Elderly Care: Another Face of Christmas
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 | home care | No Comments
THERE was once a family who had a guest staying with them; and when they found out that he was to have a birthday during his visit they were all delighted at the idea of celebrating it. Days before–almost weeks before–they began to prepare for the celebration. They cooked and stored a large quantity of good things to eat, and laid in a stock of good things to be cooked and prepared on the happy day. They planned and arranged the most beautiful decorations. They even thought over and made, or selected, little gifts for one another; and the whole house was in hurry and confusion for weeks before the birthday came. Everything else that was to be done was postponed until after the birthday; and, indeed, many important things were neglected.
Finally the birthday came, the rooms were all decorated, the table set, all the little gifts arranged, and the guests from outside of the house had all arrived. Just after the festivities had begun a little child said to its mother: “Mamma, where is the man whose birthday it is–”
“Hush, hush,” the mother said, “don’t ask questions.”
But the child persisted, until finally the mother said: “Well, I am sure I do not know, my dear, but I will ask.”
She asked her neighbor, and the neighbor looked surprised and a little puzzled.
“Why,” she said, “it is a celebration, we are celebrating his birthday, and he is a guest in the house.”
Then the mother got interested and curious herself.
“But where is the guest? Where is the man whose birthday it is?” And, this time she asked one of the family. He looked startled at first, and then inquired of the rest of the family.
“Where is the guest whose birthday it is?” Alas I nobody knew. There they were, all excited and trying to enjoy themselves by celebrating his birthday, and he,–some of them did not even know who he was! He was left out and forgotten!
When they had wondered for a little while they immediately forgot again, and went on with their celebrations,–all except the little child. He slipped out of the room and made up his mind to find the man whose birthday it was, and, finally, after a hard search, he found him upstairs in the attic,–lonely and sick.
He had been asked to leave the guestroom, which he had occupied, and to move upstairs, so as to be out of the way of the preparations for his birthday. Here he had fallen ill, and no one had had time to think of him, excepting one of the humbler servants and this little child. They had all been so busy preparing for his birthday festival that they had forgotten him entirely.
This is the way it is with most of us at Christmas time.
We’re busy with celebrations - but where is the Guest?
How to Cope with Home Care Long Term
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | home care | 1 Comment
Caring at home for the elderly is a very important function as part of the overall health service all over the world. However it does put a huge burden on the home situation when it comes to looking after elderly parents or relatives. This burden can come in two ways one is the mental burden of looking after somebody every single day and having to do the same thing every single day; the other one is financial. Even if a parent or relative is not in the home care situation they are probably in a nursing home which has to be paid for. Having a relative in a nursing home can be very costly and as the recession deepens and more and more people lose their jobs it is getting harder for people to support their parents either at home or in a nursing home.
I was very taken aback by a show that I listened to on the radio this week where people were ringing up and pouring their hearts out about their own situations. It was a mixture of home carers and families supporting their love ones in a nursing home. People were talking about becoming unemployed and having no income coming in to the house wondering how they were going to live and also how they’re going to continue to pay for nursing home bills. The emotional burden that this was putting on people was enormous and families are really finding it hard to cope. The one sentence that really caught me was when a woman said that she almost wished her parent to die so that burden would be lifted and she could get on with her normal life. The pressure that somebody has to be under in order to say something like that must be enormous and is very hard to understand and also very hard to resolve. Especially where the relative is in a nursing home and the only thing that will resolve the situation is money and where is the money going to come from? Nobody was able to answer that question.
In fact I listened to the show for about two hours and I was glad that people had the chance to publicly raise the issue in the hope that something might be done but what I was disheartened about was the lack of possible solutions support that was aired on the show. There was very little answers to the problems people were having. Should the government step in and look after these people? Unfortunately the government don’t have the funds either.
