The good news is that people are living longer and longer these days! They are taking care of themselves and modern medicine has greatly increased the average life span. With longer life, however there comes new challenges and one of these challenges is that the elderly has more chronic conditions. According to the CDC, one in three seniors has two or more chronic conditions. Managing these conditions can take a lot of prescriptions, a lot of organization, and a lot of money!
With aging often comes the loss of memory. This can make it hard to remember every day routines, which can include taking medications. There are many things you can do to help your senior remember to take his medications. Get them in the habit of taking medications at the same time each day, store the medications where they will remember. For example, if they take them in the morning, keep the medications near their toothbrush. Organizing medications by day in a pillbox can also be helpful. Leave post it notes around the house reminding them when to take their medications, for example, a post it by their bed to remind them to take their night time medications.
It is also helpful to get all prescriptions filled at the same pharmacy so that they pharmacist can watch for possible drug interactions. Sometimes with multiple chronic conditions seniors may see several different doctors and it may be hard for the doctors to check all possible interactions. If the prescriptions are filled at the same pharmacy it is a good way to do a double check for possible interactions
Chronic conditions can also require a lot of medications, which can put a strain on Senior citizens wallets. Luckily there is government sponsored programs that can help. Medicare provides healthcare benefits to people over 65. Medicare Savings programs can help certain individuals pay their Medicare premiums. There are also prescriptions drug assistance programs that seniors may qualify for, so make sure to look into that as well. Additionally, there are tax advantages that benefit and even target senior citizens that can help. Armed with the right information, we can all age gracefully.