Baby Boomer Caregiver Alert

House call doctors are an invaluable tool to consider if you are a full time caregiver of an aging loved one.

When getting to the doctor’s office requires more energy than your loved one has, why not consider a health care service that can take care of their basic needs at homee.

Check out the following scenarios. If any sound familiar, get on your Smart device and Google mobile physician services. Easier yet, tell “Alexa” to do it while you cook supper. Find out if your mom or dad meets the criteria for this type of home care.

• Instead of taking an hour’s time to get to a routine doctor’s appointment, it takes two or three hours to get your loved one up out of bed, dressed, fed, & in the car to go. You have to load the walker/portable transfer wheelchair and even possibly, portable oxygen, then unload it & reload it again when you go home. By the time you get to the doctor’s office, you’re already worn out and need a nap.

• You get there on time but there’s always a wait. You look around and wonder if the other patients waiting to be seen have anything you can catch. You think about germs and how they’re spread and you wonder, “Does It make any sense to sit here being exposed to who knows what? After you see the doctor you wonder, “Was that worth all of the trouble it was to get here”?

• You think about yourself and your loved one because neither of you are spring chicks anymore. You both have some health issues, but you’re both “stable”. You take medications that keep these conditions under control, watch your diets, exercise as much as possible, and have no new complaints.

After all of the preparation to get there, and the extra waiting time, you realize you’re both getting anxious and irritated, and you think, “We are already stressed enough. Why am I bothering with this? Is this really necessary”?

• The doctor spends 15 or 20 mins with you and no new prescriptions are ordered, no new tests, no new referrals to other doctors were received, and no changes at all were made. You’re told to come back in 3 months, and call if anything comes up.

• It takes your loved one 2-3 days to catch up on the sleep they missed and the energy they used up just getting to the appointment.

• Your loved one has dementia & its irreversible. You’ve decided you want quality in your lives, and that quantity is less important.

• Last but not least, you may have to contend with the heat of summer, icy cold of winter, rain, slippery roadways, detours, or unexpected car troubles.

I can identify with all of these things. A few years ago I found a mobile medical service that was available to help care for my mother. It’s turned out to be one of the most effective tools my family has put into our caregiver toolbox, and I wish I’d known about it sooner. Imagine the relief you and your own mom or dad might feel.

• Maybe you can look forward to the house call, knowing if your parent’s not ready to get up and dressed for the visit, it’s ok.
• You’re in familiar and comfortable surroundings.
• Your loved one may act more like themselves at home so it’s possible a more accurate assessment of their condition will be made.
• If they’re confused, you know it’s ok.
• Knowing lab work and checkups still get done with an incredibly less amount of stress, adds quality of life to you both.
• Whether your parent can tell you or not, both of you can be relieved to know you don’t have to wear yourselves out to receive a primary doctor’s care anymore.