Many seniors need regular care as well as help from others. However, every individual’s needs vary, therefore, all elders can’t be put under one bracket. This is because they suffer from different diseases, have different types of bodies, and they have different limitations in terms of what they can do for themselves and areas they may need assistance.
If caregiving is to be effective, it’s important to personalize it to suit each patient’s unique needs. Also, getting to the clinic can be a challenge, that is why primary care visits should be looked into. For more insight on this, visit https://www.communityhcp.com/.
Here’s a list of how to ensure personalized healthcare for seniors:
Determine The Services Needed
Your loved one probably has specific areas in which they need help. For example, while they may not be able to cook for themselves, they might still like the privacy of bathing on their own. Finding out their limitations may be a good way to personalize healthcare for them. Healthcare givers offer a wide variety of services and you don’t need to pay for them all. Some of them are:
- Mobility assistance
- Transportation to medical appointments
- Taking medication
- Hygiene
- Physical exercises
- Mental stimulation games or exercises to help with memory loss
- Help getting in and out of bed
The purpose of healthcare personalization is to make sure the patient is actually getting the care they need. A senior in a wheelchair or who generally has a hard time moving around may need mobility assistance. However, a senior with dementia may need to be engaged in mentally stimulating exercises as well as help taking their medication. You can never underestimate the need to narrow healthcare down to what the senior really needs.
Determine How Often They Need Care
How often your senior loved one needs care may depend on their condition. Some may still have a relatively high level of independence, while others may need healthcare assistance very often. The level of frequency of care they need may progress with time. Therefore, make sure you regularly reevaluate your senior loved one’s healthcare needs and adjust accordingly.
Most elderly people suffer from at least one chronic disease, some more deadly than others. Some progressively slow down memory and cognitive skill, for example Alzheimer’s disease, while some cause chronic pain and decreased mobility like arthritis.
In such chronic diseases, personalized healthcare or home care services can be a game changer. In arthritis, caregivers try to alleviate the pain by massaging arthritic body parts, promoting healthy eating, and encouraging physical exercise to improve mobility and flexibility in the joints. While in Alzheimer’s, home caregivers try to be with the patient, listen calmly, make them reminisce such memories of the past in which the patient is interested, and use visual cues to help the patient in daily activities like brushing, bathing, and dressing.
Establish A Good Caregiver/Patient Relationship
It’s crucial for a patient to connect with their caregiver and feel comfortable around them. This will enhance their mental health as well as emotional wellbeing. As part of personalized healthcare, this aspect can’t be ignored.
When a healthcare giver knows their patient’s likes, dislikes, hobbies, and any personal detail, it might help them to deliver healthcare in a way that’s acceptable and sometimes even enjoyable to the patient. Although your senior loved one is probably in pain from one thing or another, receiving healthcare shouldn’t be a terrible experience for them.
Come Up With Caregiver Shifts
Your senior loved one should always receive healthcare when they need it. Given that their bodies are fragile and their immune systems may not be so strong because of age, constant care should be provided without fail. Simple healthcare tasks like mobility assistance and taking of medication on time may sometimes even be provided by family members or friends.
To avoid confusion, you should properly coordinate shifts with healthcare givers if your loved one is receiving healthcare at home. Communicate effectively when your loved one receives care from family or friends. You might even need to come up with a timetable that works for both the patient and the caregivers.
Coordinating caregiver shifts effectively is a good way to ensure caregiver shifts run smoothly and that adequate health care is given to your senior without fail when they need it.
Factor In Transportation
Most senior people have eyesight issues. Some experience chronic pain that may not allow them to drive comfortably. You may need to find out ways to get your senior loved one to a healthcare facility. It may help to also find out if your loved one’s caregiving agency offers transportation services for their clients.
Caregiving agencies offer different types of transportation services. These may include the following:
- Caregivers personally driving the patient in their (patient) vehicle.
- Caregivers driving patients in their (caregivers) personal vehicles.
- Caregiving agency providing van or bus transportation services to their patients.
Transportation services best suitable for your senior loved one are best established ahead of time. Try to avoid doing things last minute because your senior loves one might one day be faced by a health emergency needing immediate attention.
Healthcare Workers Should Always Be Warm And Friendly
Healthcare givers should make an effort to remember and use senior patients’ preferred names. It adds a personal touch to the whole process. While some people prefer to be called by their names, some may prefer their nicknames. Staff members may also ask about patients’ children, grandchildren, pets, or anything that makes them feel good and special.
They may also introduce themselves to their patients as well as explain their duties or roles. It’s also common courtesy for healthcare workers to inform senior patients of all the steps and procedures (if any) they’re are going to go through. They should also be re-assured and made to feel comfortable and at ease during any healthcare visit.
Conclusion
While personalizing healthcare for senior parents isn’t an overnight thing, it can greatly enhance their experience. Seniors are prone to chronic diseases and all sorts of ailments. Therefore, they already go through a lot of pain and discomfort daily. Their healthcare experiences don’t have to be another source of discomfort.
Also, seniors suffer from different diseases and respond differently to medicine. When their healthcare is personalized, they receive the best healthcare for their situation in a way that is well tailored for them. This will promote good physical and mental health and it may even prevent further ailments.