Keeping Elderly Assisted Living Center Residents Healthy

Area long term care centers are working with Memorial Health System of East Texas in an effort to keep their residents healthy as East Texans brace for the cold and flu season.  Recently approximately 16 nursing facilities participated in a mini workshop at Memorial Medical Center—Lufkin to discuss how to reduce the reoccurrence of infections in older patients.  Additionally, the administrators and caregivers at the long term care centers and Memorial put plans in place to help expedite patient referrals from the hospital to long term care centers. 

The workshop featured new Lufkin Pulmonologist, Dr. Mohammad Siddiqui, who discussed with the participants the importance of being proactive in consulting a pulmonologist when symptoms of upper respiratory abnormalities first appear.  According to Dr. Siddiqui, by taking proactive measures and treating the first signs of upper respiratory illness, nursing hoime residents could recover at their long care term center of choice as opposed to being admitted to a hospital.

The Nursing Home Outreach Initiative is just one of numerous “in service” projects Memorial provides to the community each year in an effort to promote a healthy community.