How Personal Care Can Help With Stroke Recovery

The Road to Stroke Recovery: How Active Personal Care Can Help

Recovering from a stroke can be a lifelong journey. Learn how using private-duty nursing for stroke can help you and your loved ones on their road to recovery.

When was the last time you had an illness that took over your life? Maybe it was a surgery that required months and months of rehabilitation. It could have been something as simple as an illness that put you in bed for 24 hours.

Either way, all that worry and pain had a definite endpoint. You knew that you were going to get better within a certain timeframe. Stroke survivors don’t always have that luxury. While rehabilitation is most intense during the first few months after a stroke, the road to recovering from a stroke is a lifelong journey for both the survivor and the caregiver. It affects every aspect of both of your lives.

The Effects of a Stroke

When a person has a stroke, a specific area of the brain is affected by a lack of oxygen. This happens when either a clot forms, blocking blood flow, or a blood vessel ruptures, causing massive bleeding in the brain. Fast response times in recognizing symptoms and in treating strokes have greatly reduced the mortality associated with strokes. 

However, approximately 50% of stroke survivors still experience some form of disability afterward. The extent and specific disability are determined by the location of the stroke in the brain. Different areas of the brain are responsible for different areas of the body. 

A patient who has a stroke on the left side of the brain will manifest differently than a person who has a stroke on the right side of their brain. A stroke on the left side of the body will manifest symptoms, like paralysis, on the right side of the body as well as being more likely to cause speech and language problems and cause the patient to exhibit a more slow and cautious behavior. Right-sided strokes affect the left side of the body, causing more vision problems and more impulsive behavior. 

How Active Personal Care Can Help After a Stroke

Active Personal Care understands that each stroke survivor has different needs. No two survivors will exhibit the same symptoms. Our individualized care plans can help multiple needs including:

• Bathing assistance
• Dressing assistance
• Medication reminders
• Companionship
• Meal preparation
• Running errands and driving
• Respite care for caregivers

Active Personal Care’s Tips for Caregivers:

The American Stroke Association, in their book Life After Stroke, lists several helpful tips to caregivers as they adjust to life taking care of a stroke survivor. These include:

• Simplifying activities
• Rearranging schedules around the best times of day for the survivors
• Give the person choices to allow them to feel in control
• Look for new ways to communicate with your loved one
• Watch for signs indicating a need for toileting, such as facial expressions or sudden agitation
• Encourage some form of movement or exercise daily
• Have a daily routine
• Break tasks down into smaller, easy steps

You can download their free book here.

Why Choose Active Personal Care?

No two stroke survivors will experience the same complications. Active Personal Care offers customized care plans to fit your individual needs. Our aides are available to help when and how you need them. If you or a loved one are struggling with the complications of a stroke, call and schedule your free, in-home consultation today!