palliative care
Home Nurse: How to Sleep Peacefully Every Night
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
When we are not necessarily overtired but perhaps only a little tired from the day’s activities, it is not uncommon to be kept awake by a flapping curtain or a swinging door, by unusual noises in the streets, or by people talking. How often we hear it said, “It did seem hard when I went to bed tired last night that I should have been kept awake by a noise like that–and now this morning, I am more tired than when I went to bed.”
The head nurse in a large hospital said once in distress: “I wish the nurses could be taught to step lightly over my head, so that they would not keep me awake at night.” It would have been a surprise to her if she had been told that her head could be taught to yield to the steps of the nurses, so that their walking would not keep her awake.
It is resistance that keeps us awake in all such cases. The curtain flaps, and we resist it; the door swings to over and over again, and we resist it, and keep ourselves awake by wondering why it does not stop; we hear noises in the street that we am unused to, especially if we are accustomed to sleeping in the stillness of the country, and we toss and turn and wish we were in a quiet place. All the trouble comes from our own resistance to the noise, and resistance is nothing but unwillingness to submit to our conditions.
If we are willing that the curtain should go on flapping, the door go on slamming, or the noise in the street continue steadily on, our brains yield to the conditions and so sleep naturally, because the noise goes through us, so to speak, and does not run hard against our unwillingness to hear it.
Home Care Nurse: Make Sure You Get Enough Rest
Friday, February 6th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
The rest-instinct is most generally disobeyed, most widely needed, and obedience to it would bring the most effective results. A restful state of mind and body prepares one for the best effects from exercise, fresh air, and nourishment. This instinct is the more disobeyed because with the need for rest there seems to come an inability to take it, so that not only is every impediment magnified, but imaginary impediments are erected, and only a decided and insistent use of the will in dropping everything that interferes, whether real or imaginary, will bring a whiff of a breeze from the true rest-current.
Rest is not always silence, but silence is always rest; and a real silence of the mind is known by very few. Having gained that, or even approached it, we are taken by the rest-wind itself, and it is strong enough to bear our full weight as it swings us along to renewed life and new strength for work to come.
The secret is to turn to silence at the first hint from nature; and sleep should be the very essence of silence itself.
All this would be very well if we were free to take the right amount of rest, fresh air, exercise, and nourishment; but many of us are not. It will not be difficult for any one to call to mind half a dozen persons who impede the good which might result from the use of these four necessities simply by complaining that they cannot have their full share of either. Indeed, some of us may find in ourselves various stones of this sort stopping the way.
To take what we can and be thankful, not only enables us to gain more from every source of health, but opens the way for us to see clearly how to get more. This complaint, however, is less of an impediment than the whining and fussing which come from those who are free to take all four in abundance, and who have the necessity of their own especial physical health so much at heart that there is room to think of little else. These people crowd into the various schools of physical culture by the hundred, pervade the rest-cures, and are ready for any new physiological fad which may arise, with no result but more physical culture, more rest-cure, and more fads. Nay, there is sometimes one other result,–disease. That gives them something tangible to work for or to work about. But all their eating and breathing and exercising and resting does not bring lasting vigorous health, simply because they work at it as an end, of which self is the centre and circumference.
The sooner our health-instinct is developed, and then taken as a matter of course, the sooner can the body become a perfect servant, to be treated with true courtesy, and then forgotten. Here is an instinct of our barbarous ancestry which may be kept and refined through all future phases of civilization. This instinct is natural, and the obedience to it enables us to gain more rapidly in other, higher instincts which, if our ancestors had at all, were so embryonic as not to have attained expression.
Nourishment, fresh air, exercise, rest,–so far as these are not taken simply and in obedience to the natural instinct, there arise physical stones in the way, stones that form themselves into an apparently insurmountable wall. There is a stile over that wall, however, if we will but open our eyes to see it. This stile, carefully climbed, will enable us to step over the few stones on the other side, and follow the physical path quite clearly.
Home Nurse: True and False Human Sympathy
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 | home care | No Comments
A NURSE who had been only a few weeks in the hospital training-school, once saw–from her seat at the dinner-table–a man brought into the house who was suffering intensely from a very severe accident. The young woman started up to be of what service she could, and when she returned to the table, had lost her appetite entirely, because of her sympathy for the suffering man. She had hardly begun her dinner, and would have gone without it if it had not been for a sharp reprimand from the superintendent.
