Safety Concerns and Assessment for the Elderly

The deterioration in health is not the only factor that you need to worry about when it comes to assort serious care measures and monitoring the elderly members at home. The physical aspects change largely with passing time as people cross their 50s. The limitations to lead an independent life and manage things on their own may not be possible for them as they start ageing. Following are some factors urging the need to consider the elderly safety assessment at home and outside seriously to avoid fatal risks.

Lower Perception Level and Adjustment

Difficulty in vision, depth perceptibility, problems with color, brightness, and contrasts are evident. Lack of acute vision and belated adjustments to the various light conditions poses a high risk while on the roads as well as at home. Falling, slipping, and other injuries due to accidents can be a crucial matter during this phase of life. If the elderly relatives are troubled with eyesight and adaptability problems, it is necessary to take some tests and advices of the specialists, if it is safe for them to travel or stay at home alone. If the eyesight has been affected, then the caregivers need to follow safety precautions for elderly at home to eliminate the chances of any mishap.

Abridged Sensing

With ageing the senses to touch, heat, pain, pressure, cold is reduced considerably. The severe chances of encountering injuries due to cuts, hitting hard objects, burns and others increase manifold with less intensity to experience pain the in the region. This urges the need to organize some elderly safety measures at home. The difficulty in implementing the olfactory senses prevents them from identifying stale food, smell of gases, including LPG leakage, etc. This raises concerns of fire breakout, dense smoke intoxication due to inhaling suffocating gases and other issues. Hearing impairment is common, causing deviation from responding to the doorbells, fire alarms, telephone ringing and others.

Decreased Bone Mineral and Density

With gradual ageing, the density of the bones is reduced largely, especially in women. The rapid loss of calcium from the bones makes them more brittle and prone to breaking and fractures during old age. The ability to balance the body while walking is also lowered that can result in falling, slips, accidents while moving through the stairs etc. Sometimes, these physical conditions are induced by certain medication and strong doses. If the difficulty persists, then elderly care and monitoring is important during mobilization.

The early stage detection of minor occurrences calls for considering the safety issues for seniors at home. The assessment and medical examination will help to determine the level of dependence of the seniors on others. In the case of past incidents of falling and doctor’s advice, special care has to be taken when taking the elderly to the washroom, walking and other physical activities. It can be very risky to leave these elderly members at home all alone. There should be at least one member or a caregiver to look after the needs of the person to prevent any dangerous incident and give food and medicines on time. 

Balancing Elderly Care Issues and Professional Life

  

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The professional career management, maintaining a balance with the family life and caring for the elderly at home can be a tough job. While the sentiments for your parents and grandparents are your topmost priority, yet, offering the level of caring and emotional support required can be difficult at times. You have several responsibilities, including completion of the projects on time, looking after children, a social life and much more.

Maintaining equilibrium with life, career and senior care issues is an intense challenge at the time when the women are involved in major professional functionalities. At this point, you are compelled to explore the various alternatives to extend caring for the elderly at home. While it is largely desirable that the family members spend some quality time with the seniors, the assisted care services at home is a suitable option to stay tension free while you are not around. The elders need your love and support while at home. The care provider can handle the daily responsibilities finely to ensure a healthy life for them. The members of the house can utilize their spare time to interact with the elders to keep them happy.

As per the survey by Metlife, the impact of care giving by working family members in the US resulted in average financial losses of $303,880. This has affected the finances, including retirement funds of over 10 million regular employees in their 50s. Experiences reveal that care giving at home results in greater stress, fatigue, less attendance, lack of concentration and poor performance in their professional life.

Managing medical treatment and other amenities for the seniors urge the need to accumulate extra money. Under such circumstances, people generally struggle hard to work more to fulfill these requirements. Isolating the seniors at home is often not desired. This can be even more risky, especially if they are going through some medical complications and are unable to manage the regular activities on their own. Hence, making a choice with assisted living care services facilitate to maintain steadiness and ensure maximum financial security for the entire family.

The parents and grandparents want your company. When you are at home after a tiring schedule, it may not be possible for you to take care of them. The elderly care benefits Canada will reduce your worries and help to be more relaxed as you share some precious moments with them. 

How important is Oral Health Check Up and caring for the Elderly

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Dental care and oral hygiene are very important for older adults. The oral complications can increase with ageing, especially after reaching the age of 50 years. This includes periodontal disease, loss of teeth, plaque and large cavity formation, enamel decaying etc. Often the diseases in the mouth can trigger serious health concerns, including pneumonia (caused by bacterial droplets in the mouth that reach the lungs over the time), diabetes (caused by the emergence of periodontitis that affect the capability of the organs to utilize the insulin to prevent excessive sugar absorption in the blood), etc. 

