Providing Post-Hospital Care Services in Jacksonville, FL, and our surrounding area
Having a senior family member return following a stay in the hospital is cause for a celebration. At the same time, it also means the hard work is about to begin.
Support for your family only takes
What Should I Do to Prepare for Their Arrival?
One of the best things you can do to make sure their transition from hospital to home is successful is to get everyone in the family involved in providing much-needed post-hospital care. Everyone involved, including your loved one, you, your family, their caregiver, and their doctor must all be on the same page in order to ensure a swift and successful recovery.
Numbers You Need to Keep in Mind
- One in five seniors will be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days.
- The cost of readmission to the U.S. healthcare system is over $17 billion not including those coming from urgent-care facilities and emergency rooms.
- 75% of these readmissions can be prevented.
- 25% of seniors who are discharged to nursing homes have a higher risk of readmission within 30 days.
Providing Your Loved One with Superior Services
Your role in providing your elderly family member with superior care starts on the day before they are due to be released. You need to prepare yourself for the amount of hard work and time caring for them will take. If you have decided to become their family caregiver, most of the work will fall squarely on your shoulders like so many thousands of family caregivers across the nation.
The problem for most people who become family caregivers is that they are not prepared for the amount of time and hard work providing post hospital care can be. On top of this, you need to take the time to educate yourself as to what your role as a family caregiver entails. When you arrange for a caregiver from Comfort Keepers, your loved one's caregiver will be someone who has undergone specialized training and has experience in providing transitional care. Along with helping to care for your elderly family member, they are always happy to share their knowledge with you and the rest of your family.
What Service Do Our Caregivers Offer?
Our caregivers are trained to provide a wide range of personal and homemaking services, designed to take some of the burdens from your shoulders. Among the many services they offer are:
- Continuous monitoring of health and maintaining communication between the family, doctors, rehabilitation specialists, etc.
- Homemaking services (decluttering, light house cleaning, laundry, dishes, meal planning & cooking, etc.)
- Personal care services including bathing, grooming, mobility assistance, incontinence support, etc.)
- Transportation to appointments and taking care of numerous errands.
- Companionship and emotional support throughout their recovery journey
There Is a High Risk of Readmission
One of the most important things to keep in mind is that even if you provide the right support, there is still a high risk of readmission. Statistics show that the first 180 days are when seniors in recovery are at risk of readmission. Although the percentages are on the decline in comparison to those in the last few years, they are still higher than they should be.
What Can Cause Your Loved to Return to the Hospital?
Even with the best services, there are several things that can lead to your loved one having to return to the hospital. These include:
- Severity and Type of MedicalCondition – covering those who are in the late stages of a medical condition or suffering from a chronic condition such as heart disease or Alzheimer's.
- Secondary Diagnoses – covering those patients who develop a medical condition or display severe symptoms not seen during their hospitalization.
- Limited Access to Appropriate Post Hospital Care– covering those with limited transportation to their appointments, picking up needed medications, and have the daily support they need.
- Medications – concerning the taking of new medication that causes adverse side effects and those who do not take their medication as instructed, resulting in adverse side effects.
- Lack of Education by Medical Team – covers those who did not receive the proper transition home care education by the patient's medical care team before they come home.
How Can You Help?
One way to ensure your loved one gets the best post-hospital care is to talk to their medical care team at the hospital. Ask them for a copy of your family member's medical charts. Not only will they provide you with vital information regarding the care received while they were in the hospital, but also with information, such as medications, you may need to provide your loved one with the care they need to recover swiftly and successfully.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask
One of the biggest mistakes many family caregivers make when a loved one is coming home from the hospital is not being brave enough to ask questions. You never know what tidbits of vital information you could be missing out on by asking a few pointed questions. You can also reach to local professional transitional caregivers, support groups, and of course your loved one's doctor.
Time to Be Creative
You might not realize that as part of your loved one's care, you get to be creative. While they were in the hospital, their medical care team kept a detailed record of procedures, medications, vital signs, and more. When your loved one comes home, you need to create your own version of the medical charts used in the hospital. Our caregivers can help you with this. Along with leaving space to write notes in, your "medical" record should include:
- A schedule that includes all family caregivers, when they will be there, and what they need to do.
- A record of all medications, when they need to be taken, and the correct dosage.
- Contact information, including caregivers and emergency contacts.
- A list of appointments, what was discussed, and what, if anything was done.
Our Caregivers Are In Your Home to Help
While you are doing your best to provide the best possible care for your loved one, there is only so much you can do. You have to balance caring for your loved one with taking care of the rest of your family, possibly a job, and of course your home. This is where a Comfort Keepers caregiver comes in by offering a vast selection of personal care and homemaking services, including:
- Personal care services including bathing, grooming, mobility assistance, incontinence support, etc.)
- Homemaking services (decluttering, light house cleaning, laundry, dishes, meal planning & cooking, etc.)
- Transportation to appointments and taking care of numerous errands.
- Continuous monitoring of health and maintaining communication between the family, doctors, rehabilitation specialists, etc.
- Companionship and emotional support throughout their recovery journey.
Be sure to use your medical charts to keep a detailed daily report on the care and any medications given, any issues your loved one is having, their vital signs, and anything else you feel should be on it. Their doctor may need this information in order to make any necessary changes to their medications or treatments.
Take Time Out to Make Your Home Healthy and Safe
Your loved one needs to come home to a house that is healthy and safe for them to live in while they are recuperating. As part of your loved one's post-hospital care, you need to take care of the following:
- Introduce your loved one to their transitional home care provider before they are discharged.
- Be sure the house is clean and disinfected eliminating allergens and bacteria.
- Create a care plan schedule that lets your loved ones know who will be with them and when.
- Be sure furniture is arranged to make room for any mobility equipment.
- Install any needed safety equipment.
- Place items that are used daily within easy reach.
If you are interested in our many services and having one or more of our exceptional caregivers there to help, contact Comfort Keepers of Jacksonville, FL at (904) 230-9220. While we have you on the phone, we can schedule a free care consultation with one of our senior care advisors to discuss your loved one's needs.