While it’s not a solution but if there is family support there might be a way to ease the pressure and this could make a huge difference. Without families getting together to do what they can it is almost impossible for one person to take on the burden. I don’t see any other short-term solution to the problem. The one thing that people have more of is time. Because of the recession more people are out of work but also they should have the ability to give their time when in the past they didn’t. Just in the same way as children are being minded in the home a lot more as more people are out of work the same should apply for the week and the vulnerable.
Home Care: Things to Consider before You Start
Sunday, October 25th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
Before anyone can consider taking care of an elderly relation or friend there are a whole host of issues to consider. Quite often relatives don’t want the burden of looking after their elderly parents or relatives, this may seem harsh but when you look at people’s circumstances they are often very good reasons why this is the case.
Families may have very young children and if both parents are working long hours with young children they may not have the time to look after anybody else; especially these days when young people are tied into very large mortgages and see no option but to keep on working to pay their way. Also the size of families is getting smaller which means there is less offspring around to take care of the elderly and depending on what are the circumstances it can be a huge task taking care of somebody in your home.
It would always be a daunting task looking after somebody in their later years however there are things one can do to get help to make the task easier and not to feel alone. It is very easy to feel lonely as if the world is caving in on top of you as the responsibilities mount up and the daily routine can become a never ending cycle.
So what can be done? Where can you go and who can you go to for help? The first place to start would be with the parents or relatives local GP. The doctor will be a great source of help giving you avenues to explore maybe even contact names and telephone numbers. These days most health services work together to deliver an all-around system while no health service in the world is perfect you need to make sure that you make maximum use of the resources available.
Ring the local authorities or local support groups that you or your doctor may know of. You will find that once you start talking to any agency they will point you in the right direction because the caregiver’s world is a small one and the one should know what is available in the local area. If you’re having no luck at all called the national offices and they will be able to point you in the right direction.
Use the Internet to find out what’s available, these days almost everything is available on the Internet and many sites have links to other relevant sites that may have more information for you. Once you start researching your needs on the Internet you will be amazed at the information that you will find leaving you to discover avenues that you haven’t even thought off.
No matter how hard your situation is, don’t give up on the care for the elderly at least until you have explored all the avenues that are available to you. It’ll take determination hard work but the rewards are huge if you decide to take care of the elderly. It is not easy but just think of the help that you might need someday.
Home Care as the Option
Friday, October 23rd, 2009 | home care | No Comments
Taking care of our elderly is a huge problem for our society and it is really important that we plan to take care of the older generation and one of the best ways to do this is to incorporate a home care plan that works well with our national healthcare strategy.
The world wide trend in the developing countries is that people are living longer and this trend is set to continue as advances are continuously made in medicine. Of course this is a huge benefit to us all as every one of us would like to live longer however there are some drawbacks. The fact that people are living longer the requirements for care as we get older is becoming greater every year and the resources to provide this care need to be in place in order for the elderly to be taking care of. One of the ways that care can be provided is through home care. When a patient doesn’t need constant medical care that individual can get provided for through the home care program. A home care program is provided as part of a health care strategy, whereby medical assistance is provided to the patient while they stay at their own home or with a friend or relative.
Taking care of patients at home has huge benefits both to the healthcare system and to the patients. As far as the hospitals are concerned sending a patient home to be cared for will free up bed space for the hospital which would allow more patience to be treated and therefore improving the overall efficiency of the hospital. To complement that, there are far more benefits to the patient because it is a well-known fact that outside the hospital patients are less likely to get infected with viruses like MRSA and would therefore need less medical attention and would recover from illness a lot quicker. Also because patients are being cared for by people who they know and love, the care tends to be of a higher quality when compared to nursing homes. Also if a patient has the ability to get around they can do small jobs around the house and therefore have a sense of purpose which is something that you wouldn’t feel if they were staying in a nursing home type of environment. This can have a hugely positive effect on the general well-being of the patient because being in familiar surroundings and being cared for by people they know can have a positive effect on patients overall health and at a minimum would reduce the feeling of loneliness that can be huge part of staying within healthcare facilities.