“If you really sympathize with that man,” she said, “you will eat your dinner to get strength to take care of him. Here is a man who will need constant, steady, _healthy_ attention for some days to come,–and special care all this afternoon and night, and it will be your duty to look out for him. Your ’sympathy’ is already pulling you down and taking away your strength, and you are doing what you can to lose more strength by refusing to eat your dinner. Such sympathy as that is poor stuff; I call it weak sentimentality.”
The reprimand was purposely sharp, and, by arousing the anger and indignation of the nurse, it served as a counter-irritant which restored her appetite. After her anger had subsided, she thanked the superintendent with all her heart, and from that day she began to learn the difference between true and false sympathy. It took her some time, however, to get thoroughly established in the habit of healthy sympathy. The tendency to unwholesome sympathy was part of her natural inheritance, along with many other evil tendencies which frequently have to be overcome before a person with a very sensitive nervous system can find his own true strength.
But as she watched the useless suffering which resulted in all cases in which people allowed themselves to be weakened by the pain of others, she learned to understand more and more intelligently the practice of wholesome sympathy, and worked until it had become her second nature. Especially did she do this after having proved many times, by practical experience, the strength which comes through the power of wholesome sympathy to those in pain.
Caring for the Elderly: Grandparent’s Role
Monday, February 2nd, 2009 | home care | No Comments
Grandparents generally accept and enjoy the many roles into which they have been cast. One of the many is that they are the grandparents of all their grandchildren, not just of one whom they chose to be their favorite. Favoritism invites disaster.
A young mother of two posed the following dilemma to an Internet discussion group devoted to family relations and child behavior. I altered the text slightly, primarily to protect the writer’s privacy. She wrote:
‘Since the birth of our second child our family has received lots of warm wishes. Yet, often, in offering congratulations, well wishers remarked along the lines ‘You must be happy to have a boy now.’ This confused our older child, a four-year-old girl.
‘Of course, she is a much loved and cherished child and we could not love her any more if she were a boy. And we are very happy to have our new son, but would have loved a second daughter just as much. But the casual remarks about having a son are secondary to my concern about my parents’ relationship with our children.
‘My parents reside within easy driving distance and we are a close-knit family. Rarely a week passes that we and my parents don’t do something together. They are my daughter’s primary baby-sitters and are very generous toward her.
‘However, I am starting to see that there will be a difference, based solely on gender, in my parents’ treatment of both children. When my son was barely a week old, my father said that he was looking forward to taking him fishing. When I remarked that my daughter had a fishing pole and, due to the age difference between her and her brother, would be a more appropriate companion, still no invitation was forthcoming.
‘When my father invited my husband fishing the following week, my father grumbled at the suggestion that they take my daughter along.
‘My son is now two and a half months old, and my father is looking forward to participating with him in Little League, soccer, etc. Again, both my husband and I chimed in that the same activities are also available for girls. Silence.
‘What really disturbs me is that after these rebuffs my daughter sometimes quietly says to me, ‘Mama, I am proud we both are girls.’ I don’t know where she gets this from, but she’ll often repeat it several times and in more of a forlorn tone than an enthusiastic one.’
Home Care Ireland: Practical Home Care Skills
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 | home care | No Comments
Sometimes it’s easy to understand what you, as a carer for the elderly, should do every day. But maybe there still are certain points that you might forget about. According to The Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC), you should be able to show these practical home care skills:
- Understand the importance of dignity, privacy and confidentiality in providing care to vulnerable people
- Respect the right of the person being cared for to autonomy, independence and choice
- Discuss the normal ageing process and the limitations of age related conditions
- Explain how to provide support with nutrition and feeding of the person being cared for
- Recognise the importance of a well-balanced diet for people who need care
- Discuss how important it is to assist the person being cared for in maintaining personal hygiene routines in the care of hair, teeth and personal grooming, bathing and dressing
- Outline how to manage the personal hygiene routines for elimination and continence for a person in their care
- Outline how to manage moving a person safely who has limited mobility with proper moving and handling techniques
- Identify how to make a bed which is occupied and unoccupied with the use of the particular aids for the process
- Explain how pressure areas occur and know what measures to put in place to prevent them
This applies even more when you don’t have a very close relationship with the person you are looking after. While in families, you might find yourself doing all these points almost automatically, when caring after seniors you don’t know, you usually need to put more effort to be able to perform them successfully.
If you find these difficult to deal with or if you would like to discuss any of these issues, give us a call on 1890 500 005 and see how our carers can help you straight away.
Care for the Elderly: New Year Resolutions of a Carer
Thursday, January 1st, 2009 | home care | 1 Comment
So here we go - a new year arrived and maybe we forgot to review the 2008 one, or to set goals for 2009.
