home care Dublin
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?
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 Care: Live at Peace with Ourselves
Friday, April 24th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
A man who is constantly analyzing his physical state is called a hypochondriac. What shall we call the man who is constantly analyzing his moral state? As the hypochondriac loses all sense of health in holding the impression of disease, so the other gradually loses the sense of wholesome relation to himself and to others.
If a man obeyed the laws of health as a matter of course, and turned back every time Nature convicted him of disobedience, he would never feel the need of self-analysis so far as his physical state was concerned. Just so far as a man obeys higher laws as a matter of course, and uses every mistake to enable him to know the laws better, is morbid introspection out of the question with him.
“Man, know thyself!” but, being sure of the desire to know thyself, do not be impatient at slow progress; pay little attention to the process, and forget thyself, except when remembering is necessary to a better forgetting.
To live at real peace with ourselves, we must surely let every little evil imp of selfishness show himself, and not have any skulking around corners. Recognize him for his full worthless-ness, call him by his right name, and move off. Having called him by his right name, our severity with ourselves for harboring him is unnecessary. To be gentle with ourselves is quite as important as to be gentle with others. Great nervous suffering is caused by this over-severity to one’s self, and freedom is never accomplished by that means. Many of us are not severe enough, but very many are too severe. One mistake is quite as bad as the other, and as disastrous in its effects.
If we would regard our own state less, or careless whether we were happy or unhappy, our freedom from self would be gained more rapidly.
As a man intensely interested in some special work does not notice the weather, so we, if we once get hold of the immense interest there may be in living, are not moved to any depth by changes in the clouds of our personal state. We take our moods as a matter of course, and look beyond to interests that are greater. Self may be a great burden if we allow it. It is only a clear window through which we see and are seen, if we are free. And the repose of such freedom must be beyond our conception until we have found it. To be absolutely certain that we know ourselves at any time is one great impediment to reaching such rest. Every bit of self-knowledge gained makes us more doubtful as to knowledge to come.
It would surprise most of us to see how really unimportant we are. As a part of the universe, our importance increases just in proportion to the laws that work through us; but this self-importance is lost to us entirely in our greater recognition of the laws. As we gain in the sensitive recognition of universal laws, every petty bit of self-contraction disappears as darkness before the rising of the sun.
Home Care Ireland: Building Strong Relationships
Monday, April 20th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
HOW to live at peace with others is a problem which, if practically solved, would relieve the nervous system of a great weight, and give to living a lightness and ease that might for a time seem weirdly unnatural. It would certainly decrease the income of the nerve-specialists to the extent of depriving those gentlemen of many luxuries they now enjoy.
If we can only recognize two truths in our relations with others, and let these truths become to us a matter of course, the worst difficulties are removed. Indeed, with these two simple bits of rationality well in hand, we may safely expect to walk amicably side by side with our dearest foe.
There is one trouble in dealing with people which does not affect all of us, but which causes enough pain and suffering to those who are under its influence to make up for the immunity of the rest. That is, the strong feeling that many of us have that it is our duty to reform those about us whose life and ways are not according to our ideas of right.
The relief to the nervous system of dropping mistaken responsibility cannot be computed. For it is by means of the nervous system that we deal with others; it is the medium of our expression and of our impression. And as it is cleared of its false contractions, does it not seem probable that we might be opened to an exquisite delight in companionship that we never knew before, and that our appreciation of human nature would increase indefinitely?
Suppose when we find another whose ways are quite different from ours, we immediately contract, and draw away with the feeling that there is nothing in him for us. Or suppose, instead, that we look into his ways with real interest in having found a new phase of human nature. Which would be the more broadening process on the whole, or the more delightful? Frequently the contraction takes more time and attention than would an effort to understand the strange ways. We are almost always sure to find something in others to which we can respond, and which awakens a new power in us, if only a new power of sympathy.
To sum it all up, the best way to deal with others seems to be to avoid nervous friction of any sort, inside or out; to harbor no ill-will towards another for selfishness roused in one’s self; to be urged by no presumptive sense of responsibility; and to remember that we are all in the same world and under the same laws. A loving sympathy with human nature in general, leads us first to obey the laws ourselves, and gives us a fellow-feeling with individuals which means new strength on both sides.
To take this as a matter of course does not seem impossible. It is simply casting the skin of the savage and rising to another plane, where there will doubtless be new problems better worth attention.
Home Care: Tolerance as the Way to Heal
Friday, April 17th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
WHEN we are tolerant as a matter of course, the nervous system is relieved of almost the worst form of persistent irritation it could have.
The freedom of tolerance can only be appreciated by those who have known the suffering of intolerance and gained relief.
A certain perspective is necessary to a recognition of the full absurdity of intolerance. One of the greatest absurdities of it is evident when we are annoyed and caused intense suffering by our intolerance of others, and, as a consequence, blame others for the fatigue or illness which follows. However mistaken or blind other people may be in their habits or their ideas, it is entirely our fault if we are annoyed by them. The slightest blame given to another in such a case, on account of our suffering, is quite out of place.
Our intolerance is often unconscious. It is disguised under one form of annoyance or another, but when looked full in the face, it can only be recognized as intolerance.
Intolerance is an unwillingness that others should live in their own way, believe as they prefer to, hold personal habits which they enjoy or are unconscious of, or interfere in any degree with our ways, beliefs, or habits.
