July is meant for the social butterflies! From Family Reunion and Picnic Month to Social Wellness Month, it’s time for those who like to visit to shine.
What do social events have in common with home health, outpatient therapy, or hospice services? Staying social is tough if you’re not feeling well enough to enjoy conversations!
All three services help patients feel the very best that they can. That could mean more meaningful visits with those you love. It might be hard for folks to grasp this idea, especially with a service like hospice, so let’s explain what each service truly has to offer.
Hospice: Hospice offers enhanced medical oversight outside of a hospital; the hospice team visits patients wherever they call home. With this added support in their preferred setting, patients utilizing hospice may be more likely to want to socialize (if their illness allows) than if they were in a hospital setting with visitor restrictions.
A common myth about hospice is that it overmedicates patients, so they are not alert enough to communicate with family and loved ones. Hospice works to add comfort and minimize pain. However, it controls discomfort in a way that allows patients to be as alert as possible.
Pain is not a normal part of dying, but it can be a part of the disease that’s causing the patient’s death. Fatigue and additional sleeping can also be part of the dying process. While hospice supports those facing the end of their lives, it also intends to make the final days, weeks, or months of a patient’s life as comfortable as possible.
Home Health Services: Patients may utilize home health care following an injury, illness, or a new diagnosis or while they manage a long-term condition. It allows them to have support to stay safe and independent. Patients who feel their best are more likely to maintain their social lives.
Home health nurses can manage medications, educate patients and their families about their conditions, and help them maintain their ability to complete tasks at home. They can also evaluate patients to determine if therapy could help. Home health can help patients avoid experiencing health setbacks that result in hospitalization, frequent visits to the ER, or stays in a nursing home.
Outpatient Therapy Services: Use it or lose it! That’s the main takeaway from physical and occupational therapies.
It’s much easier to see friends and loved ones when we can move freely and safely toward their embrace or easily get in and out of vehicles to reach their front doors.
Once someone has been hospitalized or immobile for a long period, it can take some work to regain strength. If patients maintain stability and reduce their risk of falling, they are more likely to maintain their abilities.
Speech and language pathologists, or SLPs, can provide speech therapy services to help those who have experienced neurological conditions, such as strokes or forms of dementia. Through this branch of therapy, SLPs help patients maintain their ability to converse by teaching them to talk louder and slower or how to follow a sequence of events. Following ordered sequences, such as recipes, is important to manage everyday life.
Who Qualifies for Health Services at Home?
This is a very interesting question, and the best way we can answer it is to help you explore your coverage! Medicare, Medicaid, and many insurance companies pay for home health and hospice.
Hospice has very specific requirements, one of which is that the patient’s diagnosis could result in their passing away within six months. If a hospice patient uses the services for six months, they can re-qualify, or if they’ve improved, they may no longer qualify. It can be surprising how many common diagnoses could qualify patients for hospice care, which is why we’re willing to help patients explore what services might be best for them at home.
No matter your health needs, you don’t have to manage them alone. Contact us today at info@caringedge.com to explore how healthcare services at home can help you achieve your goals.