.
  • If you have a caregiver, make sure you have a backup plan in case your caregiver gets sick.
  • If you are a caregiver, monitor the food, supplies, and medical needs (such as oxygen, dialysis, and wound care) of the person in your care. And have a backup plan.

Stay home, identify a friend as a contact

  • Avoid sick people and crowds of people.
  • Postpone travel, including air travel, and avoid cruises.
  • Pay attention to local news and follow the recommendations of local health authorities.
  • Stay in touch with others, whether by phone, email, or video calls.
  • You may need to ask for help from friends, family, neighbors, or community health workers, especially if you get sick.
  • Find a friend who will contact you often to see how you are doing, help you with preparations and stocking up on supplies, and help take care of yourself if necessary.

Practice healthy habits

  • When coughing or sneezing, cover yourself with a tissue or cough or sneeze into the crease of the arm, then wash your hands.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth without washing your hands.
  • Clean your hands often. Wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds.
  • If you don’t have soap and water, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
  • Cleans and sanitizes surfaces and things you touch frequently. This includes tables, chairs, doorknobs, light switches, handrails, countertops, elevator buttons, remote controls, shared electronic devices, shared exercise equipment, handles, desks, telephones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, sinks, and sinks.