Keeping an active lifestyle

Maintaining physical health and flexibility is important as we age. Consistent exercise brings a wealth of benefits to your body, as well as your cognitive health. This guide will assist you and your carers find exercises that maintain your wellbeing and independence, while also having fun.

Why is it important to keep an active lifestyle?

By keeping active, you are able to improve your health significantly. Exercising reduces the risk of developing various heart diseases, as well as preventing your current care needs from increasing. Some of the benefits of exercising regularly are:

  • Reducing risk of heart attacks & diseases.
  • Managing your weight better.
  • Lowering blood pressure & cholesterol level.
  • Increasing bone density, which can prevent osteoporosis.
  • Lower the risk of falls, and;
  • Recover better from accidents, or hospitalisation.

Exercising improves cognitive health, and mental health. Blocking out negative thoughts, increasing social interactions, and improve the length and quality of sleep.

Pre-Exercise Screening

Exercising does not have to be a difficult or rigorous activity. Any form of physical activity is beneficial and being active where possible improves mobility.

Before starting any exercise/program it is important to follow these steps to ensure you are safe while exercising:

  • Assess your current health and care needs - What medical conditions do you have, that can prevent you from exercising.
  • See your doctor to dictate what you can currently do.
  • Set out goals you want to achieve from exercising.
  • Determine what activities you can currently perform.
  • Identify what exercises you can do with a physiotherapist.
  • Review your diet and recognise if you need to make changes to it.

Pre-exercise screening is used to assess the potential dangers of exercising, and how to exercise with your current care needs.

Get Up Guide

Where do I start?

Guide Healthcare specialises in physiotherapy and has created video exercises for older people living with chronic health conditions and reduced mobility and designed for low impact, low intensity exercises.

Whilst these exercises are designed for older people, it is recommended to have someone (such as a family member or support worker) to guide and assist you.

The 'Get Up Guide' is a training program crafted for carers to assist them as they support their residents. Through daily exercise routines, the negative physical, social and psychological effects of isolation and inactivity can be prevented. Keeping older Australians, healthy, safe, and connected to the community.

Home Care Package recipients can focus on improving walking, managing falls risk, reducing pain, and rebuilding confidence.

© Get Smart Aged Care Consultancy 2022. All Rights Reserved

As a Home Care Package recipient, your Home Care Package funds can be used to keep you healthy, independent and help maintain your movement and mobility. Trilogy Care are partnered with Plena Healthcare, to assist our clients with improving their mobility through allied health and therapy services such as physiotherapy and podiatry.

Find out what services your Home Care Package can fund or contact us on 1300 459 190

How to recognise deterioration?

Deterioration

As an aged care worker or client, it is important to understand and recognise the signs of deterioration in physical and mental health. This ensures that better care can be provided. This article will provide an overview on how to recognise the signs, and how to manage deterioration in health.

What is Deterioration?

When a decline in someone's physical or mental health occurs, it is called deterioration. There are specific signs that someone may display which can help you identify if a person's condition is worsening.

They can be:

  • Loss of appetite.
  • Reduced intake of food and drink.
  • Pass in and out of consciousness.
  • Experience increased periods of sleep and require rests more often.
  • Decreased movement.
  • Become bed bound.
  • Experience difficulty swallowing or breathing.
  • Become increasingly disorientated.

What do I Need to Do?

As a carer, friend, or family member to a client of Trilogy Care it is important and necessary to report to us if you notice any of the following:

  • Decrease in activity levels.
  • The client has higher care needs than normal, and their health deteriorates quickly.
  • Weight loss/The client is not putting on weight.
  • An emergency transfer to hospital occurs.
  • The client's family or partner require increased support and assistance in caring for them.
  • The client's experience's a decline in their health and there is no improvement, or it worsens.
  • You are unable to wake them.
  • The client is disorientated in a manner that is unusual to them.

Care workers are often the first to recognise changes in their clients because of their exposure to them. There are many chronic conditions that people live with every day, however, are not necessarily life threatening (Like Dementia and Diabetes). For clients with these conditions, the end-of-life phase can last months or even years. It is especially important to escalate any concerns to your senior staff and Trilogy Care.

How do I Report to Trilogy Care?

Reporting a change in condition, an incident or accident is critical in ensuring Trilogy Care can continue to safely support a client's care needs and manage their home care package effectively. An incident or accident may relate to an event that has occurred whilst receiving services or not.

Visit our website and press on the 'Incidents' tab at the top of the page. This will take you to our incident reporting form. From here fill out the form, and the Care Management Team will contact the client and their representative (if applicable) to discuss the matter and determine the most appropriate course of action.

What do we do with this information?

With this information, here is what can be done to assist your client or family member:

  • Discuss the situation with the client (where possible) and their family.
  • Perform a Care Review to determine any changed or new care needs.
  • Manage their symptoms and create or amend their Pain Management Plan.
  • Provide advice and support to the client and their family.
  • Refer the client and their family to the appropriate support services.
  • Discuss the clients wishes regarding their care and treatment to ensure their wishes are met.

Stay up-to-date on all news regarding Home Care Packages with Trilogy Care's Facebook. Trilogy Care provide a variety of resources to assist you with your Home Care Package needs, and continue living healthy, supported, and independent lives. To find out more visit our website or email: info@trilogycare.com.au.