When your parent becomes physically more fragile and often take a longer time to recover from any illness. Now many seniors need to live alone or with a hired caregiver at home, as their children may be settled elsewhere or too busy with their jobs. Hence, it’s best to make some prior arrangements for taking elderly parents to any hospital or healthcare center, if any sudden deterioration occurs in their health conditions.
Basic Arrangements for Emergency Care for Elderly
All the medical history of the senior should be written on paper and needs to be carried along with previous prescriptions and receipts. All the personal details of your parent should be included as well. Include any allergies, and the present condition of the patient may be written on a piece of paper; so that the person accompanying him or her do not have to repeat the information to all attending doctors and nurses.
Carry a File Folder
All written information should be carried in a separate file, within which the papers of medical insurance should be included as well. Moreover, the elderly parents need to have enough money from instant cash loans with them so that treatment can be provided, even if any costly medication is necessary for saving the life of the patient.
The contact number of the nearest emergency department of a health care center should always be handy so that this number can be called up anytime when needed in case of a medical emergency. This number should also be given to the caregiver or kept within easy reach of the elderly parent if he or she is living away from the children.
Clarify Your Parent’s Medical History
When the parent is taken to the emergency room of a hospital, the general house physician should always be informed immediately, so that he may lend a hand in ensuring better medical advice at the emergency room, as he is acutely aware of the medical history of that patient. Likewise, the insurance company should be informed as well, so that the whole treatment procedure can be billed from the first day, saving too much expense of the patient or his/her children.
Pack a Bag for Your Parent
It is better to keep ready some stuff that can be taken with the patient while going to the emergency room, for ensuring his/her best comfort. In case of winter days, warm socks, extra blanket; religious books if the patient is in the habit of reading them and any other essential item that the senior needs in daily life should be packed with him/her. As the children or any person admitting the elderly patient may need to wait for several hours in the waiting room, it is better to take a mineral water bottle, some dry snacks, blanket and story books or magazines for passing the time.
Have Money on Hand
It is essential for the people to carry sufficient amount of money or get instant loans for spending for buying any necessary expensive medicine or injection from the medical store, which may not be available in the emergency room at that time, but urgently needed for the care of that elderly patient.
If the condition of the patient is quite critical and he/she needs to stay overnight in the hospital, adequate arrangements need to be made for his/her comforts and for the comfortable stay of the family member of that elderly patient staying with him/her overnight at the hospital. Thus, a set of change dress, suitable nightwear, slippers and personal toiletry items should be packed in a bag for both.
It is also necessary to carry a writing pad and pen if the patient’s relative needs to take note of any important directions from the doctors during the release of the patient from the hospital.
What to Do after Taking Your Elderly Parent
The children of the elderly parents need to be well acquainted with the doctors and nurses attending in the emergency rooms so that they can know about the exact medical condition of their parents and how long will it take for the full cure of the patients.
Also, it is important to check on the caregivers in the hospital and find if they are aware of certain points that are needed to be noted while handling that patient, as most of the elderly patients have their own physical and mental complications that should be dealt with compassion and care.
Present Contact Numbers
It is important to note down the contact numbers of the attending doctors in the emergency rooms so that they can be reached later too for any advice for the senior safety reasons, mainly after the parents are discharged from the hospital. Usually, best care and necessary measures should be adopted to ensure that the aged person need not be taken to the emergency room once again. Hence, all the guidelines given by the doctors of the hospital should be strictly followed.
The patient should also be kept mentally happy and peaceful after returning from the emergency. He/she needs to have constant company of the loved ones, which will enhance his/her willpower and desire to live more, combating all the illnesses. This kind of mentality is essential for faster recovery of any patient, especially for those in a ripe age.
If the parent is immobile or partly mobile, it is better to keep a caregiver for looking after him/her for 24 hours, to ensure best senior safety. The older adults should have company while moving around the house or going to the bathroom, to prevent any accidental fall that can cause serious injuries.
The senior citizens often undergo mental dilemma even on trivial issues at home, leading to the deterioration of their health. So, it is necessary to handle them with utmost care and as per the advice of the attending doctors, to prevent any situation that will need to take them to the emergency department.