If you or a senior loved one is recovering at a short-term rehabilitation center after a hospital stay, heading home is likely the goal. Whether you’re rehabbing from an accident, an illness, or a planned surgery, the desire to be back in your own house can motivate you to stick with your therapy schedule.
But as the day of discharge gets closer, it’s common for people to feel apprehensive about being back home on their own again. This may be especially true for people living alone who experienced a serious fall or another unexpected incident at home.
As you or a family member prepare to return home, we have some suggestions that may help with a smoother transition.
Tips for a Safer, Smoother Transition to Home
Ask for a home safety evaluation: Seniors often live in the same house for decades. Unfortunately, many older houses just weren’t designed with aging in mind. Steep staircases, poor lighting, and difficult-to-access bathtubs are common. But there are usually other safety hazards lurking in the home, and you may have a tough time detecting them if you aren’t experienced at conducting home safety assessments. Before you or your family member is discharged from the rehab center, ask if a physical or occupational therapist can conduct a home-safety evaluation. It can help you identify potential problem spots that will need to be addressed.
Set goals with the rehab team: As you get ready to head home, ask the rehab staff you’ve been working with if they can help you set goals and milestones to continue your recovery at home. It might be a walking goal, such as taking a short stroll in your neighborhood and then building up to greater distances. Another one could be to swim a few laps at the local fitness club to start and add more laps as you get stronger.
Seek advice on nutrition: Good nutrition is key to maintaining a healthy weight and feeling well. Check with the dietary staff for suggestions on menu items and meal planning. Remember, your body needs nourishing food to fuel your recovery. If you’d like to research more ideas online, Post-Surgical Nutrition: Ideas for Easy Meals and Snacks and Recovery-Boosting Recipes: 25 Meals That Support Your Healing Process might help you plan your meals.
Set realistic expectations: After a rehab stay, many people are understandably anxious to get back to their normal routine. But it’s important to have realistic expectations for how quickly that will happen. It’s best to pace yourself and ease back into your old life. It’s more important for the transition to be successful rather than made too soon. Try to line up a family member or friend to lend a hand around the house for the first few weeks after discharge. For example, if you aren’t quite ready to drive, ask around to see who might be willing to pick up prescriptions or run other errands for you. The social worker at the rehab center may be able to line up home care for a few weeks, too. The goal is to stay active but not overdo it and suffer a setback.
Follow doctor’s orders: Talk with any physician and they’ll likely tell you one of their biggest challenges is getting patients to follow their orders, whether it’s what to eat, how much water to drink, or getting enough exercise. Many of us just aren’t good at following directions. When you leave the rehab center, you will be given discharge instructions. They may include an order for outpatient therapy or follow-up visits with physicians involved in your care. Following these orders is essential to your recovery.
Manage medications: Another struggle for recently discharged rehab patients is safely managing their medications. At a rehab center, medication management is done for you. At home, however, you will be in charge of it all. Getting organized and staying on track is vital. Some people find it helpful to use a system like MedMinder. It will sound an alarm at dosage time to remind the user to take a medication. Some will even text a family member if a dosage is missed. You may choose to set up reminders in your cell phone or use Alexa if you have it set up – those are both other ways to keep yourself on schedule with your meds.
We hope these tips will help make your return home safe and successful!
American Senior Communities offers quality rehabilitation for seniors in our Moving Forward Rehabilitation program throughout our locations. Our team of therapists will put you back on the road to recovery.
To learn more about Moving Forward Rehabilitation, click here or to find a location near you, click here.
