This article has been written by Deepanshi Saxena pursuing a
from
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This article has been edited and published by .
At a growing age, everyone needs different types of care. Geriatrics care is specially provided for elderly people who live alone and need special care to perform their day-to-day activities with a feeling of independence. However, any age group can benefit from these services.
To define it more in detail it would be easy to say such services are for older people to provide home care, diabetes care, trained attendants at home, diagnostics at home, physiotherapy at home, chronic health care at home, dementia care at home, Alzheimer care at home, etc.
Physicians who are experts in this care for elders are commonly known as geriatrics. These services are provided in four ways: medical care, therapeutic care, preventive care, and rehabilitative care.
Medical care provides proper monitoring to elders who are facing any medical issues and need to take medicines timely. In any medical emergency, appropriate medical attention & care are required for these elders.
Therapeutic care provides cures for disease and remedies for treatment.
Preventive care provides preventive measures for any illness even before anything happens.
Rehabilitative care provides treatment for particular serious diseases and ensures prevention and care for improvement. Mainly, it includes physical and neurological rehabs.
These days most of the elders live alone and due to the high cost of medical facilities, they are unable to take care of themselves by availing of these medical services. Most children provide this type of care for their parents as they either live abroad and physically cannot be there with them all the time to take care of them; also, the elder people love their independence and do not opt to live with their children in some cases.
If we see the ratio of elder people in every house, it’s 1:7, where 15 million of them are living alone. Tamil Nadu has the highest number of elder people, which is 9.2%, while Jammu and Kashmir has the lowest number of elder people, which is 5.8% only.
Few elders are facing serious medical issues like cancer, dementia, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and so on. This type of geriatric healthcare should become more popular to reach the most needy people.
The Geriatric Healthcare provides not only physical support but also mental support. They also offer regular monitoring of prescribed medicines as per the schedules, health check-ups on time and keeping them under proper diet as per their health conditions. Also, assisting them with regular exercising, walking, yoga and so on helps them with providing fitness to the body and mobility to muscles and the overall body.
The wide range of services offered by geriatric healthcare are not only for elder people but also for those who need these services. The services include not only medical services but also non-medical services. Geriatric care not only provides medical care but also overall support to elderly people who live alone and want to live comfortably in their homes close to their relatives and friends. They provide home care services, which let people live in a homely environment where they pay attention to every small need of them.
Helping follow the proper daily routines to keep them active and feel good, to help them perform daily physical activities like walking in the park, morning yoga, going to the temple, light exercises, etc.
Boosting mental health helps them have a proper emotional balance. Sometimes people deal with depression or other mental traumas and just need to live with someone who can take care of them and make them feel like family. Comforting care makes them feel lively.
These geriatric care not only help them cope with mental stress and maintain physical strength but also prepare food for them as per their health, take them to doctors as per schedule, get them regular health check-ups, etc.
Geriatric healthcare units provide services for bedridden patients, companionship services, support for daily activities, hospital attendants, physio & rehabs and nursing at home.
Geriatric healthcare comes under the 5Ms which are mind, mobility, medications, multi complexity and matters most to me.
Mind includes keeping the mind healthy and uplifting the moods by changing the environment, making it more comfortable and happy. This also keeps them away from stress and fighting against depressive minds. Focusing on managing their forgetfulness issue, sometimes patients with dementia also need special focus on this.
Mobility includes the overall functioning of the body, where fall prevention should be most important for 80-plus elderly or seriously ill patients. After a certain age, people find it difficult to walk and perform daily tasks due to stiffness and pain in joints, muscles and bones, which make them fall suddenly and unable to balance their body.
Medications involve guiding proper medications to elderly people, who sometimes take unnecessary medicines without even having proper knowledge about possible side effects. Giving only those medicines that are important for the treatment is the main focus here.
Multi-complexity includes taking care of all the complexities that come with different factors like age, medical conditions and so on. Not only serious illness but normal challenges are also there with old age people.
Matters Most means that should be the priority of patients or elderly people should be the Geriatric caregiver’s priority. Maintaining a healthy way out for them to feel good is the key. Providing them with transportation at the time of any kind of need is also very necessary.
By following these 5Ms most organisations work in the same direction to provide the best care to those in need.
With the growing age after 60 years, the impact of molecular and cellular damage can be easily seen. Where vision loss, cataracts, hearing loss, difficulty in walking, performing day-to-day activities, pain in different body parts like back, shoulder, knees etc, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiac issues, and so on take place.
Ageing is defined by four categories mainly-metabolic, immune, hepatic and nephrotic. Physical aspects that occur in aging-Greying and Thinning of Hair, Sagging Skin, Teeth Loss, Wrinkles, Fine Lines, Weakening Muscles, Eye-Sight, Bone Density, Decreased Lung Capacity etc.
Ageing is the challenge faced in performing day-to-day routines whether it is going to the temple alone, going to the market to buy vegetables or groceries, visiting doctors regularly, purchasing medicines, going to the park, and doing regular tasks under supervision is very important for older people.
The government of India has taken significant steps towards securing the rights of the elderly. In 2007, the Indian Parliament passed a bill known as the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act.
In continuation with this, a few more programs are there, i.e., the National Programme for the Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE), which was launched in 2010, includes all kinds of healthcare services for old age people.
National Health Mission (NHM) provides financial support to those who are unable to get the benefit of health centres because of many constraints. Similarly, the Integrated Programme for Older Persons (IPOP) also provides financial support to state governments and non-government organisations.
In India, with the growing demands of geriatric care, a few cities are showing a large presence, e.g., Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Delhi NCR. These are a few metro cities where the expansion of older people’s health services can be easily seen. Also, there are a few other cities Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and so on.
As the government has taken multiple steps, such geriatric health care can be booked both online and offline. Also, a few units are working for underprivileged people, expanding the old age homes with all possible facilities, taking care of them, and providing free medicines can also be added.
Enhancing the best home care services should also be the main focus that too in cost cost-effective range. If we talk about the charges in metro cities like Bangalore, 24/7 Caregiver services at home are available for Rs. 25000-Rs. 70000, old age homes are available for Rs. 10000-Rs. 25000, and eldercare services range from Rs. 15000-Rs. 25000. The basic average cost ranges from Rs.10000-Rs. 30000 per month. These costs should also be affordable for the maximum number of people to benefit from this.
Some insurance companies have also introduced elder care plans to provide maximum facilities and medical support at the time of any medical need. Thus, we should hope to create the best environment for the elderly in the coming years rather than discriminating against and abusing them for already facing different challenges in day-to-day life.
The post appeared first on .
This article has been edited and published by .
What is geriatric healthcare
At a growing age, everyone needs different types of care. Geriatrics care is specially provided for elderly people who live alone and need special care to perform their day-to-day activities with a feeling of independence. However, any age group can benefit from these services.
To define it more in detail it would be easy to say such services are for older people to provide home care, diabetes care, trained attendants at home, diagnostics at home, physiotherapy at home, chronic health care at home, dementia care at home, Alzheimer care at home, etc.
Physicians who are experts in this care for elders are commonly known as geriatrics. These services are provided in four ways: medical care, therapeutic care, preventive care, and rehabilitative care.
Medical care provides proper monitoring to elders who are facing any medical issues and need to take medicines timely. In any medical emergency, appropriate medical attention & care are required for these elders.
Therapeutic care provides cures for disease and remedies for treatment.
Preventive care provides preventive measures for any illness even before anything happens.
Rehabilitative care provides treatment for particular serious diseases and ensures prevention and care for improvement. Mainly, it includes physical and neurological rehabs.
What is the need forgeriatric healthcare
These days most of the elders live alone and due to the high cost of medical facilities, they are unable to take care of themselves by availing of these medical services. Most children provide this type of care for their parents as they either live abroad and physically cannot be there with them all the time to take care of them; also, the elder people love their independence and do not opt to live with their children in some cases.
If we see the ratio of elder people in every house, it’s 1:7, where 15 million of them are living alone. Tamil Nadu has the highest number of elder people, which is 9.2%, while Jammu and Kashmir has the lowest number of elder people, which is 5.8% only.
Few elders are facing serious medical issues like cancer, dementia, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and so on. This type of geriatric healthcare should become more popular to reach the most needy people.
The Geriatric Healthcare provides not only physical support but also mental support. They also offer regular monitoring of prescribed medicines as per the schedules, health check-ups on time and keeping them under proper diet as per their health conditions. Also, assisting them with regular exercising, walking, yoga and so on helps them with providing fitness to the body and mobility to muscles and the overall body.
What do geriatric healthcare offers
The wide range of services offered by geriatric healthcare are not only for elder people but also for those who need these services. The services include not only medical services but also non-medical services. Geriatric care not only provides medical care but also overall support to elderly people who live alone and want to live comfortably in their homes close to their relatives and friends. They provide home care services, which let people live in a homely environment where they pay attention to every small need of them.
