Senior Safety During Hot Weather
July 20, 2009 at 10:00 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | 1 CommentTags: Hyperthermia, NIA, Report, Saftey, Study
Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management brings this information to you from:
The National Institute on Aging
The risk of heat-related problems increases with age.
Hyperthermia is the name given to a variety of heat-related illnesses that can include heat stroke, heat fatigue, heat syncope (sudden dizziness after exercising in the heat), heat cramps and heat exhaustion.
Older adults are particularly at risk for developing heat-related illness because the body’s ability to adequately respond to summer heat can become less efficient with age. The Nation Institute on Aging (NIA) part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has some advice for helping older people avoid heat problems during the summer months.
A person’s risk for hyperthermia is not based only on the outside temperature – it includes the general health and lifestyle of the individual.
Health Factors that may increase risk include:
- Age-related changes to the skin, such as poor blood circulation and inefficeint sweat glands,
- Heart, lung and kidney diseases, as well as any illness that causes general weakness or fever.
- High blood pressure or other conditions that require changes in diet (for example, a salt restricted diet),
- The inability to perspire caused by medications including diuretics, sedatives, tranquilizers and certain heart and blood pressure drugs,
- Taking several drugs for various conditions (note: it is important to continue to take prescribed medications and discuss possible problems with a physician),
- Being substantially overweight or underweight,
- Drinking alcoholic beverages, and,
- Being dehydrated.
Lifestyle factors can also increase risk, including extremely hot living quarters, lack of transportation, overdressing, visiting over-crowded places and not understanding weather conditions. Older people, particularly those at special risk should stay indoors on particularly hot and humid days, especially when there is an air pollution alert in effect. People without fans or air conditioners should go to places such as shopping malls, movie houses, and libraries. Friends or relatives might be asked to supply transportation on particularly hot days. Many communities, social service agencies, religious groups and senior citizen centers also provide services such as cooling centers.
Heat stroke is an advanced form of hyperthermia that occurs when the body is overwhelmed by heat and unable to control its temperature. As a person’s body temperature rises rapidly, the body loses its ability to sweat and cool itself down. Heat stroke is particularly dangerous for older people and requires emergency medical attention. A person with a body temperature above 104 is likely suffering from heat stroke and may have symptoms of confusion, combativeness, strong rapid pulse, lack of sweating, dry flushed skin, faintness, staggering, possible delirium or coma. A person with any of these symptoms, especially and older adult, should seek immediate medical attention.
Here are five tips on what to do if you suspect someone is suffering from a heat-related illness:
- Get the person out of the sun and into an air-conditioned or other cool place.
- Offer fluids such as waterm fruit and vegetable juice. Avoid alcohol and caffeine.
- Encourage the individual to shower, bathe or sponge off with cool water.
- Apply a cold, wet cloth to the wrists and/or neck, places where arterial blood passes close to the surface and the cold cloths can help cool the blood.
- Urge the person to lie down and rest, preferably in a cool place.
LoJack?
July 16, 2009 at 10:00 am | Posted in Mark Heftler, Admin | Leave a commentTags: LoJack, Safety, Wanderer
LoJack, the company best known for tracking stolen cars, is now rolling out a new service for concerned family members – LoJack SafetyNet. Designed specifically for individuals at risk for wandering, such as those with cognitive impairment or autism, SafetyNet outfits your loved one with a Personal Locator Unit on their wrist or ankle. By working directly with Law Enforcement, the service is able to safely locate and pick up your lost family member. If you’re constantly worried about your older adult parents with wandering issues, this may be just the service to let you rest easy at night.
Inner Ear Problems and Risk for Falls
July 10, 2009 at 10:00 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | Leave a commentTags: Ears, Falls, Johns Hopkins, Prevention, Study
69 million adults over the age of forty are up to 12 times more likely to suffer a serious fall because of inner ear dysfunction that affects their balance and makes them dizzy. A Johns Hopkins study of this subject found that approximately 22 million of these adults had no idea of their vulnerability as they have had no previous incidents of vestibular disorders, dizziness or sudden falls to suggest they had any problem.
The study revealed that those people who were asymptomatic were six times more likely to suffer a fatal fall than those who had a healthy sense of balance and those who were symptomatic increased their risk 12 times.
Each year more than 1.5 million visits to the emergency room in the United States occur related to falls. Falls are among the leading cause of death in the elderly with an estimated 13,000 senior deaths occuring per year.
“Vestibular imbalances need to be taken seriously because falls can be fatal and injuries can be painful, leading to long hospital stays and resulting in significant loss in quality of life ” says Lloyd B. Minor, MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the study published in the May 2009 Archives of Internal Medicine. He says that recent government reports estimate that fatal falls cost the US Medicare program nearly 1 billion dollars in hospital charges and those with broken bones cost an additional 19 billion dollars.
This study found that 85% of men and women over the age of 80 had an imbalance problem and people with diabetes are 70% more likely to suffer from vestibular damage. The study revealed that balance testing should be part of basic primary care and that all physicians should be screening and monitoring their patients for vestibular dysfunction so that preventative measures can be taken to prevent falls.
Dr Minor added that physical rehabilitation exercise programs can help people with vestibular dysfunction. Balance and walking exercising can be used to train the brain to compensate for inner-ear deficits and dizziness.
Preventative steps can be taken in the home to reduce the risk of falls such as installing guard rails along stairs and hallways where a fall might occur, ensuring that lighting is adequate and removing throw rugs.
You can go to the Johns Hopkins Center for Hearing and Balance site to view a short video about this study.
Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management completes a fall risk assessment and 130 point home safety evaluation as part of their initial assessment. To learn more about the assessment process, call our Ridgewood, NJ office at (201) 857-5283.
Mark Heftler
Sophia Heftler
Pat Linard
Christine Clark, GCM
Joanne Jordan, Office Manager
Amy Shein, GCM
Deborah Varisco, GCM
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