How To Survive A Heart Attack

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Recognizing a Heart Attack

The first Symptom may be a squeezing, vice-like pain in the chest, lasting 2 minutes or longer.  It may be felt as stabbing, heavy, or squeezing; rarely sharp or burning.  The pain frequently starts under the breastbone and may radiate to above the stomach, arms, shoulders, neck and jaw.  Numbness or tingling in the left arm, then both arms, may be felt.

The victim will most likely experience shortness of breath, weakness, dizziness, severe perspiration, nausea or vomiting.  His or her skin may appear very pale and cool.  These symptoms may go away, but don’t ignore them.  Get help right away.

If you or anyone close to you experiences one or more of these symptoms, get help immediately.  Call 9-1-1.  If your community does not have a 9-1-1 system in place, call an ambulance or emergency medical help.

8 MINUTES THAT COULD SAVE A LIFE

A heart attack can cause a heart to cease beating suddenly, causing the victim to collapse.  You may be able to save a life by taking these steps in the first 8 minutes.

1. Immediately call 9-1-1 or emergency medical help before doing anything else. (Minute 1)

2. Shake the victim and shout, “Are you all right?” to see if they are conscious.  If they do not respond, determine whether or not they are breathing by putting your ear close to their mouth and listening for breath.  Check for a pulse by pressing firmly next to the Adam’s apple. (Minute 1)

3. Make sure the victim is lying on their back and loosen their clothes.  If the victim has no pulse or breath, start CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) immediately.  You may be able to get over-the-phone assistance from the emergency dispatcher.  (Minutes 1-4)

4. Continue CPR until you find a pulse and the victim begins breathing on their own, or until the emergency services medical team arrives.

5. As soon as possible within the first 8 minutes, a victim who is not breathing or who has no pulse should receive defibrillation to “jolt” the heart back into action.  This requires a defibrillator and qualified personnel to operate it.  (Minutes 4-8)

For more information, please call toll free on: 1877-263-3570

Tender Care Services Client Survey, September 2010

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In order to ensure that all of our valued customers receive the excellent on-going service they have come to expect from TenderCare Services, we rely on feedback through client surveys.

As a family owned and operated Home Care Agency, our highest priority is to ensure that we consistently offer exceptional service to every single one of our clients, enabling them to continue to live happily and independently within their own homes.  The client survey allows us to step back and assess our performance through client feedback and also endeavor to ask our clients what else we can do to improve our service.

We were delighted to receive an excellent response from our clients, who gave us very high praise in all aspects of the survey, as seen below:

“I would recommend TenderCare Services to provide Home Care to others?”

  • Strongly Agree:  76%
  • Agree: 24%
  • Neutral: 0%
  • Disagree: 0%
  • Strongly Agree: 0%

94% of our clients said that they “received good value for money”!

“Caregivers are courteous, professional, punctual and attentive?”

  • Strongly Agree:  94%
  • Agree: 6%
  • Neutral: 0%
  • Disagree: 0%
  • Strongly Agree: 0%

100% of our clients said that they felt their caregiver’s had been a good match for them.

For more information, please call toll free on: 1877-263-3570

Grandparent Scam

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Consumer watchdogs such as the Better Business Bureau are currently warning that the ‘grandparent scam’ has accumulated victims in 14 states and two Canadian provinces since 2008.

The authorities think that the grandparent scams don’t always get reported because the victims of the scheme are too embarrassed to report it to law enforcement or their families especially if they are living alone or fighting for their independence.

The scam works like this:- a man calls and says ”Hello Grandma”, and goes on to explain that he was jailed after a traffic stop in Canada and, (wouldn’t you know), there were illegal drugs in the car. He needs $2,814 to get sprung. Then another person comes on the phone pretending to be an official – ‘Officer Cohen’. The official asks you to go to the nearest Walmart store and use a MoneyGram to pay the ‘bail’ to a bondsman in Barcelona, Spain – you are asked to keep it confidential. Once the money is sent that’s the last you’ll ever see of it and needless to say you will find out later that you have been yet another victim of a growing scam.

