Senior Care News

Your Elderly Care Team: How a Case Worker Can Make Your Parents’ Hospital Visit Easier

Elderly Care in Shelby OH

A visit to the hospital with senior adults, whether it is an emergency room visit that lasts only a few hours or an extended stay of several days or even weeks, can be intimidating and uncomfortable for everyone involved. As a family caregiver, involving the entire elderly care team in these visits, the discharge process, and care after discharge helps make a trip to the hospital less frightening and increases the chances of a successful recovery process.

When it comes to your elderly care team, giving your aging parents the highest quality care often means incorporating new people as the need arise. During a hospital trip one of these useful people is a case worker. Case workers are representatives that manage all of the elements of your parents’ care while they are in the hospital and during discharge. This person helps you maintain contact with the doctors, nurses, financial department, insurance department, and other people involved in your parents’ care so your questions are answered, your concerns are addressed, and you understand all of the important information about the visit and discharge.

Some of the benefits of utilizing the services of a hospital case worker for your elderly parents include:

• Establishing an appropriate level of care. Many people get overwhelmed when talking with doctors and nurses and may just go along with whatever the care team says about their elderly parents’ care needs, even when they feel like the choices are not appropriate. Working with a case manager allows you to express your concerns so they can be effectively communicated and the level of care adjusted if necessary

• Encourage shorter stays. By making you and your elderly parents feel more in control of your parents’ care, case manager’s help you feel confident about when it is time to bring them home and continue recovery there. This can reduce the length of stay, lowering your care costs and getting your parents back into their familiar, comfortable surroundings more quickly

• Help ensure better recovery. It is common to feel rushed when receiving care in a hospital, particularly in an emergency room setting. This can result in you not fully understanding your parents’ diagnosis, prescribed treatments, or recovery guidelines. A case worker acts as your connection to the care even when the doctors and nurses are not in the room. This care worker can get answers to your questions, explain information, and ensure you feel totally confident about what you need to do to help your seniors recover more successfully at home

• Reduce readmission rates. Hospital readmissions are common among seniors. One in five elderly adults will return to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, putting them at higher risk of infection, reduced chances of full recovery, and emotional consequences. The services of a case manager help reduce readmission rates, keeping your parents at home where they can recover and return to their healthy, happy, and engaged lifestyle.

 

If your elderly parents are in the hospital, ask about getting a case worker that can help you through the entire care and discharge process.

If you are considering hiring elderly care services near Shelby, Ohio, call the caring staff at Central Star Home Health at (419) 610-2161.  Providing services for families in Mansfield, Lexington, Ashland, Bellville, Crestline, Galion, Loudonville, Mt. Gilead, Shelby, Wooster and the surrounding areas.

Stephen Sternbach

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