Specialty programs that Brooks Home Care Advantage provides are Congestive Heart Failure, Memory Impairment, Diabetes Management, Urinary Incontinence and Falls Prevention. Detailed information about the Urinary Incontinence Program, Falls Prevention Program and the Memory Impairment Program are listed below.
Urinary Incontinence Program
Urinary incontinence often starts with symptoms of stress incontinence. Stress Incontinence is leakage of urine that occurs during normal activity such as coughing, laughing, sneezing, or exercising which may place pressure on the bladder. Urge incontinence is also common, which is when the brain signals the bladder to be empty, even though it may contain a small amount of urine. There are a variety of ways to treat urinary incontinence conservatively and effectively. The professionals at Brooks Home Care Advantage work with the client's physician to formulate the most effective plan of care. Components of treatment include: strengthening of the muscles of the pelvic floor, retraining them to better perform their function, learning techniques for improved control and changing behaviors which make incontinence worse. These interventions can be performed in combination with medications used to control incontinence. Brooks Home Care Advantage will consult with the physician regarding all treatment provided.
The nursing and rehabilitation staff at Brooks Home Care Advantage are trained to identify clients who are experiencing urinary incontinence. Licensed physical and occupational therapists specially trained in this treatment, then perform an assessment to determine whether a client will benefit from treatment. The therapists work with the client, and their caregiver when necessary, to help the client achieve greater bladder control and a possible cure.
Fall Prevention Program
The home healthcare professionals at Brooks Home Care Advantage understand that falls are not just random accidents or the inevitable byproduct of aging. We know that falls are most often predictable and preventable events. Our experts will identify the many individual characteristics and environmental factors that increase the likelihood that an older adult will experience a fall.
We evaluate risk factors for falls such as mobility and balance deficits, impaired cognition, multiple medications, postural hypotension, inappropriate footwear and environmental hazards. Thorough assessments and interventions by our multidisciplinary team approach can greatly reduce the risk of falls for our clients. This increases their self-confidence allowing them to remain in the comfort of their own homes.
The program itself is designed to identify seniors at risk for falls and to develop a unique careplan for each individual. Brooks Home Care Advantage utilizes a team of 4 skilled disciplines to best evaluate the needs of our clients. The team consists of:
Skilled Nurse - RN
Physical Therapist - PT
Occupational Therapist - OT
Medical Social Worker - MSW
Our multidisciplinary team starts with a thorough evaluation to determine the specific needs of our client. After each discipline has completed an initial evaluation the team will develop a careplan designed to enable our client to better adapt to the aging process, develop confidence, facilitate independence and improve decision making.
Memory Impairment Program
The Memory Impairment Program (MIP) covers Alzheimer's Disease, and other related memory impairment disorders, such as Parkinson's, Vascular Dementia, Picks Disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Huntington's Disease, and many other dementias, to include memory loss from strokes.
Dementia itself is not a disease, but is a syndrome or group of symptoms caused by certain diseases or a temporary illness. It affects a person's memory, judgement, cognition (the ability to learn, process, and understand new information), the ability to care for oneself and their ability to solve problems. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer's Disease. Symptoms can include confusion and inability to carry out routine everyday tasks. Initially, the only symptoms may be mild forgetfullness. In later stages, behavioral and personality changes such as aggressive acts and aimless wandering may accompany the marked cognitive decline.
Brooks Home Care Advantage's Memory Impairment Program (MIP) is designed to allow the individual with "memory loss" to remain as independent as possible, in the safe, comfortable and familiar surroundings of their home. Our specially trained staff will provide the family/caregiver with information, support, instruction and assistance to help them cope with the day-to-day management of the debilitating effects of a dementing disease.
The format of our program follows a very simple process.
Upon receiving a referral, a Medical Care Team Member will visit the home and perform the following assessments:
NURSE - Physical health and Well-Being, Medication Compliance, Social Support, Home Safety and Behavioral Concepts. They will also schedule a meeting with the family/caregiver to assess their knowledge and understanding of the disease.
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST - Daily Living Skills, Mental Abilities and Behavioral Condition of the individual.
SPEECH THERAPIST - Communication Skills to include: Speech Production, Memory & Problem Solving Ability.
Following the assessment process, a "Plan of Care" will be established and care team members return to the home to provide skills retraining for the individual with the memory impairment and education and training for the caregiver.
In addition:
MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKER - Will assist both the individual and the caregiver in accessing information on community services, respite care, caregiver support and other services or skills necessary to care for a loved one.
Brooks Home Care Advantage
5836 Richard Street
Jacksonville, FL 32216
24 Hour Response Help Line:
(904) 306-9729
Fax: (904) 306-0110