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Healthcare Services in Houston

“People who don’t cherish their elderly have forgotten whence they came and whither they go.” – Ramsey Clark

Time waits for nobody, and soon before you realize it, your hair starts greying and wrinkles start to appear on your face. Dealing with old age and covering up the distance from independence to dependence is usually very overwhelming. People lose their health, abilities and memory – the wonders that we take for granted otherwise. Caring for the seniors in our society, and filling their lives with a little sunshine every day is thus, one of the noblest deeds.

But the job of having to care for our parents isn’t an easy one. The load of caregiving responsibilities can fill our heart with an emotional turmoil, leaving us overburdened, shattered and also raising the requirement of caregivers in Houston. Yet, we need to be extra careful with our ageing parents, so that we do not neglect their need to get optimum care and support. It is very important to understand when they start needing extra care and take the required measures at the right time in order to save them from any possible accidents, and make their senior years more comfortable.

It is indeed true that the effects of ageing cannot be reversed, but with appropriate care and professional help, their day-by-day worsening health and wellbeing can be effectively monitored and promoted. Compromising with the safety and wellbeing of our loved ones, especially when their physical and mental vitality is rapidly deteriorating, is certainly something none of us would want. In fact, it becomes our sole responsibility to help them cope with their growing age by uplifting them at all levels – physical, mental and emotional.

Caregiving Service Sector in Houston

For people living in Houston, caregiving for senior citizens has always been a big topic of concern. Maybe this is the main reason why it has the largest medical complex in the world that is run by more than 3,66,000 skilled healthcare workers. According to the Texas Workforce Commission, out of all of these healthcare and social assistance workers, 43.6% work for ambulatory healthcare, 32.5% for hospitals, and 23.9% are employed under social assistance, nursing and residential care sectors. The entire industry accounts for a whopping wage expenditure of about $54,337.

The Texas Medical Board states that Houston is home to around 18,529 licensed physicians. Out of this extremely proficient medical workforce comprising of cardiovascular technologists & technicians, anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, occupational health & safety specialists/technicians, and respiratory therapy technicians, 80% work in Harris County alone. Top healthcare services in Houston include CHI St. Luke’s, Harris Health System, HCA, Houston Methodist, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, MD Anderson Cancer Centre, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Centre, UTMB Health, and Texas Children’s Hospital.

Best Healthcare Services for Senior Residents in Houston

• Texas Medical Centre

By impressive measures including the number of physicians, number of hospitals, patient volume and square footage, the Texas Medical Centre in Houston is the largest medical complex in the whole world. This reputed institution is run by 61 trusted members. The World Report and US News have frequently recognized the Texas Medical Centre as one of the nation’s top hospitals and universities. You would be surprised to know that the TMC has 50 million developed square feet, and its ongoing construction projects are worth $3 billion.

The center has a workforce of over 1,06,000 that performs more than 1,80,000 surgeries per year, out of which, plus 13,600 are just heart surgeries. Around 10 million patients visit the center every year in hope of getting the perfect treatment for their ailments. It is the 8^th largest business district in the US with 7,50,000 ER visits every year, 1,345 total acres, and $25 billion in GDP.

TMC’s prominent members include Baylor College of Medicine, CHI St. Luke’s Health, Harris Health System, Houston Methodist Hospital, Memorial Hermann, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Rice University, Texas A&M University Health Science Centre, Texas Children’s Hospital, Texas Heart Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Centre, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre, UTMB Health and the University of Houston.

In its endeavor to encourage collaboration across all its member institutions, the Texas Medical Center currently has construction of the following five institutes in focus:

1. Clinical Research – Translating research discoveries into unconventional cures and therapies is one of the biggest visions of the Texas Medical Center.

2. Health Policy – This branch is going to be established to improve the health of all the residents of Houston and Texas by coming up with the most effective and result-oriented policy solutions.

3. Innovation – With the mission to ace innovation in the fields of global health and life sciences, the TMC Innovation Institute has established an accelerator TMCx for the development of companies working in the health and medical technology sector. They have also launched an incubator for health startups, which is called TMCx+.

4. Genomics – TMC aims at creating the most premium clinical genomics program in the world.

5. Regenerative Medicine – The Texas Medical Center aspires to be the world leader in discovering, developing and delivering regenerative therapies that have a distinct curative effect on people struggling with several critical health hazards.

In the April of 2018, the Texas Medical Center launched a multi-institutional research campus (TMC3) spread across 30 acres. The reason behind this launch was to amalgamate the services of top institutions working for clinical care, research and industry, under one roof. This campus is expected to be completed in the year 2022, and is going to provide jobs to nearly 30,000 health workers, bringing down an upsurge in Houston’s economy by around $5.2 billion

• Public Health Services – City of Houston

There is a wide variety of health centers and multi-service centers under the belt of the Houston Health Department, more popularly known as HHD. These reputed facilities are strategically located throughout the city of Houston to offer services like family planning, the WIC (Women, Infants and Children’s) program, dental, sexually transmitted disease testing, and immunizations. These services might vary from location to location, and hence, it’s always a great idea for the patients to call the facility or check the website before visiting or planning a treatment.