As home care is generally part of the overall health care strategy there are a lot of supports that one can avail of in-home care situation. Part of that decision to put a patient in the home care support network is as a result of a detailed assessment by the doctors to see if a patient is suitable to be cared for at home. Once that decision is made there are a number of supports available for example home help resources can be allocated so that the patient and the family can get outside help on a daily basis to assist with the extra responsibility of looking after someone in the home. Because of other extra support like grants it makes looking after someone at home more feasible, just ask yourself the question if you were the patient would you prefer to stay in a nursing home or be cared for in the home where you’ve lived for most of your life?
Home Care or a Nursing Home?
Sunday, October 18th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
Taking care of the elderly is something that we need to plan for because it is something that takes resources and money to cater for. Nobody likes to think about it because it always something that is so far away and there always seems like there is plenty of time to put plans in place. However what happens to most of us is that time creeps up with us and very often we have no plans and rely on the government to take care of us. In some ways that should be fine after all the taxes we have paid there should be some level of care for us when we get older.
There is a case to be made for taking control of our own destiny, at least to some degree. One should have a good pension first of all in order to have a means to make a contribution to being taken care of. Whatever happens to us in our later years we will end up in a nursing home, being cared for by loved ones or using some kind of home care system? The point is they all cost money and we should have something in our personal assets to help pay for our care.
I believe that home care is the best form of care if it can be managed. There are a lot of things to consider before deciding whether a nursing home or whether or not homecare is more suitable, however if your general health is manageable home care it is the best for you if you have the support of your family or friends.
Benefits of staying at home:
• Still part of the family on a daily basis.
• Better able to have a sense of purpose if you can help out in a small way.
• Familiar surroundings.
• Lest chance of infection.
• Maintaining a network of family and friends.
• More choice of what to do.
• More cost effective.
Benefits of a nursing home:
• Better support for rehabilitation treatment.
• Closer monitoring by health professionals.
• Purpose built facilities to cater for the elderly.
• More access to wheelchairs, walking frames, better toilet facilities etc.
As you can see there are a lot of issues to consider before you make your decision and often it’s not your decision it’s a family decision, as it can be a huge undertaking for a family to take on the care of an elderly person even with the support of home care organisation.
The easy option is sometimes to send the elderly person into a nursing home and this reduces the burden on the family but increases the burden on the state and I think if we are fair and reasonable about it we can’t expect the state to take care of all our problems. The elderly can be the forgotten group having outlived their usefulness but you have ask yourself two things, where you be without them and what would you like to happen to you when you get old?
Home Care: Taking Care of the Elderly at Home
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
Taking care of our elderly is a huge problem for our society and it is really important that we plan to take care of the older generation and one of the best ways to do this is to incorporate a home care plan that works well with our national healthcare strategy. The world wide trend in the developing countries is that people are living longer and this trend is set to continue as advances are continuously made in medicine.
Of course this is a huge benefit to us all as every one of us would like to live longer however there are some drawbacks. The fact that people are living longer the requirements for care as we get older is becoming greater every year and the resources to provide this care need to be in place in order for the elderly to be taking care of. One of the ways that care can be provided is through home care. When a patient doesn’t need constant medical care that individual can get provided for through the home care program. A Home care program is provided as part of a health care strategy, whereby medical assistance is provided to the patient while they stay at their own home or with a friend or relative.
Taking care of patients at home has huge benefits both to the healthcare system and to the patients. As far as the hospitals are concerned sending a patient home to be cared for will free up bed space for the hospital which would allow more patience to be treated and therefore improving the overall efficiency of the hospital. To complement that, there are far more benefits to the patient because it is a well-known fact that outside the hospital patients are less likely to get infected with viruses like MRSA and would therefore need less medical attention and would recover from illness a lot quicker.
