Learn to Thrive.
Are you looking for guidance to provide care for a loved one?
Do you know someone going into the hospital or coming home from one soon?
Do you have a family member with a chronic condition?
Let us help you navigate all of this, and more.
About The Book
The aim of Thriving at Home®: A Handbook for Preventing Hospital Stays is to help readers maintain their independence and live their retirement years to the fullest. A critical element of maintaining health and happiness is to ensure that people are doing everything to prevent them from having a hospital stay, or repeated inpatient stays. In this book, you will learn how to keep your home as safe as possible and how to reduce health risks, both of which are key drivers for hospital admissions. You, your loved ones, and those in your continuum of care community can prevent hospital visits and stays with specific actions to take at home that will contribute to a healthier and happier life.
“Thriving at Home® is an excellent guide to support ‘aging in place.’ Hospitalizations and discharges for chronic conditions can be overwhelming, especially in a world of changing technology. Empowering patients and caregivers with a guide that maps out possible pitfalls and answers questions are important first steps to reducing re-hospitalizations.”
– Jennifer Collins, M.D., Cardiologist
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EMPOWERING PATIENTS AND
THEIR LOVED ONES
There has never been a more important time for taking more control of your health. With skyrocketing costs for drugs, medical care, and health care coverage, prevention can go a long way towards preserving your health and your financial stability.
Moreover, myriad benefits brought to us through innovation also bring added complexity. Patients and their families need to be ever more attentive to information they receive about their conditions and vigilant when they are receiving care. Both are essential to making decisions. Here are some ways patients can be vigilant: Ask questions. Gain as much insight as you can from your healthcare provider. Ask about the benefits, side effects and disadvantages of a recommended medication or procedure.
Research the patient’s own condition, as well as those medications and procedures for which they were prescribed.
Use new communications options.
Technology now allows the health care community to share information in real time; note electronic medical records and access through secure portals. In the face of COVID-19, innovations such as telehealth and telemedicine have become nearly instantly widespread. These are here to stay.
Seek a second opinion.
If the situation warrants or if you or your provider feel uncertain, get a second opinion from another doctor. Good doctors will welcome confirmation of a diagnosis and encourage patients to learn. If your doctor appears to discourage you from getting another opinion, consider doing it anyway and evaluate if this relationship is the right one for you. Bring along an advocate. Sometimes it is hard to process all the information by yourself.
Bring a family member or a friend to your appointment — someone who can understand the information and ask questions. Ilene Corina, president and founder of the Pulse Center for Patient Safety Education & Advocacy, in Wantagh, NY, urges both the patient and their advocate to be “respectful but assertive” in seeking answers to the questions they may have. In some cases, she recommends a “designated medication manager” to be a safety check on the advice the care provider gives. (We the Patients NY, Source 11.) You can also retain a private care manager to advocate and coordinate all aspects of the support you require, including health, financial, housing, legal and more. To learn more about care management, visit www.aginglifecare.org, an organization of professionals who can guide families and advocate for patients.
Download an app.
Having your medical information literally in the palm of your hand, you can work as a team with your doctor to cut your risk for medical errors. Health care apps can be simple or complex, and depending on your age and condition, you can manage your well-being, medications and more. See the Sources and References section for more information.