Bedsores are quite common among those that spend large portions of their day in bed or in a wheelchair, and they are almost always preventable. With all of the other health issues out there, a bedsore might not seem like a huge issue, but they are very painful, and they are a sign of neglect or inadequate care. But even more importantly, they pose a huge issue for the people that we love. They hurt, and they can lead to far more problematic issues, like infection if left untreated. No one wants somebody that they love to have to go through this, and preventing them in the first place is not that hard.
In fact, California has gone to great lengths to try and reduce the occurrence of bedsores in the elderly population. One method being used is to implement standardized ways of preventing them. These, briefly outlined, include daily checks of the entire body, head to toe. While the examination is being given, you should explain to your loved one why you are checking them. Elderly folk are also strongly encouraged to wear loose fitting clothes to avoid friction and to drink plenty of water. When bathing, elderly people should be washed gently in order to avoid any sort of abrasions on the skin. These guidelines come right from the National Institute of Health, and when used with regularity, the odds of a bedsore occurring go down significantly.
Bedsores are caused by a lack of adequate blood flow to the skin. This occurs when pressure has been consistently applied to an area for a long period of time, so they’re sometimes called pressure ulcers. If the following guidelines are applied, along with frequent shifts in position, then bedsores can be completely avoidable. Applying moisturizer to the skin once in a while can also be beneficial, as can having a correctly sized wheelchair. And while the above mentioned guidelines are specifically geared toward residents of senior care facilities, like nursing homes and assisted living facilities, the same concepts can easily be used with success in the home. It doesn’t matter if you’re a family caregiver or if you use an in-home care service to help. Knowing what causes bedsores and how to ensure that they never happen is great knowledge to have.
One of the easiest ways to ensure that this never happens to someone that you love is to ensure that any caregiver that you hire, be it an in-home caregiver, or the employees at a nursing home, or anything in between, have the proper training and experience to provide high quality senior care. Knowing what to look for yourself is an easy safeguard that you can use to protect the people that you love from poor care. In the end though, you can’t do it all yourself, so having a highly trained team on your side is the next best thing as it keeps your mom or dad happier and healthier when you are away. This takes the entirety of the burden off of you, relieving stress, all while ensuring that your parent still gets the very best.
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