Also because patients are being cared for by people who they know and love, the care tends to be of a higher quality when compared to nursing homes. Also if a patient has the ability to get around they can do small jobs around the house and therefore have a sense of purpose which is something that you wouldn’t feel if they were staying in a nursing home type of environment. This can have a hugely positive effect on the general well-being of the patient because being in familiar surroundings and being cared for by people they know can have a positive effect on patients overall health and at a minimum would reduce the feeling of loneliness that can be huge part of staying within healthcare facilities.
As home care is generally part of the overall health care strategy there are a lot of supports that one can avail of in-home care situation. Part of that decision to put a patient in the home care support network is as a result of a detailed assessment by the doctors to see if a patient is suitable to be cared for at home.
Once that decision is made there are a number of supports available for example home help resources can be allocated so that the patient and the family can get outside help on a daily basis to assist with the extra responsibility of looking after someone in the home. Because of other extra support like grants it makes looking after someone at home more feasible, just ask yourself the question if you were the patient would you prefer to stay in a nursing home or be cared for in the home where you’ve lived for most of your life?
Care for the Elderly: Solving Your Problems
Monday, May 4th, 2009 | home care | 4 Comments
THERE are very few persons who have not I had the experience of giving up a problem in mathematics late in the evening, and waking in the morning with the solution clear in their minds. That has been the experience of many, too, in real-life problems. If it were more common, a great amount of nervous strain might be saved.
There are big problems and little, real and imaginary; and some that are merely tired nerves. In problems, the useless nervous element often plays a large part. If the “problems” were dropped out of mind with sufferers from nervous prostration, their progress towards renewed health might be just twice as rapid. If they were met normally, many nervous men and women might be entirely saved from even a bowing acquaintance with nervous prostration. It is not a difficult matter, that of meeting a problem normally,–simply let it solve itself. In nine cases out of ten, if we leave it alone and live as if it were not, it will solve itself. It is at first a matter of continual surprise to see how surely this self-solution is the result of a wholesome ignoring both of little problems and big ones.
In the tenth case, where the problem must be faced at once, to face it and decide to the best of our ability is, of course, the only thing to do. But having decided, be sure that it ceases to be a problem. If we have made a mistake, it is simply a circumstance to guide us for similar problems to come.
All this is obvious; we know it, and have probably said it to ourselves dozens of times. If we are sufferers from nervous problems, we may have said it dozens upon dozens of times. The trouble is that we have said it and not acted upon it. When a problem will persist in worrying us, in pulling and dragging upon our nerves, an invitation to continue the worrying until it has worked itself out is a great help towards its solution or disappearance.
I remember once hearing a bright woman say that when there was anything difficult to decide in her life she stepped aside and let the opposing elements fight it out within her. Presumably she herself threw in a little help on one side or the other which really decided the battle. But the help was given from a clear standpoint, not from a brain entirely befogged in the thick of the fight
Whatever form problems may take, however important they may seem, when they attack tired nerves they must be let alone. A good way is to go out into the open air and so identify one’s self with Nature that one is drawn away in spite of one’s self. A big wind will sometimes blow a brain clear of nervous problems in a very little while if we let it have its will. Another way out is to interest one’s self in some game or other amusement, or to get a healthy interest in other people’s affairs, and help where we can.
Each individual can find his own favorite escape. Of course we should never shirk a problem that must be decided, but let us always wait a reasonable time for it to decide itself first. The solving that is done for us is invariably better and clearer than any we could do for ourselves.
It will be curious, too, to see how many apparently serious problems, relieved of the importance given them by a strained nervous system, are recognized to be nothing at all. They fairly dissolve themselves and disappear.
Home Help: Refuse the Useless Strain
Friday, May 1st, 2009 | home care | No Comments
Here are some simple directions which may help nervous patients, if considered in regular order. They can hardly be read too often if the man or woman is in for a long siege; and if simply and steadily obeyed, they will shorten the siege by many days, nay, by many weeks or months, in some cases.
