EXTENDING SELF CARE AT HOME FOR THE ELDERLY
At least a single chronic disease for example osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, infections, high cholesterol, hypertension and heart disease, namely a few general afflictions, attacks as many as 75% of Americans after the age of 65. 50% of senior people are affected by 2 or more persistent health problems, according to recent statistics. As people get older, they ought to think more and more about changing place from the familiar and loving surroundings of their home to some institutional location. There they can be watched over and taken care of in times of any health predicament, even if such a happening might be infrequent.
However, a transformation for good may take place. (Learn more). People can now measure vital signs on their own to check if changes are taking place and accordingly inform a doctor, thanks to the alteration of blood pressure monitors, defibrillators, blood and oxygen concentration readers, and electrocardiogram devices which can also be used at home. A physician will find such home adapted piece of equipment to be extremely beneficial as they consist of software, which graphs and does analysis of the readings. Last but not the least, a laptop computer that is specially programmed, that can store the user’s personal information at home, can assist direct access of information and analysis of vital signs by a medico from a clinic or medical office.
Alerting the doctor that a person’s vital signs need a check up is perhaps the trick. The user or a significant other like a son, daughter, good friend, brother, or sister may check the most recent readings of vital signs for variances from the established guidelines of the medical office. If there are variances, the doctor can be alerted. Even if the loved one is located in another town or city, he/she can be granted access to the user’s laptop with a safe, personal password that the user has set up as a precaution against hacking or unauthorized tampering of the files in the laptop.
As an accompaniment to the amazing progress in personal health monitoring for senior people, new software has been developed to set up an Electronic Personal Medical Record which will contain data on a person’s personal medical history, family history, surgical history, recent lab results, physical examination results and medications taken. These records are stored in secure files by the software in such a way that no one can access them unless he knows the secure, personal password. Instantaneous access to a Personal Health Record can prove to be lifesaving for an aged person who has fallen sick while traveling or out of station, because these records will be available much before they can be availed of from a doctor’s office during a weekend or in the night.