Dental Problems in the Older Adults

Already mentioned above, the elderly can develop several problems in the gums, teeth roots, enamel layers and other parts of the mouth. The following are some specific common oral health problems evident in seniors. 

• The thinning of the outer glossy enamel layer may allow the appearance of the yellowish dentin tissue.
• The prolonged use of artificial dentures may result in the loss of sense of taste, and sensory actions.
• Lack of proper dental caring may cause receding of the gum tissue from the tooth enamel. This leads to the action of acid decaying on the roots of the exposed tooth.
• The emergence of gum diseases can result in the loss of tooth.
• Improper denture fitting can cause the fungus attack such as Candida and others into the gum tissues situated underneath.
• Extreme dryness can occur in the mouth due to the use of certain medicines. 

The professionals need to consider these problems in older adults and take care of the oral hygiene of the patients, especially those who are under treatment and dependence on the caregivers. The caregiver should be proficient in offering the elderly dental care services to prevent the occurrence of any sort of oral problem.

Dental Caring for Seniors

Some basic dental caring practices can help to gain fine oral health and freshness of breath even during the old age. Following are some important tips on oral care for elderly to maintain a healthy living. 

• Brush the teeth everyday in the morning and bedtime. Use a fluoride based toothpaste for proper cleaning and sensation. Use an electric toothbrush if suggested by the dentist.
• To remove plaque and prevent any future formation, conduct flossing once every day.
• Visit a dentist at regular intervals for detailed oral checkup, cleaning and treatment.
• Use a mouthwash with antibacterial ingredients to reduce germ attack on the gum tissues.
• Avoid smoking to prevent gum diseases, teeth yellowing and enamel decay and tooth loss.
• Remove the dentures at the night. Keep the dentures out of your mouth for at least 4 to 5 hours daily. Clean the dentures every day. 

When contacting the care-giving agencies, it is necessary to ensure that the caregivers are trained and efficient in catering to the elderly dental care needs. The regular diet must be rich in vitamins D and essential minerals, preferably vegetarian base to maintain strong and problem free oral health.

Caring and Treatment for Elderly with Parkinson’s Disease

                                Image courtesy of Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Parkinson’s disease is one of the most vividly found neurological disorders in the elderly. The disease largely affects the brain due to the lack of dopamine chemical production ability of the nerve cells. Dopamine plays an important role in sending signals from the brain to different parts of the nervous system. The disorder is generally evident in people over the age of 50 years. The inadequate functioning of the nervous system results in tremors or shaking while walking, eating, talking etc. Initially, the minor problems are evident, but with passing time, the acute symptoms may pose difficulties in leading a normal and independent life.

Parkinson’s disease Treatment for the Elderly

Permanent cure and effective treatment to get rid of the Parkinson’s disease symptoms is not available. The treatment methodologies are therefore directed to reduce the complications and bestow an improved lifestyle. Some important medicines, including Amantadine drug act as dopamine agonists, but are not provided to the elderly adults due to the risk of contacting psychotoxins. One of the most important medicines for the Parkinson’s disease in older adults is Levodopa. This psychoactive drug can be given to the seniors with neurological complications during all stages of the disease.

Elderly Care Plan

Mostly, the family members do not want to stay away from the seniors with the Parkinson’s disease, due to several worries such as lack of caring, insufficient medication facilities etc. The home environment is obviously a better option for accommodating the patient but dedicated care giving is very important. If you are looking for elderly home care Canada services, it is essential to ask if the professional caregiver is experienced in handling the patients with the disease. Some agencies offer only general assistance services to the seniors. For these patients, intense caring, constant monitoring, and specific periodic medication urge the need to follow a care-giving plan.

The elderly care plan for patients with acute Parkinson’s disease symptoms include:

• Exclusive safety and health supervision
• Helping in dressing, giving food on time, and taking care of other requirements
• Giving medicines as per the prescribed time regulations
• Offering special therapeutic assistance such as physiotherapy and other required services

With a gradual rise in the severing symptoms of this disease, the seniors can show the signs of depression due to the greater dependence on others, lack of activity etc. It is the duty of the people around to offer the best moral support and involve the elderly into some sort of physical activity, exercising, walking etc. You can consult an occupational therapist treating the elderly with Parkinson’s disease.