Home Health Care: Cancer is a frightening six-letter word.
No family wants to hear it, but if it happens, it’s good to be prepared for cancer care by using home health care. Colorectal, lung, prostate, and skin cancer are the four most common cancers in men.
When your dad has been diagnosed with one of these or another type of cancer, it’s important to figure out his cancer care plans. Your dad will work closely with cancer specialists, but he also needs a strong support team at home. One of the best ways to support him at home is by arranging for home care nurses to work with family caregivers.
Why Hire Home Care Nurses?
Studies find that people recover better in comfortable surroundings. Your dad will get more rest if he’s in his bed than in a strange bed in a noisy hospital wing.
The other benefit of recuperating at home is that he’s not exposed to all of the viruses and bacteria found in a hospital wing. While hospitals are sterile environments, visitors and other patients can have a cold or another virus spread when they cough, talk, or sneeze. At home, your dad avoids these germs.
What Can Home Care Nurses Do?
As a family caregiver, you think you can do it all. Your dad needs someone to change his bandages after surgery. He needs someone to keep his wounds clean. He also needs someone to check his pulse and blood pressure. He needs help with IV medications and injections.
Are you prepared to handle all of these tasks each day? Few family caregivers have any experience caring for surgical wounds or taking blood pressure and pulse readings. It’s okay to admit it’s too much. Home health care nurses are trained in wound care, taking vital signs, and more.
When you arrange to have home care nurses helping your dad by administering medications through his IV line or using a syringe and needle. Home care nurses are trained in wound care and know the signs of infection. They communicate with the doctors and work as a team to change things if your dad’s care plan needs adjustments.
Talk to your dad’s oncologist about his treatment plan. If he will need surgery or be getting regular chemo treatments, ask if he can get some of this home health care at home. Once you know how home care nurses can help, call to make arrangements.
