What Are the Goals of COPD Treatments?

By Jamie Shapiro | November 10, 2022 | Comments Off on What Are the Goals of COPD Treatments?

If your elderly family member has been diagnosed with COPD, you’re probably already aware of how this lung illness impacts her life. Having a treatment plan, particularly one that she can follow at home, ensures that your senior is comfortable and that she’s able to have the life that she wants to have. Home health care services are crucial to this overall plan, because providers are able to offer the targeted care and assistance that your elderly family member needs in order to stay safe and healthy.

Slow Down COPD Progression

Skilled Nursing Highland Park, IL: COPD Treatments

Skilled Nursing Highland Park, IL: COPD Treatments

COPD is a progressive illness, which means that it can’t be cured or reversed. But it can be slowed down by following your senior’s care plan as closely as possible. Different treatments and therapies can help your elderly family member to become stronger, eat healthy meals regularly, and have the other tools she needs to remain as healthy as possible.

Manage COPD Symptoms

Symptoms associated with COPD like shortness of breath, coughing, and pain are not fun to deal with every day. Your elderly family member may need more than a little bit of help with some of these issues on a consistent basis. Skilled nursing care assists your aging family member in knowing which of these symptoms are a sign of bigger trouble, too. 

Prevent and Manage COPD Exacerbations

Exacerbations with COPD are extremely common, especially in the later stages of the illness. Also called flares, these are times when your elderly family member may be at greater risk of developing lung infections. Skilled nursing care can be essential for ensuring your elderly family member takes all of her medication and follows other care plan instructions in order to heal as quickly as she can from exacerbations.

Maintain Independence

One of the frustrating aspects of COPD is that your elderly family member quickly finds that her ability to carry on with her normal activities may be hindered. When your senior has the tools that she needs in order to regain her strength and keep herself healthy, she’s better able to continue to be independent. She’s also able to have help when she needs it, conserving her energy for the most important things she wants to do.

Maintain Quality of Life

Home health care also helps your elderly family member to maintain and improve her quality of life. By being healthier and knowing that she’s supported even when she doesn’t feel well, she’s able to keep her spirits high. Dealing with a chronic health issue doesn’t have to mean that your elderly family member feels left out or completely on her own.

As your elderly family member’s health changes, her goals may also change. People in the later stages of COPD are more concerned with avoiding lung infections, so the help that your senior has from skilled nursing care is going to be tailored to her current needs as well as what she wants to be able to achieve. Knowing that she has the help and the care that she needs when she needs it can help your elderly family member to feel a lot less anxiety about her health, as well.

If you or an aging loved one are considering Skilled Nursing in Highland Park, IL, contact the caring staff at Companion Services of America today at (847) 943-3786. Our home care service area includes Northbrook, Highland Park, Deerfield, Glenview, Buffalo Grove, Evanston, Des Plaines, Skokie, Lake Forest, Wilmette and the surrounding areas.

Jamie Shapiro
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