The difficulties are that as a live in caregiver they have to live with a family which is absolutely
strange to them.
Answer is simple, our practice past 20
years taught us that most of the conditions worsen due the lack of adequate preventive
care. Adopting appropriate preventive protocols, one can prevent many untoward incidents
there by avoiding hospitalisation. Thus , Falls, Urinary Tract Infections, Aspiration,
Bed sores, and malnutrition can be contained to a certain extent.
Yes. You agree that you are getting old and there is chance that you may cross 80's.
It is natural that we want to gloss over the fact that one day there is a
possibility of some sort of disability or chronic
diseases afflicting you. Remember the life is riddled with uncertainties. It is
better to be prepared for such an eventuality. All your life you planned and
executed your life; your career, your house, your finance,
then why not plan your old age. It makes the life easier for your children and
spouse. We will help you navigate the rough patch if there is any in the fag end of
your life. It is better to have clarity, than to
leave it to fate.
It is a relatively new term used in long term care of the elders. “Culture change”
is the common name given to the national movement for the transformation of older
adult services, based on person-directed values and
practices where the voices of elders and those working with them are considered and
respected. Core person-directed values are choice, dignity, respect,
self-determination and purposeful living. Culture change in
long-term care is about meaningful relationships and service, where caregivers and
staff really know the people they care for, so that individuals can continue to live
a meaningful life and feel “at home” wherever
they are. Part of feeling at home is creating living spaces that are more private,
comfortable, and personalised. We adopted culture change in our practice.
Yes. As a person, you have your own likes and dislikes. A discussion with the
immediate family about your intentions and wishes will give clarity to your golden
years. This will avoid conflict of interest and easier
for the immediate family as you have already made things clear. No ambiguities or
you never left any space for guessing. In our country, in the absence of advance
directives as a legal document, a discussion of your
likes and dislikes is a must. Read along with the previous question.
Polypharmacy, is very common in the elderly. Periodic review of medications are a
must for the elderly. This is because the elders have chronic conditions for which
they are medicating from a long time. Also few have
the habit of changing the physicians very often. In between, you may have prescribed
for a acute phase. Unknowingly, few elders continue to take these medications for a
long time. Unless you are educated properly
about medications you end up taking pills for no reason which is dangerous too.
Your infirm elderly parents definitely need your physical, emotional and financial
support. Though they may not openly demand anything from you, you are obligated to
dole out love and care. Many of the elders, insist
that they don’t want to burden you with their needs, but you cannot close eyes to
their needs. When you are the primary care giver of your elderly parents, the onus
of ensuring the best care lies on you. In many
cases, children dodge best options citing various reasons, like “we hate
institutionalisation of our parents” “the care home is far from home” “my parents
may not be comfortable to keep a full time care giver at
home”, instead the elderly parents are kept at home with compromised care. When
selecting the care plan or care setting, keep your elderly parents best interest as
first priority. Another trend we noticed is the
‘money crunch’, when it comes to parents care. Remember these parents never
compromised your well being, though they have limited income and you were the
priority.
Transitional care management is our forte. Upon discharge from hospitals, our
transitional care team visit the hospital to understand the condition, medications
and the post discharge care. We then co-ordinate with
the existing acute care treatment team and family members or community care settings
where patient is going to get shifted to and draw a transitional care plan before
discharge. Transitional care will help regain the
health and also in reducing the readmissions.
Our team can help you select the right care service provider by evaluating the level
of competency. It is very important to find out the caregivers knowledge about
diseases and it’s management. We also find how well
versed they are about the geriatric syndromes. We also find out the agencies
policies regarding preventive care protocols, emergency protocols, complain
redressal policies, and continuum of care policies etc. As this
is an unorganised sector with no government regulation, lot of agencies started
operating just as any other business. Elder care or long term care is a passion and
it is not a ‘business’ in the strict sense. Majority
of the agencies, have no policies or basic knowledge about elder care. Before we
recommend any agency, we find out the qualifications of the people who run it and
the training imparted to their caregivers. A thorough
evaluation is done because these agencies can fleece you and take advantage of your
helpless situations.
You can contact ECE team, when you feel your elderly parents ‘care needs’ are
changing. When ever you feel there is a change in the mental, emotional and physical
health, change in dependency for ADLS, or when the
current care plan is inadequate in order to achieve optimum care. A regular
evaluation once a month can be adopted as a part of Preventive care plan. We are
available for any number of consultations.
It will cost around INR 5000/- for a social gerontologist onsite visit. Through this
visit, he/she will study the disease progression, evaluate the physical and
psychosocial parameters, study the geriatric syndromes,
conduct a medication review and enlighten the preventive care aspects. After this
visit, a detailed care plan is drawn and shared with the family.
We have CCM program for older adults who has fewer filial support systems. We visit
once in fortnightly and monitor the care given to the older adults, bodily changes,
overall health assessment, checking the
medication orders, assessment of progression of disease, nutrition intakes, etc.
This will include a fortnightly visit and SOS visits, it will cost an annual
retainer fee of INR 12,000/- and each fortnightly visit
will costs INR 2000/- SOS visits will costs around 2500/-. A report will be
generated for each visit and shared.
Family dysfunction or sibling rivalry may affect elderly parents care. Difference of
opinion regarding care of older parents may result in mismanaged care of older
parents. We act as mediators between the family
members and help them achieve a win-win situation.
Yes. Many a time families find it difficult to take a client to a doctor’s office
for consultation for want of time as you have hectic work schedules. Thus regular
health check-up is getting postponed. We can
coordinate and help you plan a consultation with a consultant at the hospital, also
help coordinate an admission into a hospital, both planned hospitalisation and
emergency hospitalisation. This service is extended
to older adults who sign in for Foster Care with us. The facilitation charge will be
Rs. 3500/- per half day and if it extends beyond it will be 5000/-. Both will
attract actual taxi fare.
