How Senior Home Companions Support Heart Health and Well-Being

Heart health is one of the most important aspects of overall well-being, especially for seniors. While regular doctor visits and medications play a key role, the everyday support provided by in-home caregivers can make a world of difference. Senior Home Companions and other in-home care providers act as an extra set of eyes and ears, helping to monitor changes in health, provide essential companionship, and prevent unnecessary hospital visits. Their ability to recognize small but significant shifts—such as weight changes, blood pressure fluctuations, or dietary habits—can lead to timely medical intervention and improved outcomes.

In the conversation below, we discuss the helpful role of in-home caregivers in supporting heart health. From early detection of potential issues to promoting heart-healthy habits, learn how these dedicated professionals are making a lasting impact on the lives of seniors and their families.

Transcript starts here:

Finally, I want to talk a bit about community impact. What role do community resources, for example, like Senior Home Companions, in-home care, play in supporting heart health?

They're immensely popular and they're immensely helpful. They are the eyes and ears of the doctor who can't see the patient on that day. These folks who are giving in-home care, such as Senior Home Companions or any of the other various agencies that are out there, can pick up on things quickly and alert the doctor.

So I encourage patients to utilize those resources, let family members be aware of them, so that we can get a quick handle on what's going on. If a weight changes, if there's a wound that looks different, if there's a change, as I said earlier, in the patient's baseline physical status, changes in blood pressure, heart rate—all those things can be picked up by the Senior Home Companion and referred to the doctor's office. It's the doctor's job to take it from there, and it really does help people.

It saves lives, it's cost-effective, and it prevents needless rehospitalizations, particularly for folks that have had heart failure or heart attacks. The hospitals encourage this because not only is it life-saving, but it's also financially beneficial.

Yeah, that's great.

Finally, in terms of Senior Home Companions and in-home care, how can local organizations like ourselves at Senior Home Companions help educate and empower people about heart health?

I think just having a good working knowledge—the Senior Home Companions that are involved in caregiving should have a strong understanding of what to look for. Maybe standardizing a checklist, if you will, of what we should look for when we see the patient, when we go to the patient's home, because that's really where the most useful information comes from.

The useful information is what's going on in the patient's home. What do they look like? What are they doing? What are they eating? Are they eating processed foods? Are they salting other foods that they shouldn't? Those are things that the doctor or the nurse back at the office wouldn't know.

The Senior Home Companions could pick that up and say, "Mrs. Smith, you shouldn't be eating all that salt," and take that away. That could save the patient from having an acute heart failure event and waking up at three in the morning short of breath because their heart is overloaded with fluid and going into the emergency room.

So there are all kinds of things they can do. I think paying attention to a standardized checklist will help ensure that each patient is getting the same level of quality care that we want for them.