Who Handles Your Dad’s Home Health Care Needs?
Home Health Care Power of Attorney
Wise Health Care Consumer Month is a time to look at a person’s health care needs and make smart decisions about them. Your dad had a stroke. Who is responsible for his home health care decisions?
Does He Have a POA?
Hopefully, your dad has a power of attorney (POA) in place. This person is his agent who will make decisions regarding his care needs. A POA follows your dad’s advance directives and follows your dad’s wishes for things like surgeries, feeding tubes, and ventilators.
What if your dad didn’t set up a POA with an attorney? Decision-making would likely fall to his immediate family. It would start with his spouse and then fall to his children. But, if the immediate family members do not agree on a treatment plan, the courts could get involved and that can get messy.
Remember that the POA’s role is to do what your dad would want. This isn’t a time for personal preferences and beliefs to take priority. It’s all about your dad.
Discuss the Options With His Doctors
Wise Health Care Consumer Month focuses on making wise choices. Don’t make any decisions without talking to his medical team. What is the prognosis? What are his immediate care needs? How about weeks or months from now?
Following a stroke, there may be a lot that your dad cannot do on his own. He will need help with grooming and hygiene, including having you brush and floss his teeth. He may not be able to walk, and that means making sure his home is ready for a wheelchair, which could be a major problem. Home care aides become essential for this, but he’s also going to have home health care needs.
Your dad will need to work with a physical and occupational therapist. He may not be able to talk, which also means appointments with a speech therapist. Someone needs to be available to drive him to these appointments unless you arrange home health care therapy visits. If your dad has medications that are injected or administered through an IV, he’ll need home health care nurses for this. It’s not something you can do without the required training. Your dad requires a catheter for now. Again, he’ll need a home health care nurse to clean it, remove it, and change the bag.
The POA Also Arranges Home Health Care
If your dad cannot handle his health care needs on his own, find out who is named as his medical POA. That’s the person who will research treatment options, find out his home health care needs, and make the arrangements.
Should your dad not have a POA to make home health care decisions, gather the immediate family and talk it out. The best bet is to come to an agreement that puts your dad’s wishes first.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring Home Health Care in Glenolden, PA, and the surrounding area, please contact the friendly staff at Suma Home Care. (484) 206-4544
Ibrahim recently completed a Professional Certificate in Management; He is currently pursuing a Masters in Business Administrations (MBA) at a prestigious university in the UK.
With their passion for helping others and a strong background in customer services and clinical care, Ibrahim and his wife started assisting individuals in their homes.
Since started and operating Suma Home Care in 2010 in the basement of their home, Suma Home Care has provided professionals who work endlessly in providing clients with the highest quality of care, while enabling clients to maintain dignity, comfort and safety in their homes.
Suma Home Care, serves four counties in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Chester, Montgomery and Philadelphia. Ibrahim is firmly connected to his local community and is always looking for ways to give back whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Ibrahim enjoys spending time with his wife and children, travelling and enjoys sports.
Mariama Suma-Keita BSN RN
Born in Sierra Leone west Africa, relocated to America in 1999 from a civil war and settled since in the U.S.A as a Naturalized citizen Graduated from National school of nursing with an associate , and completed BSN in Nursing from Immaculata University graduated with Honor roll Alpha Lambda sigma, After escaping the war served as a refugee nurse in Gambia and Guinea to other displaced refugees before coming to America.
In the states started in Homecare then then transition into hospital, worked in Jefferson hospital as a Registered nurse on Tele and general medsurg floor, also worked in Einstein hospital as an oncology transplant nurse , I realized that I enjoy working with patients so much and believe in quality and compassionate care one at a time dealing with an holistic approach in caring for patients and family in a familiar environment called home , I see the impact and progress when they’re home , it makes them feel relax and progress fast with recovering at home. As a nurse and entrepreneur I understand that dedication to meeting people and families needs is a priority, and able to foster relationships with family and patients that is professional and friendly to help them stay and settled home as a desire.
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