If the elderly person
is sick, the age of the disease goes through stages of the disease, the nature
of which is different from the nature of the disease. There are severe diseases
such as pneumonia, or a fracture dislocated femur that requires hospitalization
at this stage, and then after recovering from ill health, the elderly continue
to fight the rest of his chronic diseases, such as depression, Alzheimer's,
heart failure, or any other chronic disease, and this is another stage in the
journey of the disease. It is even more complicated if the elderly reside
alone, and there is no sponsor. There is an elderly person who has become
bedridden and cannot rely on himself for his personal needs. This is a link to
the rest of the other episodes. Based on the above, there must be a correlation
between the health-care cycles between which the elderly move.
These episodes can be
shortened to:
1 - acute care ring, provided in hospital
under the care of a doctor specializing in geriatric diseases. 2- Chronic care,
provided in two places depending on the elderly's ability to move to the place
of service. If he can move around, he will continue his health at
geriatricclinics. If he cannot move, he will be cared for at home.
3 -If
he is bedridden and has a family, the best place to care for him is at home,
provided that he is supported in a health care at home, to suit his condition,
and who will benefit from the home health care system.
4 - If there is no parents, in this case, it is
necessary to find nursing homes, whose role is mainly based on the provision of
nursing care, which provides the elderly with nutrition and personal care.
The philosophy of
health care for the elderly is based on an understanding of the nature of this
age group and the nature of the diseases to which they are exposed, which
require preparation to confront an elderly person whose reserves of all organs
of his body may be worn out.
It should be noted
that the elderly are exposed to all the diseases to which the individual is
exposed in youth, but with the very important and dangerous consideration that
the same diseases may appear on the elderly quite differentfrom those in the
younger ones, so a doctor specializing in the diseases of the elderly is
required.
In addition, there are
two things: first, there are diseases that occur only in the elderly, such as:
dementia, sudden mixing of consciousness, incontinence, and falls. The other
thing, which is the most important of all, is that the elderly are prone to
very rapid functional deterioration, i.e. within a few days of succumbing to
constant sleep, especially in the hospital, his muscles are weakening so
rapidly that he cannot walk again and forever.
Therefore, there must
be a specialist who understands all these dimensions, in order to be able to
draw up an integrated treatment plan, with the aim of keeping the elderly at
the highest possible level of independence, i.e. he can go to the bathroom
himself and without help, at the very least.
