Caregiver Assistance News

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1 March 2008 Caregiver Assistance News C a r i n g f o r y o u c a r i n g f o r o t h e r s Adapted from The Comfort of Home: Caregiver Series,. Medication Assistance Keeping Track of Those Little Pills Medication should always be taken exactly as prescribed. Remember, no medicine will work as expected if not taken as directed. Never make any changes to medications without talking to the doctor or specialist first. However, because everyone s treatment needs are different, the specialist may want to try changing the amount or timing of drugs. If you are worried or have any questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice. People with serious health problems often take a large number of medications at many different times of the day. It will lessen your stress as a caregiver if you keep an accurate list of prescriptions and when and how they should be taken, also include when and how medications should be given, and when they were actually given. Weekly Medication Schedule (Sample Form) Medication Name, dose, frequency, with or without food Example Coumadin 2mg 1x daily a.m. with food Folic acid 400mg 1x daily a.m. Vitamin/mineral capsule 1x daily, with food Noon Date/Time/Initials Saturday Sunday Monday The weekly medication schedule below is a good model to follow. Be sure to fill in the times when (AM and PM) medications were actually given, and have each caregiver initial them. On your actual schedule, be sure to record information from the label of each prescription, including: Days of the week when it must be taken. Number of times per day. Time of day. Whether taken with or without food. How much water should be taken with the medicine. Note any warnings ( Don t take this medicine with alcohol ) and side effects (dizziness, confusion, headache, etc.). Tuesday Wed. Thurs. Friday

2 Caregiver Assistance Newsletter March 2008 Getting a Person with Alzheimer s to Take Medication Put the pills in a box that has sections for the day and time. Put the pills next to the person s plate at mealtime. Tell her she can have a treat after taking the medicine. Ask the pharmacist if it is okay to crush the pills and put them in food. If the person has trouble swallowing pills, ask the doctor to prescribe liquid medicine or a patch. If the person refuses to take the medicine, wait a few minutes and ask again. Tell her the doctor called to ask if the medication was taken and you need to call back with an answer. Ask someone else to offer the medicine, the person may respond differently to him or her. Calmly offer medicine while she is doing something else. Questions for the Pharmacist Some prescription drugs are not covered by health insurance. Shop around for the drug store with the lowest prices. Stay with them. The pharmacist will come to know the patient s condition and can advise you about possible problems that might occur. Managed care plans permit a change to doctor s orders by giving you a similar version that is cheaper. Do not try cutting drug costs without talking to the doctor about it first. What other over-the-counter drugs would the pharmacist suggest for the condition? Will the insurance company pay for the drug prescribed? Will the doctor be called to approve a switch to another drug? What generic drug can be used instead of the prescription drug? Will using more than one drug cause unsafe drug interactions? Will the pharmacy s computer alert the pharmacist about drug interactions or side effects before the prescription is filled? What are the risks of not taking the medicine? Can the medicine be put in a large easy-to-open container with a label in large print? Is an overdose of the medicine dangerous? Can the patient drink alcohol or smoke with this medication? Should the medicine be taken with a meal, with water or milk, etc.?

3 Caregiver Assistance Newsletter March 2008 Taking Care of Yourself Daily Activity Can Help You Live Longer These days people simply don t move as much as they used to. A recent article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association explored the consequences of our sedentary lifestyle. Researchers recruited 302 healthy adults between ages 70 and 82. All had their total energy expenditure measured and were categorized as low, middle, or high. The people in the low group burned less than 521 calories per day doing physical activity; the middle group burned between 521 and 770 calories per day; and the high group burned more than 770 calories per day. Interestingly, the difference in energy expenditure between the groups was not all associated with planned exercise. Many of the differences were attributed to things like standing, moving around a room, doing errands, and fidgeting. At the end of the study, the researchers compared the mortality rates of each group. Compared to the people in the high-energyexpenditure group, the people in the low-energy-expenditure group had a 67% higher risk of mortality! These results demonstrated that what matters most is that you MOVE frequently throughout the day. While planned exercise is obviously beneficial, the good news is that any movement makes a difference! Source: StrongWomen.com newsletter; Lifting women to better health, Miriam E. Nelson, Ph.D. Live Life Laughing! So what fits in your busy schedule better, exercising 30 minutes a day or being stressed 24 hours per day? Inspiration I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened. ~Mark Twain

4 Our Purpose To provide caregivers with critical information enabling them to do their job with confidence, pride, and competence. Ordering Info From the publishers of Caregiver Series available from CareTrust Publications LLC PO Box 10283, Portland, OR or Comments and suggestions welcome CareTrust Publications LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any component of this publication is forbidden without a license from the publisher. Some content in this publication is excerpted from The Comfort of Home: Caregivers Series. It is for informational use and not health advice. It is not meant to replace medical care but to supplement it. The publisher assumes no liability with respect to the accuracy, completeness or application of information presented or the reader s misunderstanding of the text. Resource for You BenefitsCheckUp Apply for Medicare Rx Extra Help Up to 4.2 million people who may qualify have not signed up for Extra Help in the two years since Medicare prescription drug coverage was introduced. Extra Help is available through Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage (Medicare Part D). The National Council on Aging (NCOA) offers an easy way for people to find out if they qualify and to apply for that valuable benefit. Extra Help (also known as the Low-Income Subsidy) covers 85 to 100 percent of prescription drug costs for those in a Medicare Part D plan who have limited income and resources. For those who qualify, there is a low or no deductible, low or no premiums, no coverage gap or donut hole, and lower payments for prescriptions. The average annual value of Extra Help is more than $3,300. Use NCOA s online service at any time to check requirements, and then apply for Extra Help. You can do this at any time, not just during the annual open enrollment period. BenefitsCheckUp also identifies other local, state, and federal benefits programs that could be helpful. Visit BenefitsCheckUp, Source: N E X T I S S U E s a f e t y a t h o m e p r e v e n t i n g F a l l s

5 Medication Assistance March 2008 Caregiver Assistance News C a r i n g f o r y o u c a r i n g f o r o t h e r s Q u i c k Q u i z Prescriptions are an important part of 21 st century medicine. It is very important to take medication as prescribed. Read this issue and answer True or False to the questions below. 1. Never make any changes to prescription medications without talking to the doctor or specialist first. 2. How a prescription is taken is not as important as when it is taken. 3. Buying medications through mail order is often the cheapest way to buy. 4. Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage is also called Medicare Part A. 5. Low-income seniors may be eligible for a low-income subsidy called Extra Help. 6. People who move the most, burn more calories and live longer, than people who burn fewer calories. 7. If a person does not respond to a new medication within a few days, either change the medication or change the dosage without calling the doctor. 8. It s better to use the same pharmacist for all your prescriptions because they can watch for harmful drug interactions. 9. The best way to keep multiple prescriptions organized is to line them up in alphabetical order in the medicine cabinet of your bathroom. 10. Pharmacies are required by law to charge the same price for the same medicine. Name Signature Date Key: 1-T; 2-F; 3-T; 4-F; 5-T; 6-T; 7-F; 8-T; 9-F; 10-F