Nevermind, what really is important is, whether the change will actually happen.
Here is a tip for this year: just watch and measure, if possible, all that you do and try to overcome yourself the next time. Especially in the caring business, we see how important it is to work on our own personal skills so that we can be better communicators, better helpers, better friends.
Anyway, don’t forget to wish something nice for yourself as well - how about giving yourself a smile every morning?
Wish you good luck and a successful year!
5 Must-Know Safety Tips in Caring for the Elderly
Sunday, December 28th, 2008 | home care | No Comments
Everyone knows that you should not put cables in one’s way because they could stumble and fall easily. This is even more important to remember when your are caring for the elderly. However, there are much more issues you should remember when looking after your elderly Mum or Dad. In this case you become a carer and as such it would be useful to do as is advised to the attendees of the FETAC Practical Home Care Skills Course:
- Identify the different ways that a Carer’s personal standard of hygiene assists in the prevention of infection
- Understand how infection can be transmitted in a care environment
- Prevent cross-infection. This prevention includes the correct and appropriate use of cleaning procedures and the use of protective equipment
- Food should be stored hygienically, safely and free from hazards
- Recognise the importance of fire prevention, accident prevention and learn the different ways that fire and accidents are prevented in the home and caring environment
If you find these difficult to deal with or if you would like to discuss any of these issues, give us a call on 1890 500 005 and see how our carers can help you straight away.
Elderly Care: Spend Christmas with Your Dearest
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 | home care | No Comments
How important is it for you to be with your children at Christmas? Sometimes whole families gather together and they celebrate these most fabulous seasons of the year. We all want to spend our Christmas dinner surrounded by those we love - our parents, our kids, grandparents, and sometimes even friends who are not our direct relatives.
Sometimes we are not aware how tough it can be to leave an elderly person on their own at Christmas - so make sure that you invite your family members to spend the evening with you. They will give it back, believe me - their smile and maybe even slightly improved health will let you know that you’ve done something really good.
Wish you a merry Christmas!
What a Good Carer Should Know
Thursday, December 18th, 2008 | home care | No Comments
Caring for the elderly really is a hard work. Not only is it physically demanding, but, what is even more difficult, it requires a good level of psychological involvement. Emotional pain which arises when you look after a person who is suffering or dying, can be a huge distress and if a carer is not fully aware of how to cope with it, it can lead to their own breakdown.
Therefore, all carers of Sandra Cooney’s Home Care in Dublin have completed a Manual Handling Course and they hold an up-to-date first aid certificate and FETAC Level 5 in Practical Home Care Skills.
According to The Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC), the core skills that attendees of this course will develop, include:
• taking initiative
• taking responsibility for one’s own learning and progress
• problem solving
• applying theoretical knowledge in practical contexts
• being numerate and literate
• having information and communication technology skills
• sourcing and organising information effectively
• listening effectively
• communicating orally and in writing
• working effectively in group situations
• understanding health and safety issues
• reflecting on and evaluating quality of own learning and achievement.
Still, there’s much more to it than just to systematically put these into practice. We in Sandra Cooney’s Home Care in Dublin constantly talk to our carers, ensuring they love what they do, because only then we will achieve results and develop very strong relationships with our clients.
Elderly Care: Fresh Air Heals
Thursday, December 4th, 2008 | home care | No Comments
Hey, do you enjoy walking in a forest or in a park on a lovely sunny day? How about bringing your loved ones with you? As you know, sometimes it can be difficult to move on your own - but when you get some help, you can enjoy last autumn sun beams as well - and breathing the fresh air makes wonders to how you feel and what mood you are in.
It is sad that people in hospitals and sometimes people in nursing homes don’t get much sun. Aren’t their days then too dark? I hate the feeling when I am sitting in bed, looking out of the window, feeling the sunshine, but not being able to go out and actually be in the nature and feel the touch of the sun on my shoulders.
So what - do you agree how important it is now to share these beauties with those who cannot make it on their own? Can you give them a helping hand and bring them out?
And to say thank you, their smile will shine on their faces.
Recent Posts
Blogroll
- Add New Link Directory
- Blog Directory
- blogarama.com
- Eyeglasses
- Free Directory submission
- Free Web Directory
- Friendly Web Directory Harjuppal
- Health Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory
- Home Care Dublin
- Home Care Training
- Link For Free
- Technorati Profile
- vuju directory
- Web directory, Chanas.Net - The largest web directory on the Internet