An attentive home health care team that includes home health aides, nurses, physical therapists, speech therapists and social workers can work wonders for stroke patients. According to the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association, there are about 795,000 stroke cases reported yearly in the US. Rehabilitation and follow up care can vary depending on how sever the stroke’s damage is. Some stroke patients can speak and walk with slight delays or needing assistance. It is also common for stroke patients to experience paralysis or impairment on one side of the face or body, while some may be unable to communicate and move at all. Getting home health care with a professional health care team may be necessary for such patients.

Specialized home health care for a stroke survivor can help them follow their doctor’s orders as well as plan of care in their life at home. They can provide experienced home health aides that are trained to care for patients with specific care needs such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes, congestive heart failure, Parkinson’s and even Alzheimer’s. Whatever the health condition is, home health care such as ContinuCare Home Health Inc. in San Antonio Texas can provide the much needed medical attention with patience, compassion and encouragement.

Taking care of a stroke survivor entails attentive care from head to foot since stroke affects the speaking, swallowing, standing, balancing and walking abilities of the patient. For example, oral care is a safety concern since the food may get left behind in the patient’s mouth. The doctor’s plan of care may include pureeing or cutting the food to very small pieces. Regardless of the orders, family members and the home health team must encourage the patient to be independent as much as possible. If the patient is unsteady or paralyzed, stroke patients would require a certain degree of assistance especially when it comes to changing positions such as standing from bed or going to the wheelchair. Home health aides are trained to use patient lifts like a Hoyer lift to safely transfer paralyzed patients. They also change the patient’s bed position every two hours to prevent bedsores from occurring.