How Caregivers Can Recognize a Stroke
While many professional caregivers hope that the worst they’ll ever face when caring for a senior client is changing linens or helping a senior bathe, sometimes their job can take them beyond the call of duty, requiring them to recognize signs of serious health issues like strokes. Non-medical care providers might not be equipped to fully deal with the emergency, but they do need to recognize the warning signs and know when help is needed, even if their senior doesn’t speak up about the symptoms they’re feeling.
1. Numbness – seniors experiencing a stroke sometimes experience numbness or even weakness, often on just one side of their body. It may affect their face, arms or legs in particular. Changes in mobility might be noticeable to seniors, but less drastic affects may require the senior to indicate a problem
2. Vision problems – blurred vision or changes in visual perception are warning signs that can be more evident to senior caregivers as it would affect their interactions with one-another
3. Confusion – during a stroke, seniors may become confused, disoriented, or may have their speech effected. This can be one of the most obvious signs that something’s wrong for caregivers
4. Headaches – severe headaches may appear, and this is one symptom seniors may avoid mentioning
5. Mobility changes – balance and coordination can be effected, and in most cases is obvious as seniors are mobile, or even if they’re trying to complete tasks that require hand-eye coordination
Via: American Heart
Image Source: sxc.hu
Home Care help for seniors and elderly in St. Louis, MO. Our office is located centrally at 7805 Clayton Road near the Galleria in Clayton. Please give us a call at (314) 863-8989.
