Home Care near Westfield, NJ can Help Your Elderly Loved One Better Understand their Health Information.

The object of this worldwide awareness event is to promote the importance of people being able to understand their health information. There are many events held through communities, health organizations, government agencies, health literacy coalitions, universities and more. Some of these activities may include workshops for health professionals, educational classes for students of all ages, wellness programs for the public.

The 2014 theme for this month is “Be a Health Literacy Hero.” It’s all about empowering the regular person to take action and find ways to improve communication in the health field. These heroes can be organizations, teams or individuals. Health literacy problems need to be both identified and solved.

Why take an interest in health literacy?

• There are many who experience great troubles when trying to understand information about their health
• It’s estimated that 90% of Americans have issues with health literacy
• Health literacy is essential because it helps empower you to get the information you need
• Helps you make good decisions when it comes to your health

Consequences of limited health literacy

• Difficulties filling out complex medical forms
• Inability to know what your health history is
• Reduced capacity to manage a chronic disease
• Limited understanding about getting important screening tests
• Difficulties understanding how to take some medications

How to take action for your own personal health literacy

1. Write things down for your doctor before you even go to the appointment, including a list of your symptoms, when they started
2. Bring a list of all the current medications and supplements you are taking
3. Bring paper to take notes on what the doctor might say
4. Ask your doctor or nurse to use language familiar to you, or write down their information
5. Ask questions whenever something isn’t crystal-clear
6. If you should have any questions once you arrive home, make sure you know who it is you should call

How to take action in the community

1. Go to your public or university library and ask where to find relevant health information
2. Ask what health classes are available through the public library system
3. Attend health fairs in your community as well as health education classes that might be offered. If there are no such programs, request them
4. Find out if local schools teach proper hand washing techniques to their student population. If not, request they be taught these and other pertinent health messages

It’s very common for elderly persons to have a low health literacy. It wasn’t as accepted in the older days to talk frankly with your doctor or health professional. The elder person isn’t accustomed to speaking first or asking questions to their doctor. They also may be a little intimidated and shy about speaking up. Your loved one’s in-home care provider can go to appointments with your loved one and take notes and help by asking questions and writing down the doctor’s answers.

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring home care services near Westfield  NJ, call the caring staff at Helping Hands Home Care today at (908-418-4299)

Providing Home Care Services in all of Northern and Central NJ, including Clark, Westfield, Crawford, Scotch Plains, Rahway, Linden, Summit, Edison,Elizabeth, Mountainside and the surrounding areas.

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Robert D'Arienzo

Owner at Helping Hands Home Care

Robert D’Arienzo
After graduating from Seton Hall University with a BS in finance Helping Hands Homecare’s Owner / President, Robert D’Arienzo, went to work on Wall St. for six years. However, after Robert’s grandmother became ill with stomach cancer Robert and his family needed to find assistance in the home for her. After many trials and tribulations Robert could see that there was a great need for quality home care services here in NJ and loved the idea of being able to assist other families who were going through what his family went through with his beloved grandmother.

Thus, Robert had found his passion. After almost a year of preparation Robert opened Helping Hands Homecare in 2003. Robert wanted Helping Hands Homecare to focus on providing the highest quality of caregivers, exceptional customer service, and providing a service that familys could depend on in their time of need. Since then Helping Hands has assisted hundreds of individuals with the simplest of needs to more complex cases while preserving those standards set out many years ago.
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