Your family member may be at a stage of her life that she is not interested in curative treatments or spending time in the hospital. This is usually when your senior may choose to stay at home with help from hospice services.

Managing Her Pain

Pain is extremely common for aging adults near the end of life, especially if chronic health conditions have been causing pain already. Your elderly family member’s doctor may have worked out a plan for pain management that hospice care providers can help you to implement. Pain can cause your senior to have less patience and to seem more angry or upset than she really is.

Dealing with Skin Irritation

Near the end of your senior’s life, her skin is especially delicate. She may find that her skin is itchier than it has been or that she bruises more easily. Having help to bathe your senior and help to keep her skin dry and free of injury is important. Hospice care providers can help you to maneuver your elderly family member into comfortable positions that are less likely to put pressure on her joints and skin.

Assisting with Breathing Difficulties

It’s very common for people near the ends of their lives to experience trouble breathing. This can be complicated even further if your senior has health issues that make breathing difficult already, such as asthma or COPD. Sometimes propping your senior carefully with pillows and bolsters can help. There may also be equipment, such as oxygen concentrators, that you need help managing.

Helping with Digestive Trouble

So many of the issues that your senior is likely to be dealing with at the end of her life involve her digestive system. She might be constipated, feel nauseated, or experience a loss of appetite. There’s no one cause for any of these issues, so they’re often difficult to chase on your own. Added to the problem is the fact that your senior still does need nutrients.

Managing Fatigue

Your aging family member’s energy levels deteriorate quickly as she nears the end of her life. She needs to be able to have people available to help with all of the little daily tasks that seem so easy but take up so much energy. You may also find it easier to do things such as setting up a bedside toilet so that she doesn’t need to walk all the way to the bathroom if she’s exhausted.

As these different symptoms ebb and flow, hospice care providers can help you and your senior to manage them effectively. Techniques that work well at one point may not work as well, so having experienced help available can give everyone involved some much-needed peace of mind.

If you or an aging parent are considering hospice care in Bensalem, PA, please contact the caring staff at Serenity Hospice today. Call (215) 867-5405.