The Parkinson Patient At Home
More than ninety per cent of all patients with Parkinson's disease live at home with their families. The purpose of this report is to help the patient and family to achieve better adjustments to home living. Our goal is to make each patient as comfortable and contented as pos- sible in spite of the disease and to increase the understand- ing of his devoted family.*
INFORMING THE PATIENT AND HIS FAMILY:
The first point to be made is that the patient, as well as his family, must be informed of the nature of his disorder just as soon as his family doctor is sure that he has Parkin- son,s disease. This will permit better prospects for immedi- ate and intensive treatment, and will afford a ...
Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers
|
with an illness such as this unless you know what it is. It may sometimes be diffi- cult to decide what to tell the neighbors and visitors who come regularly to the house as well as servants and others around the patient and family. It is, nevertheless, our opinion that you should be frank and honest in telling them that he has Parkinson's disease. Frankness of this type eliminates guesses that involve insanity, feeblemindedness, alcoholic brain disease, cancer of the brain, impending stroke, or something worse.
THE PREVENTION OF FALLS IN THE HOME:
Since the disorder involves awkwardness and slowness of muscle movements, periodic freezing of the legs, a ten- dency for the body to stumble forward or backward, and an uncertainty in getting about, the home should be ar- ranged to minimize falls. Older patients have an added hazard from failing since their bones have lost some of the strengthening calcium, (osteoporosis) so that if they do slip to the floor, they could ...
Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.
Already a member? Login
|
garded as artistic by architects, should be avoided. If one has a home with such stairs, there is nothing that can be done except to try and make them as secure as possible. An adequate rail should be installed on both sides. If stairs in a house are a threat, an arrangement to live down- stairs may reduce the number of times that the stairs must be climbed and is a matter for individual decision. Hoiv- ever, when one is choosing an apartment or a home, the welfare of the patient with Parkinson't disease should be given close consideration. Even the presence of one step in an apartment building leading to the sidewalk can be a source of danger. The level is the very best place for a ...
Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library.
Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports,
and research papers in 2 minutes or less.
|
CITE THIS PAGE:
The Parkinson Patient At Home. (2006, March 24). Retrieved November 29, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Parkinson-Patient-At-Home/43248
"The Parkinson Patient At Home." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 24 Mar. 2006. Web. 29 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Parkinson-Patient-At-Home/43248>
"The Parkinson Patient At Home." Essayworld.com. March 24, 2006. Accessed November 29, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Parkinson-Patient-At-Home/43248.
"The Parkinson Patient At Home." Essayworld.com. March 24, 2006. Accessed November 29, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Parkinson-Patient-At-Home/43248.
|
Save
Report