American Heart Month – Raising Awareness of Congestive Heart Failure Care
February is American Heart Month, which is a nationally-based initiative geared towards increasing people’s awareness of heart disease and coping methods for those stricken with various forms of the illness. One such manifestation is congestive heart failure (CHF). Though typically quite serious, stricken subjects can still lead relatively healthy, productive lives, particularly with the assistance of a professional, caring and experienced home care agency.
Allegiance Home Health and Rehab, which serves senior South Floridians from home health agency offices in Boca Raton, Stuart and Deerfield Beach, invites current and prospective patients and their families to read the following brief blog discussing congestive heart failure and how the condition can be properly managed at home.
Congestive Heart Failure Overview
This medical condition occurs when fluids build up in tissues surrounding heart muscle. As said event progresses, the heart experiences greater difficulty pumping blood effectively.
Causes
Heart failure can be precipitated by several serious ailments such as long-standing high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, damage or diseased heart valves and other health issues like diabetes, thyroid disease and obesity.
Physical Manifestations
The symptoms an afflicted subject will experience depends upon the illness’s severity. There are four stages of the condition with the first being the most mild and easy to manage and the fourth being the most serious and quite challenging to control. That said, symptoms can include chronic fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pains, the inability to perform more than mild exercise and a persistent cough. More severe manifestations could include swelling of the extremities, serious mobility limitations, extreme breathing difficulties and loss of consciousness.
Potential Treatment Options
Specific therapeutic protocols employed will depend upon the stage at which the patient is diagnosed. However, common forms of treatment include prescription medications and surgical intervention.
Managing Heart Failure At Home
As heart failure progresses to later stages, controlling the associated manifestations could present a major challenge. In such instances, the impacted individual and their families are urged to retain the services of an experienced home health care agency possessing a wealth of CHF related experience, training and certification.
Staying on top of this condition necessitates routinely performing several critical actions such as limiting fluid intake, closely monitoring blood pressure and body weight, not wearing tight, blood flow-restricting clothes, limiting salt intake and taking medications as directed. In severe instances, patients might require breathing-assistance apparatuses or need help performing simple daily tasks.
The Reason to Hire Allegiance Home Health Care
Managing heart failure is a serious responsibility and missing any of the preceding steps could have serious, potentially fatal consequences. Therefore, congestive heart failure patients and their families are encouraged to reach out to Allegiance because we employ only the finest, most caring and well-trained private duty nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants, home health aides and therapists.
During American Heart Month, we remind residents living with heart failure (CHF) in the Boca Raton, Stuart, Deerfield Beach and other surrounding areas to contact us. We can assess a patient’s case and help determine their home health care needs. For further information about our programs and services, just call one of our friendly home health care advisors today (561) 367-0711or click here.
