Going to medical appointments can be stressful for seniors. As much as you’d like to be able to take your senior mom or dad to all of their appointments, sometimes you may not be able to. If you can’t take the day off work to take your mom or dad to an appointment, in-home care providers can help.
Seniors who have in-home care have support with all kinds of tasks around the house. And in-home care providers can also take seniors to medical appointments or dental appointments if you can’t.
Having a familiar care provider go with them to a medical appointment can make your mom or dad more comfortable and make the appointment less stressful for them. However, there are still some things that your senior parent should always bring to their medical appointments to make the appointments go smoothly.
A great way to make sure that your senior parent always has the things they need for a medical appointment is to pack a bag or backpack with these things so the in-home care provider can grab the bag and take it to all of your mom or dad’s medical appointments. The bag should contain:
Copies Of Important Documents
Your mom or dad’s appointment bag should contain copies of their IDs in case they need them. If they don’t drive anymore, they should have a non-driver ID, so put a copy of that in the bag along with a copy of their Social Security card.
If your mom or dad has any medical directives like a medical power of attorney, a DNR, or other care directives certified copies of those documents should be in the bag, just in case.
A great way to make sure that everything is organized and safe is to put all of these different things in plastic sleeve protectors, then put the protectors together in a three ring binder.
Using a binder will keep everything together and prevent important documents from getting stolen or lost.
Insurance Information
The binder or bag should also contain a copy of your senior parent’s insurance card, their member ID number, group ID number, and the phone number of the closest regional office in case there is a problem with their insurance. If your senior parent has vision and dental insurance, include copies of those insurance cards, too.
A Current List Of Medications
It’s important to include a list of the current medications that your senior parent is taking and the dosages of those medications. The doctor can look those up on the computer in some cases, but if the computer is down or not all the records have been updated, it’s smart to have a paper copy just in case.
A List Of Questions You Want To Ask
Your mom or dad will have limited time with the doctor, and because of the stress of the appointment, they may forget to ask some important questions. Include a list of questions that you’d like to ask the doctor so that your mom or dad or the in-home care provider can ask the doctor your questions.
Pens and Paper
It’s always a good idea to have paper and pens in the bag in case your mom or dad or the in-home care provider needs to take notes or write something down.
If you or an aging loved one needs In-Home Care in Roseville, CA, contact A Better Living Home Care today (916) 514-7006
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