Remember that Nature tends towards health. All you want is nourishment, fresh air, exercise, rest, and patience.
All your worries and anxieties now are tired nerves.
When a worry appears, drop it. If it appears again, drop it again. And so continue to drop it if it appears fifty or a hundred times a day or more.
If you feel like crying, cry; but know that it is the tired nerves that are crying, and don’t wonder why you are so foolish,–don’t feel ashamed of yourself.
If you cannot sleep, don’t care. Get all the rest you can without sleeping. That will bring sleep when it is ready to come, or you are ready to have it.
Don’t wonder whether you are going to sleep or not. Go to bed to rest, and let sleep come when it pleases.
Think about everything in Nature. Follow the growing of the trees and flowers. Remember all the beauties in Nature you have ever seen.
Say Mother-Goose rhymes over and over, trying how many you can remember.
Read bright stories for children, and quiet novels, especially Jane Austen’s.
Sometimes it helps to work on arithmetic.
Keep aloof from emotions.
Think of other people.
Never think of yourself. Bear in mind that nerves always get well in waves; and if you thought yourself so much better,–almost well, indeed,–and then have a bad time of suffering, don’t wonder why it is, or what could have brought it on. Know that it is part of the recovery-process; take it as easily as you can, and then ignore it.
Don’t try to do any number of things to get yourself well; don’t change doctors any number of times, or take countless medicines. Every doctor knows he cannot hurry your recovery, whatever he may say, and you only retard it by being over-anxious to get strong. Drop every bit of unnecessary muscular tension.
When you walk, feel your feet heavy, as if your shoes were full of lead, and think in your feet.
Be as much like a child as possible. Play with children as one of them, and think with them when you can.
As you begin to recover, find something every day to do for others. Best let it be in the way of house-work, or gardening, or something to do with your hands.
Take care of yourself every day as a matter of course, as you would dress or undress; and be sure that health is coming. Say over and over to yourself: Nourishment, fresh air, exercise, rest, PATIENCE.
When you are well, and resume your former life, if old associations recall the unhappy nervous feelings, know that it is only the associations; pay no attention to the suffering, and work right on. Only be careful to take life very quietly until you are quite used to being well again.
An illness that is merely nervous is an immense opportunity, if one will only realize it as such. It not only makes one more genuinely appreciative of the best health, and the way to keep it, it opens the sympathies and gives a feeling for one’s fellow-creatures which, having once found, we cannot prize too highly.
It would seem hard to believe that all must suffer to find a delicate sympathy; it can hardly be so. To be always strong, and at the same time full of warm sympathy, is possible, with more thought. When illness or adverse circumstances bring it, the gate has been opened for us.
If illness is taken as an opportunity to better health, not to more illness, our mental attitude will put complaint out of the question; and as the practice spreads it will as surely decrease the tendency to illness in others as it will shorten its duration in ourselves.
Elder Home Care: Give Way to Health
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
Nature always tends towards health. It is to prevent further ill-health that she allows us to suffer for our disobedience to her laws. It is to lead us back to health that she is giving the best of her powers, having dealt the deserved punishment. The truest help we can give Nature is not to think of our bodies, well or ill, more than is necessary for their best health.
I knew a woman who was, to all appearances, remarkably well; in fact, her health was her profession. She was supposed to be a Priestess of Health. She talked about and dwelt upon the health of her body until one would have thought there was nothing in the world worth thinking of but a body. She displayed her fine points in the way of health, and enjoyed being questioned with regard to them. This woman was taken ill. She exhibited the same interest, the same pleasure, in talking over and dwelling upon her various forms of illness; in fact, more. She counted her diseases. I am not aware that she ever counted her strong points of health.
