Home Instead
Senior Care Waterford recently hosted a free Senior Safety Information evening
in Dooley’s Hotel, Waterford.
Danette
Connolly, Director of Care, Home Instead Senior Care, was joined by a panel of
specialists who provided advice to seniors and their families on how to optimise
personal safety and wellbeing.
Danette offered
helpful tips to reduce the risk of trips and falls in the home, how to be
prepared should an emergency arise and how to be vigilant in light of the
increased incidents of identity fraud and internet scams.
Also on the
panel was Nicola Buchanan, Pharmacist with Mulligan’s Pharmacy. Nicola spoke about the importance of
medication management and revealed that 80% of elderly self-medicate with over
the counter products and this group were seven times more likely to suffer from
Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR). Nicola
went on to stress the importance of medication reconciliation and compliance,
stating that 50% of medication non- compliance amongst seniors is deliberate.
Bernie Shiel of
Emergency Response highlighted the benefits of personal security alarms and showcased
the recently launched Homecare Support package in association with Home Instead
Senior Care. This initiative provides a
trained local care professional promptly, 24 hours a day, once the button has
been pressed on a security pendant or unit and an initial assessment is
complete.
She further welcomed
last month’s Government decision to reverse the cut in grants for personal
security alarms. The allocation for devices under the Senior Alert scheme was
to be reduced from €2.45 million last year to €1.1 million in 2013 as a result
of budget cutbacks, but that decision was turned around following the securing
of resources to reinstate the grant at last year’s levels.
Cllr. Gary Wyse
drew attention to the excellent work of Waterford City Council’s Sustainable
Neighbourhood Unit and showcased some of the practical and helpful security
aids that are available to all Waterford
seniors at greatly reduced rates.
Finally, Garda
Jonanne O’Mahony of Waterford Community Policing underlined the importance of
remaining vigilant in light of the increased incidents of bogus callers or
doorstep scammers. She emphasised that
seniors should always ask for I.D., but more importantly stressed that “when in
doubt, keep them out!”
Danette Connolly
said that the premise of the evening was to offer as much practical advice to
seniors and their families as possible.
“There is so much information out there for seniors in relation to
personal safety, security, medication and health, we felt it was apt to
condense it into one highly informative evening.”Danette added “We were delighted with the calibre of speakers and how well they communicated that with a little extra care and vigilance our seniors can be safer and more secure in their own homes.”
Home Instead
Senior Care offers an array of senior care services such as light housekeeping
and laundry, meal preparation, transport and companionship, up to and including
personal care, dementia care, post hospital care and disability care.
To find out more
about the Home Instead Senior Care service visit www.homeinstead.ie or contact
the Waterford office on 051 333966.
