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At least one in ten households has one internally sick patient who needs constant medical care. With the onset of the covid 19 pandemic, frequent visits to health care facilities was discouraged. This forced family members to learn different ways of caring for their sick ones in the confines of their homes. Caring for a sick family member at home prevents them from contracting different infections that most of the time end up worsening their already existing conditions. Do you have a sick loved one at home, and you are looking for homecare tips that you can use to ensure their wellbeing? Here are a few tips for you.
Cleanliness and Hygiene is Key
A sick person should always be in a clean environment. That is why the level of cleanliness in most hospitals is always top-notch. You should ensure that you maintain the same for the home to prevent them from coming into contact with germs that might expose them to other infections. The food and water that they consume should always be handled with the utmost care, and hygiene should be practiced at all times.
It is advisable that you provide them with fresh food at all times, but this might be a challenge for you, especially if you are working yourself and you have no time to always cook fresh meals. In such instances, https://www.levapack.com/ will provide you with the best food packaging solutions to ensure that everything stays fresh and safe for consumption.
Invest in Basic Medical Equipment
There are some conditions that you cannot manage at home without some basic medical equipment. These conditions include diabetes, blood pressure problems and asthma. You also need some testing apparatus to keep tabs of certain infections. This is where medical plastic injection companies come in handy for you. They manufacture basic medical gadgets for home use all the way to complex machines that are used in large medical facilities. Also, ensure that you have a first aid kit with you in case of any accidents that may occur in the home. As a caregiver, make it a priority to learn how to use these gadgets effectively.
Improve Safety in the Home
Safety should always be a priority in a household, whether there is a sick one or not. However, sick people experience a harder time getting around the home, especially those who are suffering from physical conditions. Ensure that all floors are dry at all times to prevent slipping accidents. Electricity is also a major safety hazard in the home, but with a load-break switch, you can be able to prevent major electrical circuit issues in the home.
Ensure that everyone in the household understands the various safety measures to protect their loved ones from further medical problems. For instance, everyone should wash their hands when they come into the home before handling anything. They should wear their masks in public to reduce their chances of contracting the coronavirus. According to the WHO, those with already existing health conditions are the ones at a higher risk of being taken out by Covid-19.
Do not Forget to Care for Yourself
Most caregivers tend to fall deep into caring for their loved ones to the extent of forgetting their own well being. While taking care of a sick family member, you should also create some time for yourself to relax and take care of your own physical and mental health. Ask for help anytime you need it, and if you need to talk to someone about the challenges you are facing, do so.
Seeing someone you love day in and day out can take a toll on your mental health, and if you keep it all inside, you might end up breaking down. Visit the doctor once in a while for a full medical checkup too.
Always Have Doctor on Call
There are times when you will need the intervention of a qualified medical professional. Ensure that you always have your family doctor on speed dial for such times. Some conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes can get out of hand and require the patient to be admitted at a medical facility.
Also, make sure that you have all the medication with you to avoid instances of running out of medicine. In case you are leaving the house, ensure that the sick one has all the emergency contacts they can call on speed dial. Do not leave them alone for extended periods of time.
Conclusion
At times a hospital is not the best place for a sick individual to recover. Some people prefer to recover in the comfort of their homes and they require caregivers who will be able to take care of them. Most of the time it doesn’t have to be a family member who is taking care of a sick loved one. If you can afford a home care nurse, the better for you. Let us normalize caring for sick family members at home rather than leaving them in hospitals to recover alone.
