Help! Mom's Had A Fall!

 In the medical field, especially at the front desk of a doctor's office, this statement is uttered daily.  A caregiver of an aging loved one has stopped by to check on their charge and found that they have fallen. Sometimes the falls occur at least weekly.  They may even progress to daily and even several times each day.  What can the caregiver do? Plenty...

Let's first make sure that your loved one is okay.  Do they have any pain, other than general soreness? If you are ever in doubt, call 911 and  let the paramedics check them out or decide to transport them to the hospital.  If you, or the emergency responders, decide it's just some bumps and bruises, help your loved one get comfortable and read on.

One of the first things to look at when your loved one is experiencing falls is their medications.  Too much, too little, interactions with other drugs can all cause dizziness and potential falls.  Your pharmacist can be a big help to preventing adverse reactions and side effects with medications.  Ask the pharmacist why your loved one is taking each medication and what side effects it may cause.  Getting all prescriptions from one pharmacy is important too so that the pharmacist has the full picture.


Looking around the home for safety issues is our next step.  Are their rugs that could cause a tripping hazard?  Power cords in walkways? Do you have safety bars in the bathroom, including in the tub or shower? Are their hand rails wherever their are stairs? Taking measures to provide the safest environment possible can greatly reduce falls for your loved one.

What if you have done all of these things and your loved one is still experiencing falls? Many times, general aging, disease processes and illness can weaken your loved one.  The strength they used to have in their leg and core muscles has been greatly reduced and falls will naturally occur.  This is a great opportunity to have a Home Health agency work with your loved one through physical therapy to help restrengthen them.  The therapist will guide your loved one through the exercise and then teach them, and family members how to continue the strengthening on their own.  Several visits will ensure that your loved one improves and understands the techniques used to keep them strong.

The goal of Home Health is to bring the patient back to their prior level of functioning before they had their fall or illness.  Once that goal is met services will end.  This is often met with unhappiness on the part of the patient because they realize how much it has helped and sometimes, their level of functioning, even after therapy, has diminished and they still require help.  Please know that those who work for the Home Health agency want to keep serving you as long as you qualify for services.  This is how they get paid.  They don't want to put you in a position where you will potentially get hurt again BUT, if the documentation of their visits cannot show continued improvement they must discontinue services.  I have had some clients feel as if they were "kicked off" of services when they still needed them.  I always assure them that this is not the case but that the agency must follow the federal regulations and guidelines of service.

One of the most important things to know about Home Health is that it is designed to serve those who are homebound, meaning that it is difficult to get them out of the house to an appointment.  Are they unable to drive themselves? They are homebound.

One fall for your loved one can qualify them for a Home Health evaluation.  Call our office at 801-225-3377 and our friendly office staff will visit with you and gather some information.  This will include your loved one's primary care physician's name, insurance info and date of birth.  If your loved one has NOT had a face to face visit with their doctor in the last thirty days, they will need to make an appointment to be seen and at that time the request can be made for Home Health services. If they have been to the doctor in the last 30 days, a simple call to the doctor's office can be made with a request for Home Health services.  If the doctor agrees that it could be helpful, he will give an order for an evaluation.  PLEASE know that you always have a choice of which company you would like to serve your loved one.  Because a doctor's office is so busy, they may give the order to the next agency on the list.  If there is a company that you would like to serve, you must vocalize it..."I want FREEDOM!"  

Freedom Home Health and Hospice is locally owned and operated.  We are your neighbors, friends and associates and we would love to serve you.  We look forward to hearing from you! 801-225-3377

Urinary Tract Infections In The Elderly

With many years of caregiving experience, in a personal and professional mode, I have decided that  Urinary Tract Infections, also known as UTI or Bladder Infection, can wreak havoc on the elderly and especially the caregiver.  

Because the symptoms of a UTI can mimic so many other things, it often gets overlooked as the problem. 

The symptoms of a bladder infection, also known as a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) include:

• Cloudy or bloody urine, which may have a foul or strong odor
• Low fever (not everyone will have a fever)
• Pain or burning with urination
• Pressure or cramping in the lower abdomen (usually middle) or back
• Strong need to urinate often, even right after the bladder has been emptied

If the infection spreads to your kidneys, symptoms may include:

• Chills and shaking or night sweats
• Fatigue and a general ill feeling
• Fever above 101 degrees Fahrenheit
• Flank side, back, or groin pain
• Flushed, warm, or reddened skin
• Mental changes or confusion (in the elderly, these symptoms often are the only signs of a UTI)
• Nausea and vomiting
• Severe abdominal pain (sometimes)

Experiencing mental changes in the elderly is so often thought to be related to Alzheimer's, dementia or just age related memory loss but  when the changes occur so quickly, caregivers should consider a Urinary Analysis (UA)  to either prove or eliminate the chances of a UTI.

What steps can we take to reduce the chance of a UTI? First and foremost...DRINK WATER!!!! The recommendation is eight 8 ounce glasses of water each day.  Many of the elderly, and not so elderly, choose to drink other items such as coffee, soda and tea (all of which are known diuretics, robbing our body of valuable water) or simply forget to drink enough water.  While being a caregiver for my Grandfather, I found that having an insulated 32 ounce mug available helped him keep track of how much he had drank that day.  His goal was to empty it at least once.  He would mix Crystal Light in with his water which made it much more enjoyable for him. Getting just that 32 ounces in him was more than he was taking in without the mug.

Another vital step in preventing UTI's is good hygiene.  This includes bathing/showering, the cleansing process when toileting and, if your loved one is incontinent and wearing briefs, keeping the area clean and dry.  I recently provided cares for a beautiful senior in an assisted facility and came across the most amazing thing!  Her family had installed a Bidet. For those in the caregiving world, this is a magical device that provides a cleansing stream of water, on demand, to cleanse the buttocks and genital area. This was genius in my book and when I went home that evening I had to do some research and find out how technical it would be to install as well as how much it could cost.  Good news!!! The local Home Depot has the exact model my sweet friend had for about $50. If you can handle a wrench, you could probably install this.

If you have done everything you can do to prevent a UTI and still find after a UA that a UTI is indeed what you are dealing with, a round of antibiotics will usually fix the problem.