Tips for Staying Safe This Fall
Daylight savings is coming to an end, and fall is approaching us quickly.
This time of year is full of beautiful autumn colors. The weather starts to cool down, and the days become shorter and nights, longer. But with all things in life, it's important to take note of ways we can keep our loved ones safe through environmental changes. Here are a few of our tips to keep the seniors in your life safe this new season.
Prevent Falls and Accidents
Each year about 3 million older adults are treated in emergency departments for fall injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It’s safe to say that some of these falls may be in autumn.
The autumn leaves decorating your driveway might be mesmerizing to look at, but it is important to rake them up regularly as they are a slip hazard for seniors. Keep all pathways and driveways clear of any debris so that your loved ones are able to walk safely to and from their home.
As the days get shorter, there won’t be as much natural light in and around the house. Make sure all the lightbulbs are changed to ensure there’s plenty of light, so your loved ones can get around easily. Also, make sure there are extra batteries and flashlights for emergency situations to help your seniors prepare for any kind of event.
It is important to take preventative measures to protect the senior in your life from falling or having an accident. Slip free shoes, handrails, plenty of lighting, are all simple ways to ensure the safety of seniors indoors and out.
If the senior in your life already has a hard time getting around due to a back or knee injury, physical therapy is a great option for them to gain back their strength and be able to navigate through their homes and outside of their homes safely. Here at Liberty, we provide physical therapy for our homecare patients, and will make sure to provide your seniors with the tools necessary to be able to safely get in and around their home.
Fire and Carbon Monoxide Monitors
According to John Hopkins Medicine, space heaters increase the chances of carbon monoxide poisoning. By hiring a professional to check all furnaces and heaters, you can ensure they are working properly for the cooler days and would keep your seniors safer throughout fall and winter.
As daylight savings time is ending, it would also be a good idea to change out the batteries in the fire alarm systems, along with the carbon monoxide detector. Check them again in March when daylight savings starts back up. This schedule will make it easier for everyone to remember when the last update was.
Stay Healthy and Active
Unfortunately, with the beautiful autumn leaves and crisp weather comes... flu season. It is important to remind your seniors and everyone that comes in contact with them to wash their hands with soap and water regularly. Keeping germs at bay will help decrease the chances of catching the flu and spreading it to others. Also, make sure your senior speaks with their doctor on whether or not they should get a flu shot.
Having a healthy diet along with regular exercise are also great ways to stay healthy during the fall. Whether it’s taking a walk outside in the newly crisp air or participating in a community yoga class, it’s important for senior citizens to move their bodies and get their blood flowing. Regular exercise helps strengthen the body and promotes healthy joints, which in return, helps prevent falls. If your senior feels like their body is not able to perform daily exercise due to pain, injury or a chronic condition, physical therapy exercises can help restore their body function and get them back to exercising as close to pain free as possible.
While we can take many preventative measures to ensure the safety of our seniors, if the senior in your life is suffering from chronic back, knee or joint pain, these symptoms increase their risk of taking a fall. Contact Liberty Homecare and Hospice Services to learn more about our physical therapy services. Through these services, we support seniors to be able to perform their daily activities with confidence and reduce costly trips back and forth to the hospital.
Ask your medical doctor to fill out a referral for our Physical Therapy services on our website. Let Liberty help you receive the expert care you deserve.
Seniors Can Monitor Their Health with Technology
In today’s digital age, there are more options for keeping track of your health than ever before. From smart watches to apps, older adults can monitor their health from the comfort of their own home. This can make it easier to keep track of daily habits and any health conditions that require recording symptoms in between doctor visits. Health professionals use this vital information to provide the best care for their patients and identify any changes in a patient’s health. Let’s take a look at how seniors can monitor their health with technology.
Tech Designed to Help Patients Track Their Health
Apps to Manage Medications
To help your loved one maintain their health, it’s important that they take their medications at the right time and use the correct dosage. If they have multiple medications, this can easily become confusing and overwhelming to manage on their own. Additionally, some medications must be taken with or without food to avoid causing stomach issues.
Luckily, there are apps and devices designed to help people manage their medications. Seniors can download and use a medication reminder app. These health apps help people track their medications, send refill medication reminders, and notify the user of when they need to take their medications. Your loved one will hear an alert and notification, which will display on their phone’s home screen with instructions on what to take and when.
Alternatively, your loved one may benefit from a medical management device instead. This does not require a smartphone, which some seniors may struggle to use based on their health conditions. A medical management device will hold a few days worth of medication with different alarms that beep and vibrate when it’s for your loved one to take their medicine. Some devices also offer phone call options, which include emergency contact lines in case a senior needs to call for help.
Devices to Track Pain and Symptoms
If your loved one suffers from chronic pain or changes in their health, this has a significant impact on their overall health and well-being. They will likely need to keep track of their symptoms and changes in health, which can be difficult to monitor on their own. Doctors need this vital information to provide the best treatment plan for your loved one.
Like the medication management apps, there are digital health monitoring devices and apps designed to track a person’s health, and symptoms. This is an effective way for older adults to continue living on their own for as long as possible, but also being able to keep track of their health changes in an easy, user-friendly way. You can find several options for wearable medical alert devices for older adults, such as MobileHelp or Medical Guardian. These devices that are worn on the wrist track a person’s biometric data (i.e. brainwaves, heart rate, muscle biosignals, and more) and provide key data related to their specific health conditions.
