Tag Archive for: Home Healthcare

senior man waking up and looking at his alarm clock

Understanding the Dangers of Sleep Medications for Seniors

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senior man waking up and looking at his alarm clock

Sleep medications for seniors come with many risks, but these tips can help loved ones get a better night’s rest.

There’s just nothing that compares with the feeling of waking up after a good night’s sleep, feeling energized and ready to face the day. Yet for many seniors – as many as one in three of them – getting enough sleep is something that only happens in their dreams. And sadly, it’s a common misconception that insufficient sleep is something we just need to accept as we grow older – an assumption that Preeti Malani, M.D., chief health officer and professor of medicine at the University of Michigan wants to correct. According to Dr. Malani, “If older adults believe that these changes are a normal, inevitable part of aging, they may not think of it as something to discuss with their doctor. And not discussing it can potentially lead to health issues not being identified and managed.”

Instead of tossing and turning each night, almost half of older adults experiencing sleeping problems are turning to sleeping medications – a habit that can be extremely dangerous as we age. Sleep medications for seniors can double the risk of falls and broken bones, due to the increased dizziness and disorientation they are known to often cause. Older adults are often also at risk of becoming dependent on sleeping medications. And, the risk for car accidents may increase as well, according to Consumer Reports’ Choosing Wisely campaign.

To take it a step further, the concern even includes herbal remedies and supplements as well, which place older adults at risk for a number of additional negative health problems. Even something as seemingly harmless as melatonin can react negatively with other common meds, such as those for diabetes and high blood pressure, leading to dizziness and nausea.

A senior having sleep problems should instead talk with his or her primary care physician to rule out any underlying conditions (including depression, anxiety, restless leg syndrome, and heart disease, just to name a few) and to get his or her recommendation on how to safely improve sleep. Several safe alternatives include:

  • Cutting back on the amount of caffeine and alcohol consumed, particularly later in the day and evening
  • Making sure all electronic devices are kept out of the bedroom, and ensuring the room is cool and dark
  • Establishing a sleeping routine and sticking to it, going to sleep and awakening at the same time every day
  • Exploring the services of a professional sleep therapist for cognitive behavioral therapy

As the top provider of senior home care in Salt Lake City, UT and the surrounding area, the home health care experts at Harmony Home Health & Hospice can help older adults maintain better sleeping habits with a variety of home health care services, helping to ensure that seniors’ care needs are met so they can rest easy. Call us at 1-877-I-NEED-CARE (1-877-463-3322) to learn more.

ALS care - home health care ogden utah

ALS Care Tips for Utah Family Caregivers

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ALS care - home health care ogden utah

These ALS care tips can help family caregivers provide more effective care.

As a degenerating neurological disease, ALS (sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease) can cause a wide variety of physical obstacles that can result in clinical depression. For individuals providing ALS care for a loved one, it’s difficult not to feel overwhelmed and unsure about how to help the person live life to the fullest and remain optimistic.  

When providing ALS care in the home, it is important for family caregivers to understand the struggles that the disease produces in order to offer the absolute best care.  

Harmony Home Health & Hospice, the top providers of home health care in Ogden, Utah, has developed the following advice to help ensure the best care for individuals diagnosed with ALS: 

  • People with muscle diseases such as ALS are proficient thinkers, even if they are generally unable to communicate clearly. Examine choices openly while making joint decisions about the individual’s ALS care. 
  • Ask if the person wants assistance before helping. Do not take over tasks that still can be performed if the person is provided with adaptive products and time. 
  • Patience is vital. Although it may often seem faster and more efficient to take over certain tasks, show patience and allow your loved one to accomplish the tasks that he/she can.  
  • Set up a computer and internet access. Computers, along with other assistive systems, offer entertainment and social interaction and make it possible for the person with muscle disease to help with tasks like paying bills, tracking down information, hiring services, and shopping. 
  • Use adaptive devices. The utilization of adaptive equipment like wheelchairs is a move in the direction of self-sufficiency, not away from it. Adaptive tools are obtainable for assorted everyday tasks, such as eating, opening jars and doors, buttoning or zipping up clothing, writing, and taking a shower. 

