Even if your senior is only a little bit overheated, she can quickly develop other issues, such as heat stroke. Here’s what you need to know to help her.
Make Sure Help Is on the Way
It’s vital that your senior has assistance right away, especially if she is experiencing a heatstroke. Call emergency services or have someone else do so if there’s someone with you. Let the emergency operators know what you’re seeing in your senior’s behavior and focus on helping her to stay comfortable while help arrives.
Help Her to Move to a Cooler Location
If your elderly family member can move at all, help her to get to a cooler location. If she’s outside, moving inside can help. Make sure that there’s some air circulating if you do go inside. There might be times when you can’t get her to a cooler spot, though, and you might need to rig up some shade for her to help her to get cooler.
Give Her Water, but Slowly
Drinking water can help quite a bit, but you want to offer it to your senior slowly. If she’s experiencing heat stroke or even just overheated, her body is dehydrated and she needs more fluids. Drinking too much or too quickly can cause her to become nauseated, though, and she might throw up. That’s something you want to avoid, so go slowly.
Apply Cool Compresses to Pulse Points
Cool compresses, especially applied to pulse points, can help to cool your senior down. The points you want to concentrate on are her forehead, the back of her neck, and even her wrists. You can also put a compress on her upper chest if she’s lying down. If you’re inside, you might consider giving her a sponge bath to help her to cool down.
Let Her Doctor Know What Happened
As soon as possible, let her doctor know what happened. There might be some underlying causes that contributed to this, like a health condition or a medication. The sooner her doctor knows what happened, the better, and then you can find better solutions for the initiating problem.
It’s really important to keep an eye on your senior during hot weather. Dehydration and overheating can very quickly lead to bigger problems such as heat stroke. Hiring home care providers might be a wise decision if you can’t be there with her as often as you’d like.