Home Health Services - Essay Example

'Home Health Services' is an exceptional example of a paper on nursing homes. 
Home health service is a vital factor in health care. Through this service, the elderly can obtain medical assistance while at home. In our case, Doris is a 79-year-old who is under home health service. Recently, Doris became widowed. After this unfortunate event, Doris began to lead an isolated life. The home health nurse has noticed that the patient has become more sedentary, preferring to stay at home rather than participating in community activities. This significant change can negatively affect Doris’s physical, mental and social well-being. Therefore, the health care nurse needs to adopt effective measures for ensuring the patient becomes more active in community life.

There are several types of interventions that can be used to help Doris. First, the nurse can opt to use the peer visiting model. This type of intervention purposes to provide friendship to seniors who are living alone. The program volunteers work on a one-to-one basis in the homes of seniors or provide support by telephone (2004). The volunteers interact with the seniors in several ways. For example, the volunteers can talk, walk and shop with the seniors. This intervention purposes to aid the senior to become involved in the community again by providing companionship to socially isolated people. The volunteers, in this case, act as their link to the community (2004).

There are several barriers that may inhibit Doris’s participation in the community. The first barrier is limited mobility. The elderly individual may be unable to move due to chronic illness or disability. Secondly, the senior may be going through emotional and psychological stress. This type of stress can make the seniors prefer to be left alone, or they may become hostile to caregivers and members of the community (Holley 2007). It is important to note that Doris has just lost a loved one; therefore, the elderly may be experiencing emotional stress due to this loss hence triggering the need to become socially isolated. Lastly, the occurrence of apparent or hidden disabilities that may be considered socially undesirable can enhance the need for social isolation amongst the elderly (Holley 2007).

In order to effectively help Doris, the nurse needs to understand the cause of social isolation. According to Holley, the client’s perception of his/her situation is important in addressing the problem of social isolation (2007). Therefore, the nurse should communicate with the patient so as to effectively comprehend the reason for social isolation. Consequentially, by identifying the cause of the problem, the nurse will be able to choose an effective intervention strategy for Doris.

A majority of states in the U.S have programs for assisting the elderly in the community. In Florida, for example, the Community Care for the Elderly program (CCE) consists of a senior’s companion volunteers group. The purpose of this group is to provide transport to medical appointments, shopping assistance amongst other activities (DOEA 2014). The Homecare nurse should encourage Doris to participate actively in such community programs for the sake of her well-being.

There are various health promotion programs available for aging adults. One particular example is wellness programs. This program helps the aging community to participate in physical activities that are beneficial to their health (Rosenzweig 2002). Currently; such programs face a series of challenges, for example, insufficient funds, poor infrastructure and sustainability issues within the community (NCOA 2012). Health promotion programs can greatly help individuals such as Doris in combating social isolation problems amongst other issues. Therefore, it is detrimental for the government to facilitate the development of such programs in society for the benefit of the aging population.