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Managing The Stress ~ Making The Decisions ~ Discovering The Meaning |
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Caregiving |
Solutions To Your Caregiving Situations Throughout Your Caregiving Years |
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Choosing Mom’s Health Care Team By Penny Klein, Family Caregiver I am caring for my mother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 1995. In our case, the fairy tale about kissing frogs before getting the prince was true many times over. I learned the hard way. It seemed that no one really wanted to say it was that particular disease. I dragged my mother all over the big city we lived in to find someone we could trust. A discussion with a co-worker led me to a magazine that did a special issue on hospitals and, in particular, geriatrics. I worked in the health care field at the time and realized that even though it was a neurological disorder I would need to be concerned with other aspects of mom’s health. I was doing quite a lot of reading about the elderly and their health care needs. It was better for mom to see a geriatrician. They could diagnosis Alzheimer’s just as well as a neurologist or internist. However a geriatrician would make sure no other aspects of her health were neglected. It was the right decision. Mom was on Medicaid and so I worried about home health aides. All I heard were the horror stories of abuse and, of course, how low-paid all of them are. It is a sad commentary on our society when athletes and entertainers make more money than health care workers, especially those who work with the weakest in our society, the elderly handicapped. In our case, we found a home health aide who was willing to learn. She really grew to be part of the family. If I had the money to privately pay someone I would have hired a dementia specialist, someone trained by the Alzheimer’s Disease Association. I also met good aides through other agencies. I was able to temporarily have more hours on weekends with an additional aide through a religious affiliation. I got to know the aide and now if I need an additional few hours off once a month or so, I can call her and get a good price. By the way, when our Medicaid paid home aide went on maternity leave, I was able to ask for someone who has experience with dementia. It was early in the disease so Mom needed some of that social stimulation that she was not really getting at home. I called the Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) Association and got a list of day care places and asked other people I knew which ones were best on the list. I was lucky that day centers staff were interested in meeting us and evaluating my mother. Everything went well and I was quite happy with what I saw during my visit. They have a certified nursing aide ratio to patient of 1-8; they are on the medical model of Medicaid which means that they do have registered nurses; doctors that visit; lots of activities and exercise; and she is there five to six hours a day, 6 days a week. Physicians Must Win Your Business 20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors Quick Tips for Working with A Physician Your Thoughts: How Did You Create An Effective Health Care Team Five Steps to Safer Health Care |
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