You’ve heard of home care services that help with cleaning, laundry, transportation, and meals. What about home health care? How do those services differ?
Home care is designed to help people with non-medical needs as they recover from an injury or illness or need assistance to age at home. Home health care helps with medical needs. Here are the different services a home health care nurse provides.
Medications and IVs
Your mom has osteoporosis and needs IV medications to help with bone strength. She’s been prescribed intravenous or injectible medications to prevent the stomach discomfort tablets cause. As those medications require a shot or IV line, it’s not something your mom can do on her own. Going to the doctor’s office for these medications isn’t ideal. A home health nurse can administer them.
At-Home Therapy Services
Following your dad’s stroke, he’s meeting with therapists several times a week. It’s hard to get him out of the home and into a medical office when he’s relying heavily on a wheelchair. You can have therapists come to his home.
Speech therapy is one of the three therapies he’ll need as he learns to speak again. He also needs occupational therapy to learn how to do things for himself like feed himself. Finally, there is physical therapy to help him strengthen and learn to use his legs and arms for mobility and daily activities of living.
Post-Surgical Care
After surgery, your mom or dad will have an incision that needs care. Home health care nurses can clean the incision site, change the bandage, and alert doctors if signs of an infection are present. They can administer IV antibiotics and other medications if the doctor prescribes them.
Vital Signs
Your parent may need to have daily vital signs taken and recorded into the medical chart for the doctor. A nurse can take your parent’s blood pressure, pulse, oxygen saturation, and other vitals and make sure the doctor is aware of any alarming changes.
Educational Services
For some health conditions, education is needed in order to maintain the proper level of self-care. If your parent needs a dietitian to learn diabetic care or for chronic kidney disease, a dietitian can come to the family home and teach whatever is needed to discuss the foods to eat and the foods to avoid.
Services available from a local home health care agency may vary slightly from one region to the next. Call your nearest agency and ask what’s offered to help your mom or dad recover from an illness or injury or receive the help needed as they manage a chronic health condition like kidney disease or heart disease.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering home health care in Madison, WI please contact the caring staff at Agape Senior Services Madison today. (608) 841-1004
