May is Hepatitis Awareness Month. As a family caregiver, this is the ideal opportunity for you to learn more about this potentially serious disease, its impact, its risk factors, and what you can do to care for your aging parent should this disease become a part of their aging years.
This awareness can help to give you greater confidence that you can either help your parent reduce their risk of developing this disease, or that you can give them the care that is right for them should this condition develop.
Some things that you should know about hepatitis include:
• Approximately 15 percent of those who are suffering from hepatitis A will experience episodes of reoccurring symptoms that last for around 6 to 9 months.
• Hepatitis A tends to occur in epidemics, with the highest number affected during such an epidemic in the United States being 35,000.
• Approximately 30 percent of people throughout the United States have experienced hepatitis A at some point in their life.
• There are between 2,000 and 3,500 new cases of hepatitis A are diagnosed throughout the country each year.
• On average, between 65 and 100 people have a hepatitis A infection listed as a cause of death each year.
• Approximately 30 percent of those who are living with hepatitis B do not experience any signs or symptoms of their disease .
• 15 to 25 percent of those infected with hepatitis B die from chronic liver disease.
• Approximately 1.25 million people throughout the United States are currently living with a chronic form of hepatitis B infection.
• Between 18,800 and 19,800 new cases of hepatitis B are diagnosed throughout the United States each year.
• On average, between 1,770 and 1,880 people have hepatitis B listed as a cause of death each year.
• Approximately 80 percent of those living with hepatitis C do not experience any signs of symptoms of their disease.
• Approximately 75 to 85 percent of those who are infected with hepatitis C suffer from chronic infections.
• Around 3.9 million people throughout the United States are currently living with a hepatitis C infection.
If your aging parent has recently been diagnosed with hepatitis, now may be the ideal time for you to consider starting elderly care for them. Managing the issues and challenges associated with serious health complications such as hepatitis is challenging, and having the highly personalized support of an elderly home care services provider with your parent can give both them and you as their family caregiver reassurance that they will have the care, support, encouragement, and assistance they need to maintain their quality of life as they age in place.
This can include helping them to understand the issues that they are facing, giving them reminders to help them remain compliant with their medications, treatments, and the guidelines set forth for them by their doctor, and helping them to make good lifestyle choices that will support overall health and well-being, such as eating a healthy diet and getting enough exercise.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering in-home health care in Tysons Corner to help with memory loss issues, please contact the caring staff at Trusted Touch Healthcare today. We make seniors’ lives better! Call today (301) 272-5140.
Sources:
http://www.intheknowzone.com/sexual-health-topics/hepatitis/statistics.html
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hepawarenessabcs.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/heppromoresources.htm
