Caring For Aging Parents: 10 Things To Know For An Emergency

Main Category: Caregivers / Homecare
Also Included In: Seniors / Aging
Article Date: 05 Nov 2007 - 4:00 PDT

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Aging parents may not be able to provide vital information to health care providers caring for them during a medical emergency. Mayoclinic.com provides caregivers with a helpful list of 10 things they need to know about caring for aging parents' health, and discusses some signs that warn of a health problem in aging parents.

"Sometimes a parent isn't able to give medical information when an emergency arises, so emergency medical personnel must rely on the adult children or a spouse for that information," says Paul Takahashi, M.D., a specialist in geriatrics at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. "These are things you should know. Just as you fill out those emergency cards for your kids in school, you should have similar information available about your parents or for whomever you are the caregiver."

MayoClinic.com also provides a downloadable emergency medical information form to use for unexpected emergencies, and the Senior Health Center on MayoClinic.com provides a host of other information on wellness, lifestyle, and health.

About Mayoclinic.com

Launched in 1995 and now visited by more than 10 million users a month, this award-winning Web site offers health information, self-improvement, and disease management tools to empower people to manage their health. Produced by a team of Web professionals and medical experts, MayoClinic.com gives users access to the experience and knowledge of the more than 2,000 physicians and scientists of Mayo Clinic. MayoClinic.com offers intuitive, easy-to-use tools such as "Symptom Checker" and "First-Aid Guide" for fast answers about health conditions ranging from common to complex; as well as more in-depth sections on more than 25 common diseases and conditions, healthy living articles, videos, animations and features such as "Ask a Specialist" and "Drug Watch." Users can sign up for a free weekly e-newsletter called "Housecall" which provides the latest health information from Mayo Clinic.

http://www.mayoclinic.com