Partnering With Skilled are Brings Full Spectrum of Care Together
Right at Home Caregivers Continue to Assist With Those Range of Motion Exercises
Although Right at Home Caregivers can provide help with standard Range of Motion Exercises with our clients, there are times when skilled therapy is needed for specific strengthening exercises.
From the experience of our client, Eunice:
Eunice had a fall in her home and somehow crawled all the way from the bathroom to the bedroom to get her lifeline as she forgot to put it on that morning. Eunice’s family then set up OT and PT services after the fall due to her overall weakness.
The Occupational Therapist was working with Eunice when her caregiver from Right at Home was there. Her caregiver was able to sit in on the session and learn the techniques to help Eunice with follow through to improve her overall strength, safety, and well-being. Sometimes, it is hard to “teach an old dog new tricks,” so Eunice was happy that her caregiver will be able to assist her with the follow through.
The Occupational therapist showed Eunice how to safely get in and out of bed, how to scoot safely away from the edge of the bed and in a way that would cause less pain in her injured shoulder and back. They taught her how to “log roll” to get out of bed safely. Another helpful tip that Eunice learned was, “nose over toes,” to improve her ability to go from sitting to standing.
The OT showed Eunice how to get through doorways safely and the biggest safety concern was management of her walker with a STRONG emphasis on using the brakes, as Eunice had ahard time remembering the brakes. Repetition is how she eventually learned the skill. Since Eunice’s caregiver was present during her sessions, her caregiver always helped her with the follow through of safely using her brakes.
Eunice often has to use the restroom due to her incontinence and weak pelvic floor muscles, so the Occupational Therapist showed her how to do bladder exercises to strengthen her pelvic floor muscles and then her caregiver was able to help her with those exercises while on her shift to ensure she was doing them properly to be the most beneficial to Eunice.
Another exercise Eunice learned was called the finger walk and towel roll/push due to her poor shoulder range of motion. Eunice’s caregiver would help her with standard range of motion exercises to help strengthen and stay as strong as possible. Eunice would march in place, bringing the knees up far as she could. Eunice would stand near a counter or table and bring the leg out to the side, and then the other. They would also exercise while sitting in a chair: lifting the leg, alternating legs, and then lifting toes.
Eunice was so happy that her caregiver was able to help her use the skills that the therapy team had taught her.
Right at Home In Home Care and Assistance loves to partner with the skilled Home Healthcare agencies, as we both have our different functions that we bring to client care. Our skilled partners come in for their skilled visits and provide a great benefit to our clients/patients. This allows us to work closer with them on their assigned “exercises” between skilled therapy visits. This also gives us knowledge of the individual exercises that would benefit that one person. We are all about PERSON CENTERED CARE!
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