The Warning Signs: How Medication Problems Can Hurt Older Adults

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May 2011

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How to Help Your Senior Manage Medications - Video

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In this video, certified senior advisor from Home Instead Senior Care talks about the difficulties many seniors have managing their medications and ways to offer help. This video is designed for anyone who is caring for an elderly person be it a parent, other relative or friend.

The Warning Signs: How Medication Problems Can Hurt Older Adults

Medication warning labels don't always tell the full story. In fact, your mom or dad could encounter all sorts of medication-related problems aside from those listed on the bottle; problems that can kill. The potential risks may involve anything from overdosing to not taking enough medication. Conditions such as eye sight and hearing issues may worsen these problems. This issue recently hit home for Rob Albers, a pharmacist of 35 years. When his father, , mistook a blood thinner for a blood pressure pill, overdosed for three weeks on the wrong medication. The accident left him paralyzed from the waist down and resulted in a move to a care facility. The senior Albers also suffers from macular degeneration, a common senior condition that can damage eyesight. This condition makes organizing pills and reading prescription labels even more challenging. In addition to taking too much or too little of the right medications, seniors like your parents can encounter other medication-related problems such as untreated or unrecognized conditions, improper drug use, drug reactions or drug interactions. That's where a new resource can help. The Home Instead Senior Care® network worked with Humana Points of Caregiving® to develop an information management tool that includes a place for information about your parents' medications. The tool also features the pharmacist, one of the first lines of defense for family caregivers when it comes to questions about medications.This toolkit is just one of several resources in the Answering the CallSM program, designed to help you be better prepared for that emergency call that your loved one needs assistance. To learn more about the Caring for Your Parents: Senior Emergency KitSM, visit www.SeniorEmergencyKit.com or call your local Home Instead Senior Care office to request a copy.

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CARE Medical History Bracelet ConnectAde Google Health RxmindMe Caregiver's Touch CareConnector CareRunner And more!

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The Senior Emergency KitSM helps families be better prepared for an emergency by providing the tools to help keep information in a central and easy-to-access location.

Humana Points of Caregiving® is your complete caregiving community, with expert information, advice, and tools to help you make caregiving decisions with confidence, including 24/7 access to telephonic consultations with trained caregiving advisors. For more information call 1-877-260-7277 (TTY: 711) Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

The MetLife Mature Market Institute publication "Medications and the Older Adult"(PDF 3.9MB) from their "Since You Care" series of guides is produced for caregivers. This publication provides information about important considerations for older adults related to taking both prescription and over-the-counter medications.

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