Challenges of Aging, skilled nursing care, hospice and more

Close to Paradise is a home like care setting where services are provided for the elderly, based on each person’s needs. Our accommodations meet the needs of seniors who are no longer able to live at home independently, and need to transition into a setting that offers hands on care, help with daily tasks, supervision, medication management, meal preparation and help eating, companionship and much more. As seniors age, capabilities and limitations change. Some of the general patterns of physical, perceptual, and cognitive changes that occur with age include: decrease in strength, hearing and vision loss, and decline in memory. At Close to Paradise, we provide endless care services that involve the complete plan of care of each patient.

Health Challenges for Elderly People

Getting older causes changes in the body and health problems emerge as a result of it. Not everyone will be affected by every disease or condition; however, they do become more common as the age progression continues.

• Flu is a common health challenge for elderly people. The immune system will not be as strong as it was during the younger years, thus causing serious health complications even from a flu. A few examples would be pneumonia, sepsis, worsening pre-existing conditions such as lung and heart disease.

• Weight Gain is a common contributing factor that can worsen with age, leading to High Blood Pressure, Diabetes and Stroke. Furthermore, obesity and arthritis often go together.

• Insomnia and sleep problems are issues that many elderly experience. Lack of sleep can lead to memory problems, pain, depression and increase fall risk during the night.

• Fragile bones are common in the aging population, leading to serious health complications. Instability in balance increases fall risk, making it especially risky in people with osteoporosis, due to high risk of fractures.

• Cancer is one of the biggest age related diseases, half of them occurring in people over the age of 65, lung cancer in particular, affecting people the most in their 70s.

• Depression is very common among the seniors adults, many of them not being diagnosed. Subsyndromal depression is a type of depression that happens when a person looses interest or pleasure in things or activities they used to enjoy and pursue. Long-term health issues can cause limitations in life that can lead to depression.

Skilled Care Services as the Need Arises

Close to Paradise also offers Skilled Nursing Facility Springfield, Mo meaning, when your loved one’s care needs increase, they will not have to move out. Often times, the challenges that families face when trying to find the best care option for their aging parents or family members, revolve around the idea of whether their loved one will be able to stay in the same care facility until the end, or, as the health declines, they will be faced with the situation of having to move them again in a different care setting, that offers more care. At Close to Paradise however, you can rest assured, knowing that once your loved one enters into our care, you will never be faced with the challenge of having to move them out again. Your loved one will indeed, be able to remain in our loving care, even when their health declines. We offer skilled care services and end of life services, that will accommodate your loved one’s needs as they arise.

Palliative Care

At Close to Paradise we care for seniors until the very end of life. As the health of your loved one declines, we incorporate the hospice and palliative care team. An important factor to keep in mind when considering Hospice care and/or palliative care, is that the two are not the same. Palliative care is specialized medical care of people who live with a serious illness such as cancer or organ failure. Palliative care is an option for patients affected by serious illness such as congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Parkinson’s disease, cancer, dementia and much more. Patients in palliative care can receive medical care for their symptoms, or palliative care, along with treatment intended to cure the serious illness. The focus of palliative care is to improve the quality of life and to help manage the symptoms, as well as to educate patients in order to help them understand choices for medial treatment. The team of palliative care professionals includes doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains and volunteers. The main thing to keep in mind when considering palliative care, is the fact that in palliative care, the patient does not have to give up treatment that might cure a serious illness. The palliative care can be provided together with the treatment intended to cure a disease.

Hospice Care

Similarly to palliative care, hospice care focuses on quality of life of a person, as well as enhanced focus on comfort and care, as the end of life process approaches. Often times, hospice care starts when a person has been diagnosed with a serious illness that is considered terminal. Hospice care should be considered when a person chooses not to undergo medical treatments that might not cure a certain illness. Like palliative care, hospice care provides comfort care, improves quality of life through effective measures of symptoms management, however, in hospice, attempts to cure a person’s illness are stopped. Hospice therefore, is for patients who have terminal illness whose doctor believes they have six months or less to live if the illness runs its natural course. Just like palliative care, hospice care is comprised of a team of healthcare professionals which includes doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains and volunteers.