If your mother is recovering following a hospital stay due to pneumonia, that doesn’t mean she is completely free and clear of this bacteria or virus. It may still be in her, which is why her doctor likely recommended she get help at home, rest plenty, and not overdo it. If she overdoes it, if she pushes herself to hard, that could give the pneumonia a chance to reestablish itself, and then things could be even more difficult for not just recovery, but survival, should she land back in the hospital.
Senior care is one of the best options for elderly men and women who are trying to recover from pneumonia, like your mother. There are several ways senior care makes a world of difference for aging men and women.
First, a senior care provider can help keep your mother from overdoing things.
As mentioned, if a person has been battling pneumonia and continues to clean the house, run errands, take people to different places, tries to do too many things, they can relapse. Their body can only do so much.
By resting, an elderly person is allowing their immune system to focus exclusively on the bacteria or virus that has caused the pneumonia. If they push themselves to hard, their body’s limited resources are going to be drawn away from their primary defense system. That is going to give the virus or bacteria a chance to regain strength, and a relapse can be much more difficult to combat because that virus or bacteria could become resilient to the antibiotics that we used the first time around.
A senior care provider can take care of the housekeeping, assist with meal preparation, running errands, and so much more that would help your mother just rest.
Second, they can encourage her to follow doctor’s orders.
Some people have difficulty following their doctor’s orders. Senior care understands not only the challenges people face in following doctor’s orders, especially if they don’t want to rest, but also the importance of doing so.
While your mother may not listen to you about such things, even though you are completely right, she will be far more likely to listen to a trained, experienced professional when it comes to topics like this. That can make a world of difference in helping her adhere to those instructions.
Third, senior care can provide companionship.
While you can certainly be there for your mother and she might have visitors, senior care can not only offer companionship, but observe her health and, if they are a licensed medical professional, relay critical information to her doctor for proper monitoring.
While you might not know what to look for that may indicate problems arising, an experienced medical professional, like a home health care aide, could. Time is of the essence, especially when basing medical challenges like pneumonia so if this senior care provider notices certain symptoms or signs that may indicate a problem, she can help your mother take action sooner, which can make all the difference in overcoming pneumonia, finally.
There’s a moment when you might suddenly realize that you’re a family caregiver and you didn’t expect it. You might have known that you would eventually be your senior’s caregiver, but things change quickly when it comes to helping someone you love with the challenges of aging. Getting started the right way, even if you’ve been caregiving longer than you realize, is important.
Have you been wondering how to best care for your aging parent? Maybe you can’t be there to check in on them every single day. It might be a week or even more before you can check on your aging parent. This can cause issues and more worries on your part. Even if your aging parent has senior care providers, you might be worried about their care and needs. You can always install cameras in your aging parent’s house. Before doing this, there are some things that you might need to know.