Do You Know? The Proper Steps to follow in an Emergency Situation?
3 Important Steps to Take during an Elder Care Emergency in Grand Rapids, MI
Whenever you have an emergency, it is important to focus on making sure that another individual is safe. When you are providing elder care for somebody, emergency situations are more likely to occur.
If you panic or don’t take the proper steps, you could be putting the patient and even yourself at greater risk of serious injury or harm. Below are three steps that you should take during any type of emergency that occurs while providing home care for the elderly.
Remain calm.
This is one of the most important things that you can possibly do for yourself as well as the other individual. It is very difficult to remain calm when an emergency has arisen. The average individual will begin to panic and that leads to a bit of a freeze in action.
When you panic, your natural thought processes don’t function properly. You begin to go into a primitive, instinctual mode which is generally self-preservation and yet you are still trying to do the right thing for yourself and the other person. This causes a block.
That is why it is so important for you to remain calm during these potential emergency situations.
Assess the situation as well as you can.
Take a moment (which essentially means a second or two) and step back to evaluate the situation. Determine what has happened and how serious the situation is. What you want to do is determine whether you can leave the patient where they are to go get help or if you have to move them.
For example, if the elderly patient has fallen down a couple steps, you need to contact emergency personnel right away. You want to avoid moving them as much as possible as they could have sustained back or neck injuries. However, if there is a fire in the house and the patient has fallen, you want to get them to safety first.
If you have any questions about whether to move a patient, contact emergency services by dialing 911 and let them advise you about the best thing to do at that moment.
Protect yourself first.
You may be a selfless person but if you don’t do what is necessary to protect yourself and keep yourself safe, then you will be no good to the elderly patient, make sure that you do not put yourself in a potentially dangerous situation that could cause you harm and then subsequently lead to even more harm for the patient.
When you follow these three steps during an emergency situation while providing elder care, you increase the chances of the outcome being more positive than negative
If you or someone you know needs help with elder care in Grand Rapids, MI, contact the caregivers at Gauthier Family Home Care. We provide quality and affordable home care for many disabled and elderly loved ones in our community. Call us at (616) 258-2300 for more information.
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