When your loved one is discharged from the hospital it can be a happy and joyous time. They finally get to go home. But there may be some issues that should be addressed before they arrive home. Some of the important topics include transportation, home care services, and early discharge.
Transportation
In the excitement to get your loved one home the question of transportation may have been forgotten. How will your loved one get from the hospital to their home? Are they well enough to be driven by someone or do they need an ambulance ride if they will be receiving home health care? Are you available to drive them or do you have another relative who is available? How will transportation to doctor appointments be handled in the next few days and weeks?
Home care services
Your loved one will likely need some help once they return home. Do they need the medical component of home health care services for a while? They can later transition to home care service. A caregiver can also help with the transportation requirements of frequent doctor appointments. Your loved one may not be up to doing errands such as grocery shopping; it can be done by an in-home care provider.
Early discharge
Make sure your loved one doesn’t have the problem of being given a premature discharge. When the doctor says your parent is “good to go” but you know he or she isn’t, state your claim and stand your ground. Speak with the hospital discharge planner if you are able to, and make a plan for your parent to transition safely from hospital to home without a big problem. This is the best way to avoid readmission.
Organize your parent’s home as much as possible before they arrive home. Have cleaners go in and do carpets, floors, heater ducts and so on. These things are hard to do with your parent at home and even more difficult with your parent recuperating at home from an illness serious enough to warrant a hospital stay. Stock their fridge and cupboards if you can, so there are lots of healthy food choices without the need for your parent to immediately go grocery shopping after arriving home.
Make sure home care services are all set up and are going to run smoothly, and that you or another family member or a caregiver will be with your parent at all times. Make sure someone is assigned for each task your parent will require help with. It’s so much easier to do it before they return home than to be scrambling around trying to find help at the last minute when you need it right now.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring home care services in Clark NJ, call the caring staff at Helping Hands Home Care today at (908-418-4299)
Providing Home Care Services in all of Northern and Central NJ, including Clark, Westfield, Crawford, Scotch Plains, Rahway, Linden, Summit, Edison,Elizabeth, Mountainside and the surrounding areas.
After graduating from Seton Hall University with a BS in finance Helping Hands Homecare’s Owner / President, Robert D’Arienzo, went to work on Wall St. for six years. However, after Robert’s grandmother became ill with stomach cancer Robert and his family needed to find assistance in the home for her. After many trials and tribulations Robert could see that there was a great need for quality home care services here in NJ and loved the idea of being able to assist other families who were going through what his family went through with his beloved grandmother.
Thus, Robert had found his passion. After almost a year of preparation Robert opened Helping Hands Homecare in 2003. Robert wanted Helping Hands Homecare to focus on providing the highest quality of caregivers, exceptional customer service, and providing a service that familys could depend on in their time of need. Since then Helping Hands has assisted hundreds of individuals with the simplest of needs to more complex cases while preserving those standards set out many years ago.
Robert is a Google Verified Author
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