For people with Lou Gehrig’s disease, self-reliance and exceptional ALS care are essential. The Ogden, Utah home health care experts at Harmony Home Health & Hospice are fully trained and experienced to provide the care and assistance needed to ensure people with ALS live their best lives. If you would like more information on our expert ALS care, contact us any time at 1-877-I-NEED-CARE (1-877-463-3322) and learn about our top-rated services in your area.

Living With a Chronic Illness

Finding Joy When Living With a Chronic Illness

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Living With a Chronic Illness

Living with a chronic illness doesn’t mean that life lacks joy and purpose.

Have you ever started your day and figured, “It’s probably going to be one of those days!” Maybe your alarm didn’t go off, the hot water heater opted to stop working, and the dog chewed up one of your favorite shoes overnight. Then imagine if every day were “one of those days!” For someone living with a chronic illness (and that is much of the senior population), daily struggles and challenges may be a given.

Yet there are numerous steps that older adults can take to realize and maintain a life of joy, even throughout the face of chronic illness. For instance:

  • Follow passions. Finding purpose and meaning in each day is essential – and attainable. Many older adults find happiness in assisting and supporting other people. Others thrive on being lifelong learners. For some it can mean recording the past for the following generation. Brainstorm ideas until you arrive at one that ignites passion, and then make it a reality.
  • Practice positivity. One good way to produce a more positive outlook on life is through journaling. Encourage your elder family members to begin every day by writing a summary of everything they’re grateful for that morning, including the relatively ordinary: the smell of fresh coffee brewing, a dog curled up in a sunbeam, an upcoming lunch date with a relative. At the end of each week, sit together and read back through the earlier entries for a quick and practical pick-me-up.
  • Avoid negativity. Adding in a measure of positivity as mentioned above can naturally lead to reduced negativity, but there are further strategies that may be taken as well. For instance, allow for breaks from activities that induce irritation, providing needed time to de-stress. Put the focus on dealing with tasks which can be accomplished successfully, and find an alternative solution for those that are too challenging, such as assigning those tasks to another family member or friend, or engaging the services of a specialist.
  • Get out of the house. Preserving as active a lifestyle as possible outside of the home is often so refreshing for seniors. Help your elder loved ones go out for hair appointments, shopping trips, visits with relatives, and other fun outings, as much as they are comfortable. Even simply going outdoors and relaxing on the front porch when weather allows can substantially boost someone’s frame of mind and outlook.

As the top providers of support for home hospice in Salt Lake City, Albuquerque and the surrounding areas, Harmony Home Health & Hospice aims to help older adults attain the best possible quality of life at all times. Our professionally trained and knowledgeable care team offers a wide variety of customized home health care solutions to ensure your loved one is safe, comfortable and healthy. Call us at 1-877-I-NEED-CARE (1-877-463-3322) and discover the difference our in-home health care services can make for your loved one!

Chronic Disease Management

Combining Health Care Goals with Chronic Disease Management for Seniors

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Chronic Disease Management

Chronic disease management should include identifying health care goals for seniors.

On the subject of chronic diseases, older adults are often the experts, hands down, with up to three out of four seniors affected by multiple conditions that are ongoing, call for long-term medical attention, and place limitations on activities. With the never-ending barrage of bloodwork and other medical tests, physicians’ appointments and procedures and medications, chronic disease management often takes both a physical and emotional toll, and may very quickly become overwhelming.

Dr. Mary Tinetti, chief of geriatrics and internist at Yale School of Medicine, said, “Once you get three, four, or five and six diseases, several things happen: Number one, almost guaranteed, trying to get one of these diseases under control is going to make one of the other diseases worse. Number two: The more we ask people to do, the more overwhelmed they get and the less they are likely to do.”

