Retirees are usually suffering from one or more illnesses as they age. This usually makes it necessary for them to take medications for their illnesses. This can be a recipe for disaster for many reasons. For instance, the drugs could start losing efficacy, which may require an increase in the dosage or a change to an entirely different medication. They may also accidentally take too much medication. This occurs if the loved one has a neurodegenerative disorder that impairs their short term memory, or when they are on so many drugs that they can’t keep up on which ones they have taken and which ones they have not.
Staying in assisted living in Portage, IN is an excellent way of making sure that all these problems don’t catch up with your loved one. These communities can help in the following ways:
Supervised Dosing
Assisted living communities have team members who can keep an eye out for your loved one especially when it comes to dosing of medication. They can take custody of the medication, and then administer them under supervision. This ensures that your loved one takes the medication they need at the right time and in the right doses. Doing this at home can be a hassle especially if a caregiver has other commitments such as taking care of the rest of the family or work. This can make it difficult for them to split their time between all their responsibilities.
They Can Facilitate Follow-Up
Quality assisted living communities offer all sorts of amenities to make sure that your loved one gets all the help they need to stay healthy. An integral part of this is provision of transportation services on a regular basis to the loved one’s physician for regular follow up. When taking medication chronically, regular follow-up is necessary for the physician to review their medication, prescribe refiils and titrate some other medications. They also run routine tests to find out if the medications are working or not, and if some of them need to be discontinued on account of end organ damage. Regular follow-up will make your loved one healthier for longer. You won’t need to keep taking time our of your day to make sure that they see their doctor even if it’s on a weekly basis.
Proper Record-Keeping
Keeping proper records about the medication that your loved one is using and has used in the past is important, as is the reasons why they were taken off some medications or had other medication added. This record keeping makes it easy for any physician to track your loved one’s health and come to a clinically relevant conclusion which will be for the benefit of the loved one. This can also help in making sure that the loved one takes their medication as prescribed, and does not forget to take some drugs or takes too much of others.
If you have a loved one who is on medication, these are just some of the many benefits of having them stay in assisted living communities. This move generally makes them healthier and happier, and reduces the risk of events such as drug interactions much lower.
