Just because a doctor says you are ready to leave the hospital and go home does not mean that you are ready to go back to your normal living routine. Before you leave, be sure to ask about having someone come to your home to help you. Here are a few different types of help that are available to you. Ask your doctor for advice on what would be the best arrangement for you, and make arrangements to have it start as soon as you get home.
Home Health Care
Home health care is available when you have medical situations you need help with. This could be taking care of a catheter, giving injections, proper care and dressing of wounds, managing your medications, or monitoring your health status with different tests. You may also need help learning to get around, or need physical therapy. Licensed and skilled professionals will come to your home to help with almost any medical need. This can be a temporary thing, working with you as you recuperate from a surgery, injury, or disease. It can also be a permanent thing for someone who was seriously injured and will need continual medical interventions. While you may still be required to see your physician regularly, these home health professionals are there to take care of things in between visits.
Home Care
When there are no medical problems other than mobility issues, you can be assigned a home care provider. This person will come to your home to help with things like cleaning, preparing meals, helping you to bathe and dress, or just being a companion. This type of aid is provided by non-licensed, non-skilled professionals. While they may be able to help with any range-of-motion exercises you need to do to build up your strength, they cannot do actual physical therapy. They will help you get from room to room in the house, and can even help get you into a car. Sometimes, you will be assigned a home care provider to be with you all the time, and then have a home health nurse stop in as needed. The home care aide will also be able to call the nurse if there is ever a problem.
Do not be ashamed or afraid to ask for help at home once you leave the hospital. While you need to try to be up and active, you also need to know what your limits are and stick to them. Having someone there to help is a great way of making sure you are working towards recovery without harming yourself. Take advantage of the additional help and you will be back to normal much quicker.
Share2 September 2016
When was the last time you went to an optometrist? If you are like most people, you only go when your glasses break or you run out of contact lenses. Very few people actually follow the guidelines of having their eyes checked each year. Not sure why it is necessary to visit your optometrist each year? You can learn all about the different exams and tests that your optometrist runs and why they are done. Knowing what can go wrong with your eyes and what can be done if the ailments are detected early could help to encourage you to get to the optometrist more often.
