 If you’ve got a loved one in a nursing home, you need to be concerned about multiple things from their nutrition to their safety and overall care. This includes keeping up with their hearing health with proper hearing aid usage, daily maintenance, and keeping track of their devices.
Medical emergencies and hygiene will usually be the priority of caregiving staff. Hearing aids and maintenance tend to be less of a priority. Losing hearing aids can be a common occurrence with hundreds of residents and staff moving through the facility. Many seniors in these facilities need hearing aids, but most staff members are unaware that they need these devices. It’s also likely that residents might refuse to wear hearing aids, which leads to frustration among patients and nurses. Some reasons why residents do not want to wear hearing aids:
Nursing home staff should be trained in case these problems come up. Some people, particularly seniors, might feel confused, lost, isolated, and frustrated without their hearing aids, or hearing aids that are not working properly. It’s easy but takes time to keep up with hearing aid maintenance and cleanings. Hearing aids that aren’t worn at all, or used correctly can worsen current ailments, like dementia. Regular hearing tests are important. If someone’s hearing gets worse, it might mean that the hearing aid isn’t working as well as it should be. It requires a team of people to help them with this. Other non-nursing staff members should also be made aware of patients who wear hearing aids. A positive relationship is necessary for the best care. If an item like hearing aids goes missing, you’ll have to figure out who bears responsibility. Every nursing home is different, so you’ll need to know how the nursing home, state, providence, or area will handle the situation. Preventing Hearing Aid Loss You may purchase a sleeve that fits over the hearing aid. You will still be able to hear through the sleeve. There are corded styles that feature a clip, which can secure the hearing aid to clothing. This helps lower the chance of losing the hearing device. Label Your Hearing Aids Your initials can be written on your hearing aid with a permanent marker, or you can put a small, shiny sticker on them. It’s easier to catch the eye with something shiny, as long as there’s light to reflect off from. A sticker with a bright color can also help you find the hearing aid if it fell on the floor or in your bed. Storage Unit for Hearing Aids Simply place your hearing aids in a small plastic case (hearing aid dryer) next to your bed, so it’s easily accessible in the middle of the night. Do not wrap them in a tissue or napkin to protect them. Hearing aids are lightweight, so it’s easy to mistake a wadded-up tissue or napkin for trash. If you need a case for your hearing aids, contact Pure Sound Hearing to set up a time to purchase it from one of our offices in Lititz, Elizabethtown, or Strasburg. Maintenance of Hearing Aids The staff members at nursing homes are very busy. But, it’s important to make sure they take the time to label each hearing aid, clean them, store them, make sure there’s no moisture build-up, and check the battery life. Family members also bear responsibility for helping their loved one arrange for a hearing test and maintaining hearing aids so their loved ones can get the best out of their devices. Your hearing aid provider should have gone over cleaning requirements, battery changes, how to use the hearing aid, and any other questions you or your loved one had. If you need hearing aids, cleaning tools, or any other accessories for your hearing aids, please contact Pure Sound Hearing. Comments are closed.
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