Preferred Care at Home has helped elderly people stay comfortable and cared for at home since 1984. Every fall, the calls to our Framingham office start to sound alike: how do we keep a parent well once the cold sets in?
Flu prevention for seniors is mostly a plan made early. In MetroWest, it has to hold up through icy walkways, short gray afternoons and weeks when leaving the house takes real effort.
Why the Flu Hits Harder After 65
The CDC reports that between 70 and 85 percent of seasonal influenza deaths happen in people 65 years and older.
Immune defenses change with age, so an infection a younger adult shakes off can bring serious complications for an older adult, and the illness can make a chronic condition worse.
Someone getting over the flu is weaker on their feet in a New England January, right when the front steps are slick. That’s why we treat every flu season as serious for anyone past 65, even the years the news calls mild.
Book the Flu Shot Talk in September
Per the CDC’s flu vaccine key facts, everyone 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine every season, ideally by the end of October. Protection takes about two weeks to build, the CDC says, so an annual flu shot in late September is in place before Thanksgiving dinner.
For people 65 and older, the CDC prefers higher-dose or adjuvanted flu vaccines over a standard-dose shot: Fluzone High-Dose, Flublok and Fluad. It names no favorite among them.
We’d book that conversation with your loved one’s doctor in September, before the first cough shows up at the dinner table. Bring a short list:
- Which of the preferred flu vaccines does the office carry this year?
- Are any other vaccines due this fall?
- If flu symptoms start, how fast should we call about antiviral treatment?
- Who answers the phone after hours?
Your doctor knows the full health picture, so vaccination choices stay with them. If getting to the appointment is the hard part, our companion care caregivers drive and come along.
Clean Hands, Clean Counters
The CDC’s handwashing guidance says to scrub hands with soap for at least 20 seconds, about two rounds of the birthday song. Away from a sink, the CDC’s fallback is a hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol.
Keep a bottle by the front door and another in the car. CDC guidance also names countertops, handrails and doorknobs as surfaces to clean often, and in most homes we’d add the TV remote, the phone, the refrigerator handle and the kettle.
Hygiene is personal for our office. Brent Auslander, our owner, opened it after visiting his grandmother in a Florida assisted living facility and finding she wasn’t being properly cared for hygienically.
Anyone who walks into your loved one’s home, family and caregivers included, washes up on the way in.
Meals, Fluids and Fewer Crowded Rooms
Avoiding close contact with sick people sits near the top of the CDC’s everyday prevention steps, with good sleep on the same list. For cold and flu season, older adults do well to plan the winter around fewer crowds.
A pantry stocked in October means fewer trips out in January: broth, oatmeal, tea, canned soup and a few frozen meals your loved one actually likes. Keep a full water glass or a thermos of tea beside the chair they sit in most, because it’s easy to drink less when it’s cold out.
Shop on a weekday morning instead of Saturday afternoon, or let someone else stand in that line. We’d rather a caregiver wait at the checkout than your loved one.
Across MetroWest, from Natick and Ashland to Sudbury and Needham, that’s most of what winter homemaker care looks like: grocery runs and errands, plus meals planned and cooked at home. It keeps the week moving without putting your loved one in a crowded store.
Warning Signs That Mean Calling the Doctor
The CDC’s symptom guide says flu symptoms come on suddenly, while a cold builds slowly. Fever or chills, cough, sore throat, body aches and deep tiredness are the usual signs, though not everyone getting the flu runs a fever.
For people 65 and older, the CDC advises prompt antiviral treatment when flu is confirmed or suspected. That’s why we’d call the doctor the day symptoms start and let them decide what comes next.
Get medical care right away for any of these emergency warning signs the CDC lists for adults:
- Trouble breathing or shortness of breath
- Chest or belly pain or pressure that won’t let up
- Dizziness or confusion that doesn’t clear, or trouble waking up
- Not urinating
- Severe weakness or unsteadiness
- A fever or cough that gets better, then comes back worse
Confusion is easy to miss in an elderly parent who’s already worn out. Someone who sees your loved one every day notices it sooner than a Sunday phone call does.
What a Caregiver Does When the House Gets Sick
Our care runs from 1 hour to 24 hours a day. For urgent needs, we’re available 24/7.
A caregiver keeps the routine going with meals on time, a clean kitchen, a ride to the doctor and someone to talk to over lunch. Companion care covers the conversation and the appointments, and personal care adds assistance with bathing and dressing when the flu leaves your loved one wiped out.
Your caregiver sees when lunch goes uneaten or a cough sounds rougher than yesterday, then notes it in our Transparency of Care portal, where you can read it from your desk downtown or from across the country.
Our team includes experienced and trained caregivers, including CNA and HHA professionals, screened through our 7-step process and matched by personality. English and Creole speaking caregivers are available through this office.
We’re a home care team, not a doctor’s office. Vaccines, tests and treatment stay with your loved one’s doctor, and we handle the rides and the meals in between.
Questions Families Ask Us in the Fall
Does Medicare pay for the flu shot?
Per Medicare.gov, Part B covers one flu shot each season, and you pay nothing if the provider accepts assignment.
Can my parent get the nasal spray flu vaccine instead?
CDC guidance says people 65 years and older should not get the nasal spray vaccine, so ask the doctor’s office for one of the shots it prefers.
How long should a sick relative stay away?
Until their symptoms are improving and they’ve gone at least 24 hours without a fever, without fever-reducing medicine. That’s the CDC’s rule for when a sick person can stop staying home.
Do you accept long-term care insurance?
Long-term care insurance is accepted at our office. What a policy pays depends on its terms, so have it handy when you call.
Start the Season With a Plan
Call Preferred Care at Home at (508) 375-7174, or stop by 945 Concord St in Framingham, and we’ll sit down with you to plan the winter. When you’re ready, Get Care Now and tell us what this season needs to look like.