For these reasons, Dr. Tinetti has developed the Patient Priorities Care approach, with the objective to decrease the burden of treatment by empowering patients to communicate their personal health care goals – identifying what truly matters most to them. A plan of care will then be created to successfully meet those goals. For example, one person’s goal could possibly be to enhance quality of life during the short-term, whereas another individual may seek to improve longevity of life. Furthermore, it takes under consideration activities the individual enjoys and how to find the easiest way for him or her to continue to take part in them.

The Patient Priorities Care method builds upon the Minimally Disruptive Medicine strategy developed a decade ago, which also strives to help remedy the stress of chronic condition treatment, but which did not contain the key facet of incorporating feedback from patients to understand what means the most to them.

Ultimately, what many seniors discover is that they prefer to lessen “unwanted care,” which they understand requires significantly more personal energy than the benefit they are going to receive, such as diagnostic tests and procedures. To that end, aging adults and their loved ones can make the most of these beneficial resources to get more successful, self-directed care, such as a conversation guide, overview of health priorities, and much more.

As the most trusted provider of home nursing care in Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas, Harmony Home Health & Hospice is completely dedicated to understanding what is most essential to the older adults in our care, and to offering the degree of care which helps them to flourish and attain their goals. It is why our care is fully personalized, and always starts with learning as much as possible about each individual and what his or her goals encompass – and then developing a plan of care to help reach those goals. Call us at 1-877-I-NEED-CARE (1-877-463-3322) to learn more.

home-caregiver-taking-vitals-on-senior-woman_iStock_000091579603

How Harmony Home Care Services Can Help Prevent Another Hospital Visit for Your Loved Ones

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Hospital readmissions are common for seniors, but home healthcare can help prevent an additional hospital visit.

There’s currently a high priority for hospitals: lowering readmissions for high-risk patients. Healthcare Financial Management Association’s article “Two Ways Hospitals Can Reduce Avoidable Readmissions” shares that effective initiatives from several hospitals with low 30-day rehospitalizations are, to a certain extent, the result of collaborating with inpatient and outpatient care providers, like Harmony Home Health & Hospice. Harmony home care services provide a continuum of care with professional geriatric and pediatric private duty nursing services.

The hospitals mentioned in the article shared the tips below to help reduce rehospitalizations:

  • Begin preparing for a patient’s discharge from a hospital visit on the day of admission. When a senior is hospitalized, contact a home healthcare agency, like Harmony Home Health & Hospice, to arrange for in-home care upon discharge. Patient outcomes are improved when home healthcare services are available as early as possible following discharge.
  • Identify patients who may be at high risk for problems after discharge for additional care coordination and/or case management services. (Ensure social workers visit all patients age 80 and over to assist with care needs.)
  • Use technology to assess, track, or refer patients.
  • Perform a thorough evaluation of the patient’s risk factors, care needs, available resources, understanding and management of the disease or condition, and degree of family support.

At Harmony Home Health & Hospice, the leading caregiver in Salt Lake City, UT and the surrounding areas that families need, we realize how critical it is to create a transitional care plan in order to reduce the risk of hospital readmissions for seniors. We help clients plan for care needs starting on day one of their hospital visit, monitoring their health and ensuring that care plans are implemented as soon as they return home. Contact us at 1-877-I-NEED-CARE (1-877-463-3322) or complete our online contact form to learn more about how we can help those you love transition from hospital to home through professional home healthcare services such as:

  • Providing training and assistance with chronic condition management
  • Managing medications so they are taken exactly as prescribed
  • Meeting skilled nursing needs, such as with infusions, wound care, and more
  • Assisting with coordination and balance
  • And many others

Avoid an unnecessary follow-up hospital visit. Partner with Harmony Home Health & Hospice for help from a skilled caregiver in Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas!