If your senior loved one takes a trip to the hospital and must stay a while, this can be a shocking time for both them and the family. It is easy to be focused solely on your senior and the hospital staff during this time, but it’s important to do something else: Plan for discharge.

When it’s time for your senior to leave and transition to home care, you don’t want to be unprepared and overwhelmed. Discharge planning is crucial and will help to determine your senior’s health and recovery at home. We’re going through some of the basics of transitioning from a hospital to home care to help make this process easier on everyone involved. 

Plan for Discharge

As we mentioned, being prepared for the day of discharge will be extremely beneficial for everyone and take a lot of stress out of this process. Planning involves having transportation from the hospital to the home, determining whether or not a caregiver is needed at home (and details of the next stage of care that is needed) and arranging for any follow-up appointments or tests that are needed.

Have Help at Home

You may find that your senior will require the assistance of a caregiver – This can be a family member(s) or personnel from an agency like ActiKare. Caregivers can help your senior with basic needs, such as meal preparation, bathing, transportation, running errands, physical therapy, medication management, housekeeping and so much more. They can also provide services for seniors who have more advanced needs, like Alzheimer’s Care, Memory Care or Companion Care. 

Know What to Expect for Recovery

Once your senior is home and settled in with their designated caregivers, it’s important to be realistic about recovery and therapy expectations. Some questions to ask ahead of time are:

• Will they need equipment for therapy?
• Do they have transportation to and from appointments?
• What medications will they need to take and for how long?
• Who will be helping them with their therapy and recovery?

For more tips on getting your senior settled into home care after a hospital stay, please contact us here at ActiKare to speak with our experts.