Helping follow the proper daily routines to keep them active and feel good, to help them perform daily physical activities like walking in the park, morning yoga, going to the temple, light exercises, etc.
Boosting mental health helps them have a proper emotional balance. Sometimes people deal with depression or other mental traumas and just need to live with someone who can take care of them and make them feel like family. Comforting care makes them feel lively.
These geriatric care not only help them cope with mental stress and maintain physical strength but also prepare food for them as per their health, take them to doctors as per schedule, get them regular health check-ups, etc.
Geriatric healthcare units provide services for bedridden patients, companionship services, support for daily activities, hospital attendants, physio & rehabs and nursing at home.
What are the 5Ms of geriatric healthcare
Geriatric healthcare comes under the 5Ms which are mind, mobility, medications, multi complexity and matters most to me.
Mind includes keeping the mind healthy and uplifting the moods by changing the environment, making it more comfortable and happy. This also keeps them away from stress and fighting against depressive minds. Focusing on managing their forgetfulness issue, sometimes patients with dementia also need special focus on this.
Mobility includes the overall functioning of the body, where fall prevention should be most important for 80-plus elderly or seriously ill patients. After a certain age, people find it difficult to walk and perform daily tasks due to stiffness and pain in joints, muscles and bones, which make them fall suddenly and unable to balance their body.
Medications involve guiding proper medications to elderly people, who sometimes take unnecessary medicines without even having proper knowledge about possible side effects. Giving only those medicines that are important for the treatment is the main focus here.
Multi-complexity includes taking care of all the complexities that come with different factors like age, medical conditions and so on. Not only serious illness but normal challenges are also there with old age people.
Matters Most means that should be the priority of patients or elderly people should be the Geriatric caregiver’s priority. Maintaining a healthy way out for them to feel good is the key. Providing them with transportation at the time of any kind of need is also very necessary.
By following these 5Ms most organisations work in the same direction to provide the best care to those in need.
What defines ageing
With the growing age after 60 years, the impact of molecular and cellular damage can be easily seen. Where vision loss, cataracts, hearing loss, difficulty in walking, performing day-to-day activities, pain in different body parts like back, shoulder, knees etc, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiac issues, and so on take place.
Ageing is defined by four categories mainly-metabolic, immune, hepatic and nephrotic. Physical aspects that occur in aging-Greying and Thinning of Hair, Sagging Skin, Teeth Loss, Wrinkles, Fine Lines, Weakening Muscles, Eye-Sight, Bone Density, Decreased Lung Capacity etc.
Ageing is the challenge faced in performing day-to-day routines whether it is going to the temple alone, going to the market to buy vegetables or groceries, visiting doctors regularly, purchasing medicines, going to the park, and doing regular tasks under supervision is very important for older people.
Cities with rising geriatric healthcare services
The government of India has taken significant steps towards securing the rights of the elderly. In 2007, the Indian Parliament passed a bill known as the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act.
In continuation with this, a few more programs are there, i.e., the National Programme for the Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE), which was launched in 2010, includes all kinds of healthcare services for old age people.
National Health Mission (NHM) provides financial support to those who are unable to get the benefit of health centres because of many constraints. Similarly, the Integrated Programme for Older Persons (IPOP) also provides financial support to state governments and non-government organisations.
In India, with the growing demands of geriatric care, a few cities are showing a large presence, e.g., Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Delhi NCR. These are a few metro cities where the expansion of older people’s health services can be easily seen. Also, there are a few other cities Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and so on.
Conclusion
As the government has taken multiple steps, such geriatric health care can be booked both online and offline. Also, a few units are working for underprivileged people, expanding the old age homes with all possible facilities, taking care of them, and providing free medicines can also be added.
Enhancing the best home care services should also be the main focus that too in cost cost-effective range. If we talk about the charges in metro cities like Bangalore, 24/7 Caregiver services at home are available for Rs. 25000-Rs. 70000, old age homes are available for Rs. 10000-Rs. 25000, and eldercare services range from Rs. 15000-Rs. 25000. The basic average cost ranges from Rs.10000-Rs. 30000 per month. These costs should also be affordable for the maximum number of people to benefit from this.
Some insurance companies have also introduced elder care plans to provide maximum facilities and medical support at the time of any medical need. Thus, we should hope to create the best environment for the elderly in the coming years rather than discriminating against and abusing them for already facing different challenges in day-to-day life.
References
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