Surely you can see no good from the irritation of unwillingness; there can be no real gain from it, and there is every reason for giving it up. A clear realization of the necessity for willingness, both for our own comfort and for that of others, helps us to its repetition in words. The words said with sincere purpose, help us to the feeling, and so we come steadily into clearer light.
Let us then work with all possible rapidity to relax from contractions of unwillingness, and become tolerant as a matter of course.
The same willingness that is practised in relation to persons will be found equally effective in relation to the circumstances of life, from the losing of a train to matters far greater and more important. There is as much intolerance to be dropped in our relations to various happenings as in our relations to persons; and the relief to our nerves is just as great, perhaps even greater.
It seems to be clear that heretofore we have not realized either the relief or the strength of an entire willingness that people and things should progress in their own way. How can we ever gain freedom whilst we are entangled in the contractions of intolerance?
Freedom and a healthy nervous system are synonymous; we cannot have one without the other.
Care at Home: Freedom from Unpleasant Moods
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
“If a man takes your cloak, give him your coat also; if one compel you to go a mile, go with him twain.” “Love your enemies, do good to them that hurt you, and pray for them that despitefully use you.” Why have we been so long in realizing the practical, I might say the physiological, truth of this great philosophy? Possibly because in forgiving our enemies we have been so impressed with the idea that it was our enemies we were forgiving. If we realized that following this philosophy would bring us real freedom, it would be followed steadily as a matter of course, and with no more sense that we deserved credit for doing a good thing than a man might have in walking out of prison when his jailer opened the door. So it is with our enemies the moods.
I have written heretofore of bad moods only. But there are moods and moods. In a degree, certainly, one should respect one’s moods. Those who are subject to bad moods are equally subject to good ones, and the superficiality of the happier modes is just as much to be recognized as that of the wretched ones. In fact, in recognizing the shallowness of our happy moods, we are storing ammunition for a healthy openness and freedom from the opposite forms. With the full realization that a mood is a mood, we can respect it, and so gradually reach a truer evenness of life. Moods are phases that we are all subject to whilst in the process of finding our balance; the more sensitive and finer the temperament, the more moods. The rhythm of moods is most interesting, and there is a spice about the change which we need to give relish to these first steps towards the art of living.
It is when their seriousness is exaggerated that they lose their power for good and make slaves of us. The seriousness may be equally exaggerated in succumbing to them and in resisting them. In either case they are our masters, and not our slaves. They are steady consumers of the nervous system in their ups and downs when they master us; and of course retain no jot of that fascination which is a good part of their very shallowness, and brings new life as we take them as a matter of course. Then we are swung in their rhythm, never once losing sight of the point that it is the mood that is to serve us, and not we the mood.
As we gain freedom from our own moods, we are enabled to respect those of others and give up any endeavor to force a friend out of his moods, or even to lead him out, unless he shows a desire to be led. Nor do we rejoice fully in the extreme of his happy moods, knowing the certain reaction.
Respect for the moods of others is necessary to a perfect freedom from our own. In one sense no man is alone in the world; in another sense every man is alone; and with moods especially, a man must be left to work out his own salvation, unless he asks for help. So, as he understands his moods, and frees himself from their mastery, he will find that moods are in reality one of Nature’s gifts, a sort of melody which strengthens the harmony of life and gives it fuller tone.
Freedom from moods does not mean the loss of them, any more than non-resistance means allowing them to master you. It is non-resistance, with the full recognition of what they are, that clears the way.
Private Home Care: Get in Mood
Monday, April 13th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
RELIEF from the mastery of an evil mood is like fresh air after having been several hours in a close room.
If one should work deliberately to break up another’s nervous system, and if one were perfectly free in methods of procedure, the best way would be to throw upon the victim in rapid sequence a long series of the most extreme moods. The disastrous result could be hastened by insisting that each mood should be resisted as it manifested itself, for then there would be the double strain,–the strain of the mood, and the strain of resistance. It is better to let a mood have its way than to suppress it. The story of the man who suffered from varicose veins and was cured by the waters of Lourdes, only to die a little later from an affection of the heart which arose from the suppression of the former disease, is a good illustration of the effect of mood-suppression. In the case cited, death followed at once; but death from repeated impressions of moods resisted is long drawn out, and the suffering intense, both for the patient and for his friends.
The only way to drop a mood is to look it in the face and call it by its right name; then by persistent ignoring, sometimes in one way, sometimes in another, finally drop it altogether. It takes a looser hold next time, and eventually slides off entirely. To be sure, over-fatigue, an attack of indigestion, or some unexpected contact with the same phase in another, may bring back the ghost of former moods. These ghosts may even materialize, unless the practice of ignoring is at once referred to; but they can ultimately be routed completely.
A great help in gaining freedom from moods is to realize clearly their superficiality. Moods are deadly, desperately serious things when taken seriously and indulged in to the full extent of their power. They are like a tiny spot directly in front of the eye. We see that, and that only. It blurs and shuts out everything else. We groan and suffer and are unhappy and wretched, still persistently keeping our eye on the spot, until finally we forget that there is anything else in the world. In mind and body we are impressed by that and that alone. Thus the difficulty of moving off a little distance is greatly increased, and liberation is impossible until we do move away, and, by a change of perspective, see the spot for what it really is.
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