What makes physical care so challenging in advanced ALS is the absence of other indicators of change — the verbal and physical response to care. The physical changes are much more subtle, and the nurse is more likely to detect changes when there is a connection with the patient that allows a rhythm to unfold. Daily inspections included in the assessment are crucial if potential problems are to be avoided. Particular challenges of patients with ALS who are locked-in follow. It is important to provide a blueprint for supplies in establishing and maintaining a safe home care environment.
Read More
‘Aging in Place’ Posts
The Home Care Environment for Clients With Advanced ALS: Home Care of a Person With ALS
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011“IF I ever need to go to a nursing home, kill me first”
Saturday, April 2nd, 2011
Aging in Place: You do not need to leave your home!
Given that 89% of people do not want to leave their homes, this statement featured on the article The Technology for Monitoring Elderly Relatives on The New York Times (July 28, 2010) about new technologies to help people stay at their home, makes total sense.
The purpose of many of these technologies is to provide enough supervision to make it possible for elderly people to stay in their homes rather than move to an assisted-living facility or nursing home — a goal almost universally embraced as both emotionally and financially desirable.
Simple Ways to Protect Yourself at Home
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
Each year, many older Americans are injured in and around their homes. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that in 1981, over 622,000 people over age 65 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries associated with products they live with and use everyday.
CPSC believes that many of these injuries result from hazards that are easy to overlook, but also easy to fix. By spotting these hazards and taking some simple steps to correct them, many injuries might be prevented. Read More and complete the CPSC check list.
In addition, please use the following checklist to make sure your home is safe. These simple, inexpensive home modifications can make life much safer for you and your family members. View Checklist.
New Devices Help Seniors Stay Longer in Their Own Homes.
Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
An article supporting Living Well’s high-tech – high touch approach, was published by Health Day: News for Healthier Living on January 18 by Dennis Thompson. The article stresses the importance of using technology to keep seniors for longer and safer: ” Seniors who want to remain in their homes despite illness and infirmity can get a high-tech assist these days. So can their children who might worry about…Sensors, GPS and more are being used to track aging parents’ movements… So can their children who might worry about an elderly parent living alone, often far from family members.
The 1980s-era medical alert pendants made famous by their television advertising (“I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!”) are now among a wide array of devices that can help keep an eye on aging parents and get them help when they need it.
Available technologies include:
- Sensors in the home to track an older person’s movement, from the front door to the medicine cabinet to the refrigerator to the stove. The sensors are linked with computers that can issue alerts when people deviate from their routine.
- Global positioning system devices, using the GPS technology that’s become so common in cars, that can help locate someone with dementia who’s wandered from home.
- Computerized pillboxes that track whether medication is being taken on time.
10 Essential Ways to Protect Your Home and Family
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
Basic and useful tips for home safety and security: see article.
Home Health Technology Can Help Lower Costs of Senior Care
Monday, January 3rd, 2011
Living Well Assisted Living at Home has been an advocate of the high tech – high touch model as a tool to enhance home safety for seniors at home and a model that helps lower costs for seniorcare. We found support to this stance on an article by Science Daily (1) on 12/31/10 “…Home health care technology may provide one important solution to global concerns about how to sustain health care systems threatened by rising costs and manpower shortages, but such a change faces multiple obstacles to adoption, according to a new RAND Corporation study. They continue by saying ‘…Home health care technology spans a broad spectrum from basic diagnostic tools, such as glucose meters, to advanced telemedicine solutions. Those advances have pushed the frontier of care management further into the home setting. The advances have the potential to not only support current care delivery, but to fundamentally change the model to a more efficient and more patient-centered one, according to the report. Home care also makes it easier for patients to age in place, if they prefer, and avoid institutionalization…” Read the report
Some other pieces of technology are the ones that assure home safety and fall detection. Read more about safety technology.
(1) RAND Corporation (2010, December 31). Home health care could help sustain health care systems, study finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 3, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2010/12/101208130048.htm
Improving function and safety through Environmental Geriatrics
Monday, December 13th, 2010
© Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Environmental Geriatrics is the study and application of design principles to interiors and products to optimize the health, function, and well-being of older adults.
Cornell University’s Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology offers resources on Alzheimer’s friendly home, fall and fire prevention, hoarding and cluttering. Learn more.
