Three First Aid Measures For The Elderly

Posted by Auscare Group on July 20th, 2018

If you have an elderly member in your family, you will surely remain concerned about his wellbeing. Even then mishaps are likely to happen when simple first aid would provide lot of relief to this loving person of your house.

Now you would certainly like to know what would be the first aid measures for an elderly person. First of all, the first aid basics are slightly specialised when it comes to treating an elderly person owing of his age factor. Secondly, there are few fundamentals of first aid for the elderly. Watch out!

Check wounds and treat fast

If the elderly member of your family falls down suddenly, your priority should be to check the affected area because there could be possibilities of bruises and abrasions.

Here you need to understand that the skin of the old people becomes too soft and delicate. As a result, slightest of frictions tend to rub the skin badly and tend to peel it. If the peeled skin and the wound remain unattended, it would become infectious and the situation will worsen rapidly.

Thus, as soon as you find such a wound you need to take some clean cotton wool and disinfectant the area with antiseptic solution. Now you need to take the preceding steps according to the intensity of the wound.

Be alert about falls

Mobility problem is quite common during old age. Along with this comes the fear that elderly people tend to fall down quite frequently as they are unable to support their body properly.

If situations are not in your favour, an accidental fall can lead to the fracture of bones of this elderly member of your household as well as bones become too brittle during this age.

The first duty that you need to execute in such a situation is to attend to the person and assist him in getting up. Then find out if he is bleeding, and if there is bleeding then what its intensity is. Try to stop bleeding by giving ice compression if it is within controllable limit. Seek medical attention immediately if the bleeding is profuse and do not tend to stop at all. You can additionally find out if there is a fracture if the elderly person reports excruciating pain with redness and swelling in the affected area.

Diabetic shock

Diabetic shock is common in elderly patients who suffer from diabetes. This problem arises when the level of sugar in the blood stream of the patients shoots up suddenly or falls down to an unexpected level.

In case of diabetic shock associated with low blood sugar, administering a glass of sweetened water or a bite of candy will be the immediately recommended first aid training. But you need to rush to the nearest doctor if the shock is related to high blood sugar.