This illustration is perhaps clear enough to give a new sense of the necessity for forgetting our bodies. When ill use every necessary remedy; do all that is best to bring renewed health. Having made sure you are doing all you can, forget; don’t follow the process. When, as is often the case, pain or other suffering puts forgetting out of the question, use no unnecessary resistance, and forget as soon as the pain is past Don’t strengthen the impression by talking about it or telling it over to no purpose. Better forego a little sympathy, and forget the pain sooner.
It is with our nerves that we resist when Nature has punished us. It is nervous strain that we put into a useless attention to and repetition of the details of our illness. Nature wants all this nerve-force to get us well the faster; we can save it for her by not resisting and by a healthy forgetting. By taking an illness as comfortably as possible, and turning our attention to something pleasant outside of ourselves, recovery is made more rapidly.
Many illnesses are accompanied by more or less nervous strain, and its natural control will assist nature and enable medicines to work more quickly. The slowest process of recovery, and that which most needs the relief of a wholesome non-resistance, is when the illness is the result entirely of over-worked nerves. Nature allows herself to be tried to the utmost before she permits nervous prostration. She insists upon being paid in full, principal and interest, before she heals such illness. So severe is she in this case that a patient may appear in every way physically well and strong weeks, nay, months, before he really is so. It was the nerves that broke down last, and the nerves are the last to be restored. It is, however, wonderful to see how much more rapid and certain recovery is if the patient will only separate himself from his nervous system, and refuse all useless strain.
Home Care Service: Why All that Illness?
Monday, April 27th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
AS far as we make circumstances guides and not limitations, they serve us. Otherwise, we serve them, and suffer accordingly. Just in proportion, too, to our allowing circumstances to be limits do we resist them. Such resistance is a nervous strain which disables us physically, and of course puts us more in the clutches of what appears to be our misfortune. The moment we begin to regard every circumstance as an opportunity, the tables are turned on Fate, and we have the upper hand of her.
When we come to think of it, how much common-sense there is in making the best of every “opportunity,” and what a lack of sense in chafing at that which we choose to call our limitations! The former way is sure to bring a good result of some sort, be it ever so small; the latter wears upon our nerves, blinds our mental vision, and certainly does not cultivate the spirit of freedom in us.
How absurd it would seem if a wounded man were to expose his wound to unnecessary friction, and then complain that it did not heal! Yet that is what many of us have done at one time or another, when prevented by illness from carrying out our plans in life just as we had arranged. It matters not whether those plans were for ourselves or for others; chafing and fretting at their interruption is just as absurd and quite as sure to delay our recovery. “I know,” with tears in our eyes, “I ought not to complain, but it is so hard,” To which common-sense may truly answer: “If it is hard, you want to get well, don’t you? Then why do you not take every means to get well, instead of indulging first in the very process that will most tend to keep you ill?” Besides this, there is a dogged resistance which remains silent, refuses to complain aloud, and yet holds a state of rigidity that is even worse than the external expression. There are many individual ways of resisting. Each of us knows his own, and knows, too, the futility of it; we do not need to multiply examples.
The patients who resist recovery are quite as numerous as those who keep themselves ill by resisting illness. A person of this sort seems to be fascinated by his own body and its disorders. So far from resisting illness, he may be said to be indulging in it He will talk about himself and his physical state for hours. He will locate each separate disease in a way to surprise the listener by his knowledge of his own anatomy. Not infrequently he will preface a long account of himself by informing you that he has a hearty detestation of talking about himself, and never could understand why people wanted to talk of their diseases. Then in minute detail he will reveal to you his brain-impression of his own case, and look for sympathetic response. These people might recover a hundred times over, and they would never know it, so occupied are they in living their own idea of themselves and in resisting Nature.
When Nature has knocked us down because of disobedience to her laws, we resist her if we attempt at once to rise, or complain of the punishment. When the dear lady would hasten our recovery to the best of her ability, we resist her if we delay progress by dwelling on the punishment or chafing at its necessity.
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