Home care aides help with household chores like cleaning, laundry, and cooking. Nurses help with more medical tasks like IVs, wound care, and in-home therapy sessions. If your mom or dad has been diagnosed with certain chronic illnesses involving the respiratory system, you should look into the benefits of home health care.
Five Common Respiratory Illnesses
What are the common respiratory illnesses affecting older adults? Here are five of them.
Asthma: Asthma occurs when the airways become inflamed and make it hard to breathe. It’s often a disease that starts in childhood, but some older adults suddenly develop asthma later in life.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): Diseases like chronic bronchitis or emphysema that make it hard to breathe and may lead to a mucus-filled cough. It’s usually found in smokers or those who have been exposed to a lot of smoke over the years.
Lung Cancer: Lung cancer is more likely in people exposed to air pollution, asbestos, cigarette smoke, and radon. There are different types and stages, but it all comes down to tumors that form somewhere in the lungs.
Pleural Effusion: Cancer and congestive heart failure are two of the reasons pleural effusion may occur. It’s a condition where fluid collects between the chest wall and the lungs. The pressure of that fluid makes it hard to breathe.
Pneumonia: Viral diseases like the flu may lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia can also be the result of a bacterial or fungal infection. It occurs when the air sacs within the lungs become inflamed.
Services Home Health Care Provides
How can home health care nurses help with these respiratory health issues? It depends on the illness.
Your dad has pneumonia. He may be allowed to recover at home instead of in a hospital. With home health care nurses administering IV fluids and antibiotics and checking his pulse and blood pressure, he may find it easier to recover at home than in a busy hospital ward.
Pleural effusion may be caused by lung cancer, pneumonia, or congestive heart failure. The cause will determine the treatment plan. If it’s determined that surgery is necessary, a skilled nurse can help with wound care. If IV medications are needed, home health care nurses help with that.
Lung cancer treatments may require medications or surgeries. Talk to your mom or dad’s doctor to see if any of these medications can be administered at home by a nurse. Nurses can also help with wound care to ensure incisions heal properly.
Make arrangements to have nurses help your parent recover at home. With a doctor’s guidance, you’ll be able to come up with a care plan that ensures they’re safe at home and not worried about staying in a hospital for an extended period of time.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering Home Health Care Services in Springfield VA please contact the caring staff at Apex Classic Home Health Care today. (571) 275-9547
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