photo credit: Arlington County
As people grow older, natural defenses against disease weaken.
Caregivers of elderly relatives or seniors need to strengthen efforts to keep germs at bay—and protect seniors’ health and quality of life.
Here are some tips:
Wash your hands
Often neglected, hand washing is a key infection control practice that substantially reduces the risk of illness. Caregivers and the cared for need to do this several times a day. Our hands transfer germs whenever we touch something or someone—and then touch our eyes, mouth or nose. Hand washing with soap, for at least 15 to 20 seconds, eliminates most of the germs.
On a related note, always cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing and wash your hands or use hand sanitizer so you don’t spread germs. (Before washing, throw away the tissue! Don’t let it, and the germs, lie around for others to pick up.)
A few other important times to wash your hands:
• Before eating or preparing food
• Immediately after handling raw food, such as poultry
• After using the bathroom
• After contact with blood or body fluids.*
• After touching a trash can, cleaning cloth or other contaminated area
• Before dressing a wound or giving medicines
*(Wash your hands even after wearing gloves. They do not provide an absolute barrier to germs. Wear gloves as needed, such as when exposure to bodily fluids is likely or the senior is infected with a pathogen that is spread by direct contact.)
Stay away
Have family members or friends in the wings, ready to help care for your loved one when you’re sick. And if you’re a professional caregiver or work with seniors, call in sick when you’re ill. For the elderly with chronic health conditions, even cold germs can be dangerous.
Bathe
Seniors may not need a bath every day but do need to bathe often enough to prevent skin infections. To keep their skin from getting too dry, make sure they use a good skin lotion.
Sanitize surfaces
Keep hard surfaces—kitchen countertops, tabletops, desktops, and bathroom surfaces—clean and disinfected. Use a combination detergent and disinfectant or a cleaner first, followed by a thorough rinsing and disinfectant. Clean and disinfect other commonly touched surfaces, such as doorknobs and kitchen appliance handles and controls. Use sanitizing wipes on electronic items such as phones, computer keyboards and remote controls.
Police the refrigerator
What goes on behind the closed door of a refrigerator can be dangerous. Bacteria lurk—and lead to food poisoning—when food is left too long, the refrigerator is dirty or the temperature isn’t cold enough.
Boost resistance
You can’t stop every germ, but you can help seniors intensify resistance to infection by making sure they eat regularly and maintain a well-balanced diet, get enough sleep and maintain physical activity at a level appropriate to their ability. And, caregivers, practice your own medicine.
At Comfort Keepers we seek to be a resource to you because we are Comfort Keepers caregivers and we are here to help! Comfort Keepers provides in-home care to seniors and the elderly living in Ocala, Gainesville, and The Villages Florida. We provide superior in-home care to seniors and the elderly throughout Central Florida so they can live enriched independent lifestyles! Call us today at 855-592-0013.