Additionally, older adults also have access to health apps that track changes to a person’s health. These highly advanced apps will track when a senior experiences pain and symptoms. The apps will even show the location of the pain on an image of a human body, which helps health professionals know where the pain is coming from. These apps also include medication logs and graphs showing health trends over time.
At Liberty Homecare and Hospice services, we use new telemonitoring technology that is implemented into a patient’s home and enables our professionals to monitor patients' health virtually. Alongside monitoring the health of our patients, our telemonitoring system provides the patient with access to our professionals at any time by phone or internet. The health information being gathered in real time, helps our professionals make the best decisions possible during the virtual appointments. Our telemonitoring services are a great way to be able to stay connected to your healthcare professional from the comfort of your home.
Find the Right Tech for Your Loved One’s Needs
As new technology continually emerges, it can feel overwhelming to find the best device and/or app for your loved one’s needs. We recommend discussing with your loved one’s primary care for recommendations and doing research for high-quality health products. While it may be a more costly investment, having peace of mind that your loved one can continue to safely live at home, manage their health, and take their medications correctly is worth it. Contact Liberty HomeCare and Hospice Services today to learn more about our telemonitoring services designed to help seniors achieve their health goals and maintain their independence.
Liberty Healthcare’s Commitment To Employee Wellness Earns Award
Liberty Healthcare Management is a proud winner of the Aetna Workplace Well-being Inspiring Change Award.
The Aetna Workplace Well-being Award program aims to create a healthier workplace for employees through innovative programs.
Liberty Healthcare received the award based on an evaluation of our Wellness Discount Program that incentivizes and encourages employees to get an annual physical and other preventative screenings depending on their age.
The requirements for the preventative screenings include:
- Mammogram for women ages 40 to 69 every 12-24 months
- Cervical Cancer Screening for women ages 21 to 64 every 36 months
- Colorectal Cancer Screening for adults ages 50 to 75
o Fecal Occult Blood Test every year
o Cologuard Test every 3 years
o Sigmoidoscopy every 5 years or Colonoscopy every 10 years
By participating in the Wellness Discount Program, an employee can earn $20 extra per pay period or $40 if their spouse participates as well. That adds up to $520 annually for individuals and $1,040 for couples.
Our incredible employees made this esteemed award possible by making their well-being a priority and taking the measures necessary to stay healthy.
Liberty Healthcare’s Well-being Mission:
“Well at work creates and maintains a culture of health by encouraging employees and their families to lead healthier lifestyles, which fosters a more engaged, productive, and committed workforce, and ultimately a more positive work environment.”
At-Home Exercises for Older Adults
No matter your age, exercise is an effective way to help live a healthy life. For older adults, getting regular physical activity can be challenging. This can be due to a lack of proper fitness space, bad weather, or not having the support necessary to maintain an exercise routine. Keep reading to discover a few easy exercises that older adults can perform at home.
Simple Exercises Helps Improve Your Long-Term Health
Older adults can gain positive health benefits from performing simple at-home exercises. While there are a wide variety of exercise types, a key goal should be to focus on improving one’s balance, mobility, and strength. In turn, this can help seniors improve their overall health and well-being, as well as increase their likelihood of living independently in the comfort of their homes.
Three At-Home Exercises for Older Adults
1. The Sit-to-Stand Exercise
When it comes to living independently, an older adult must be able to safely sit down and stand up from furniture or the toilet. If given approval from their doctor, older adults can perform a sit-to-stand exercise at home. This will help improve seniors’ core strength, leg muscles, and overall balance. To give them a challenge, seniors can stand up from a chair or bed without using their hands. In turn, this can help them maintain their health and mobility.
2. The Single Lamb Stance
Like standing up, maintaining one’s balance is a crucial factor for determining whether a senior requires assistance with performing ADLs (activities of daily living). Balance is required for all types of movement, including going up and down different stairs, carrying items, and getting in and out of the shower or bathtub. By performing an exercise that focuses on balance and stability, this can help improve mobility and reduce the risk for falls.
When performing the single lamb stance, follow these tips:
- Stand with your feet together and have your arms at your side next to a chair
- Slowly raise your left foot off the floor by a few inches
- Hold this position for at least 10 seconds and then slowly switch to the other foot
- If possible, raise your left hand over your head and carefully lift your left foot, holding this position for 10 seconds
- Repeat this process with the other arm and leg
3. Marching In Place
Walking is an excellent, low-impact form of exercise for people of all ages. Seniors that regularly walk can benefit from stronger muscles, reduced risk of diabetes, falls, heart disease, osteoporosis, stroke, and weight, as well as better balance. Of course, it’s not realistic that you can always go outside and walk. This is where marching in place makes a great simple exercise to do at home. Older adults can hold on to a stable surface like a counter or a chair to maintain their balance while marching. It’s recommended to stand straight and slowly lift your right knee as high as you can. Then, lower that knee and switch to the left knee and repeat this process. If possible, try to perform this exercise for a total of 20 times.
While you may think you are too old to start exercising, this is far from true! It’s always a good time to exercise, as long as you have received approval from your doctor. These 3 basic exercises are an easy way to start a physical activity routine for just 10 minutes a day. Overtime, you may find that you are ready to add more exercises into your routine. Health experts recommend performing 150 minutes of physical activity a week. Keep in mind that this number will vary depending on each senior’s specific health needs.
We hope you found this week’s article helpful discussing simple at-home exercises to perform. Contact Liberty HomeCare and Hospice Services today to learn more about our expert, compassionate care designed to help our amazing seniors achieve their health goals and live the highest quality of life possible. We offer everything from home care to hospice care.