The scam works in a lot of cases because the victim will inadvertently say the grandchild’s name to the caller after being addressed as Grandma and once the caller has any personal details and the emotional connection is made to the grandson the caller has the victim on the hook. Criminals are also gathering information on people from social media and other internet sites.

There are plans afoot for a public service announcements about the grandparent scam for TV stations and Internet sites. You the public can help by spreading awareness of this scam and by reporting it to authorities or a trusted Home Health Agency if you get such a call.

For more information, please call toll free on: 1877-263-3570

Falls in the Home

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The most profound effect of falling is the loss of independent functioning. Twenty-five percent of those who fracture a hip require life-long nursing care. About fifty percent of older people who sustain a fall-related injury will be discharged to a nursing home rather than return home.

Most falls do not result in serious injury and of course as a Home Health Agency we have many procedures in place to aid the prevention of falls. However, there is often a psychological impact leading to loss of confidence. Approximately twenty five percent of people aged seventy five or over unnecessarily restrict their activities because of fear of falling. At least one-third of all falls in the elderly involve environmental hazards in the home.

The most common hazard for falls is tripping over objects on the floor. Other factors include poor lighting, loose rugs, lack of grab bars or poorly located/mounted grab bars, and furniture that is not sturdy.

It is useful to conduct a walk-through of your home to identify possible problems that may lead to falling. Assessment by an occupational therapist might also be useful in that they are trained to identify risk factors and recommend appropriate actions. TenderCare Services assess homes for safety at the start of a case.

Prevention measures to take can include:
• Engage regularly (e.g., every other day for about 15 minutes daily) in exercise designed to increase muscle and bone strength, and to improve balance and flexibility. Many people enjoy walking and swimming.
• Undertake daily activities in a safe manner, such as reaching and bending properly, taking time to recover balance when rising from a chair or bed, learning the proper way to fall, and learning how to recover after a fall.
• Wear proper fitting, supportive shoes with low heels or rubber soles.
• Have visions checks regularly.
• Making sure your home is well lit.
• Get grab rails fitted in your bathroom areas and use non slip rubber mats.
• Keep walkways and stairs clear and remove loose rugs.

Just a few simple precautions like the ones above can help you to stay independent in your own home for longer.

 

For more information, please call toll free on: 1877-263-3570

May 2010

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In the news in May, two stories unrelated but very definitely connected in the message they send: – a West Palm Beach caretaker is accused of grand theft of $100,000 or more and exploitation of the elderly. The caregiver is accused of making cash, check and debit withdrawals from her patient’s bank account. Money was spent at clothing and grocery stores and money was also spent on gasoline. The case stems from a bank official alerting police about unusual transactions from the man’s account. Deposits of Social Security and health insurance income were being depleted within 14 days of arriving. He was charged $1000 for a cell phone he doesn’t own reports showed. The man can’t testify at the trial because of his declining mental condition.

Safeguard Our Seniors is the fraud protection legislation on its third time before the bill is signed into law in the state of Florida. The legislation is being championed by Florida Chief financial Officer Alex Sink who says he has met hundreds of victims throughout Florida, heard their heartbreaking stories and fought for better protections and harsher penalties against senior scammers.

Amongst other things Safeguard Our Seniors will strengthen senior investor fraud laws by making some unscrupulous annuities practices third degree felonies. The bill will extend the ‘free look’ period for the purchase of an annuity by a senior – from 14 days to 21 days.

Its worth just noting here that all Home Health Companies have to check prospective staff very carefully and it is a requirement by statute that caregivers have a criminal background screening check. References from Home Care Agencies are taken and checked and a comprehensive history of previous employment for a 5 year period is recorded on application forms. All licenses (RN, CNA etc) are verified online. These are just some of the benefits of going through an home care organization for help.

It is up to the individual to carry out their own checks if they employ a caregiver privately and sometimes there isn’t the knowledge or the resources to do this. It has always amazed me how trusting older people are about letting strangers into their home. There is the temptation to cut corners with costs especially in this economy but not always the best move in the long run.

 

For more information, please call toll free on: 1877-263-3570