Tips On Home Health Care

When a member of the family is beset by a critical illness, most of the people resort to home health care. When a loved one was hospitalized and had undergone intensive treatment, the patient may well opt to recuperate at home health care. Staying in the hospital for an extended period of time has various advantages. The patient can be carefully monitored by doctors and nurses, and in the event that an emergency will arise, these doctors and nurses most of the times are at bay. But eventually, a prolonged stay in the hospital can be depressing not only for the patient but for the concerning people as well.

After all, the hospital is a gloomy place to be considered a home; everywhere, patients are lying ill, several of them in grave conditions with death just lingering by. The hospital is also an ominous place to frequent as bacteria and viruses are lurking in every corner. So when a lingering illness befalls a family member, home health care is always a better option. When the patient has eventually recovered from an illness, he or she may choose to stay at home to recuperate and be necessitated with home health care. Home health care programs are provided by numerous companies now as it is becoming an indispensable and lucrative sector of the health care industry.

The number one reason for needing home health care is when care of an elderly person becomes too much for family members to bear alone. This is especially true with those patients that need special homely care due to illness. Alzheimer's disease is a tragic slow deterioration of the mental faculties. With this disorder people often lose the ability to care for themselves. It quickly overwhelms the family members and they turn to help them out. Home health care for the elderly is one of the answers to this crisis. A home health care nurse can help with daily monitoring of such mental patients. Often an Alzheimer's patient will tend to roam and get lost. Home health care nurses are able to be an extra pair of eyes in this event.

Most of the times elderly patients do not want to live in nursing homes or retirement communities. This is another reason for home health care for the elderly people. It gives the patients a sense of self to know they can stay in their home instead of a nursing home. It is common for these people to have living wills and instructions for their final times. Home health care nurses are often saddled with the responsibility of making these difficult decisions when the time comes and from that moment on they stay in the home full time until the death occurs. Aside from physical care, home health care can provide emotional support for the entire family. This is a trying time for all involved and it is not unusual for it to be the first experience with death for many people. Add the fact that it is a parent and the family is often grieving before the actual death. Home health care nurses have been trained in grief counseling and emotional support.

• Felicia Byrnes
• 23/12/2008, 4:59 PM
• 0 Comments