The HDHHS (Houston Department of Health and Human Services) is also responsible for enforcing both indoor and outdoor air quality standards, inspecting swimming pools and food establishments, and issuing a weekday pollen and mold spore calculation. This department also operates significant statistics required for birth and death certificates. It is the jurisdiction of HHD that involves many important additional services like the Harris County Area Agency on Aging.

• Public Health Services – Harris County

The Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services was setup with the objective of preventing diseases, and maintaining high health standards within the county. The director of this renowned institution is appointed by the Commissioners Court. It is one-stop destination for prominent public healthcare services like nursing, dental health, communicable and environmental disease control, mosquito control & animal control programs, health education, sanitation, and nutrition. These personal preventive services are mainly meant for the working poor and indigent to help this particular section of the society beat unnecessary mortality and morbidity.

• Health Care and Treatment

The Harris Health System assists all the residents of Harris County (even the ones who cannot pay) to get quality healthcare services. This district features an AIDS clinic, a dental center, 3 hospitals, 12 community health centers, and many other school-based clinics. The famous Ben Taub General Hospital, Quentin Mease Community Hospital, and the Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital are all part of this big program of Houston.

• Personal Home Care Institutions

Personal home care institutions like Ambassadors Caregivers have a special place in the heart of residents of Houston. If you live in Houston and do not want to ensure that your loved ones get the best possible care in a loving and constructive environment, you can contact a trusted caregiving service provider on the go. With Ambassadors Caregivers, you can help your elderly parents with:

1. Activities of Daily Living – We owe our parents for teaching us about the activities of daily living so meticulously, and now it is time to help them with these activities in their senior years. Activities of Daily Living or ADLs broadly imply self-feeding, dressing, bathing, functional mobility, and maintaining personal hygiene. Although these activities are very basic on the caregiving service radar, not being able to perform them can make the patient feel extremely disturbed or insulted.

2. Instrumental Activities of Daily Living – Not as basic as ADLs, but the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living or IADLs are a key component in a person’s independent functioning. Activities like cooking, cleaning, taking medication, travelling, shopping and home management account for this spectrum of everyday tasks. The caretaker has to provide, long-term, consistent and well-planned support to help the dependent feel like a productive member of the society. Setting up a caregiving plan in this regard is also very demanding, and usually, people in Houston prefer to rely on a professional caregiving service provider.

3. Making Living Arrangements – The burden of having to care for your parents or other elderly people in your family is very draining, both physically and mentally. And this problem grows bigger if the care receivers do not live in your close proximity. There can also be cases where they live nearby, but the intensity of care that they need round-the-clock care and support, which is only possible when the caregiver is practically in the same house as them.

Professional caregivers in Houston are well-known to transform this troublesome experience into an easy-breezy one. With their help, people can save themselves from the pain of having to alter their own living arrangement to provide home-like love and care to their ageing parents. All you need to do is closely monitor the level of care your parents need, and then contact a professional service provider like Ambassadors Caregivers.

• Finance Management Programs

The load of caregiving often comes on your shoulders overnight with a bundle of severe financial implications. Securing the senior years of your loved ones monetarily is thus, very important. Thankfully, you are not alone in this journey. Houston has some well-planned government programs that can help you manage your parents’ retirement funds and other related finances. Also, you can apply for tax relief if you are serving as a caregiver for a dependent/elderly person in your family. This doesn’t imply that your financial load as a caregiver will be completely waived off, but at least you will be much better equipped to support the care needs of your loving parents.

Wrapping Up

Houston is recognized all over the world for having one of the most prestigious medical communities. The largest medical center in the world ‘Texas Medical Center’ is also just a 10-minute drive away from downtown Houston. This 675-acre organization comprises of 42 government and non-profit institutions (including a dental college, a college of optometry, a college of pharmacy, 2 medical schools, 4 colleges of nursing, and 13 teaching hospitals). Apart from TMC, the city is blessed with the advantage of high-quality public health prevention and treatment, especially for the elderly.

Houston houses over 85 hospitals with more than 19,300 beds (including beds in TMC), where around 4.8 million patients are provided optimum medical facilities every year. All this becomes possible with the hard work and determination of more than 1,00,000 healthcare professionals employed in the Houston area. This is almost 7% of the total workforce in the entire region of Houston.

It is very evident that we would never want to settle for anything less than ‘perfect’ when it comes to our loving parents, especially at a time when they are their weakest. During the senior years of your parents, joining hands with a professional caregiver or a renowned assisted living facility could make your caregiving journey more rewarding. Giving them the best care and support that they truly deserve is definitely going to be difficult, but with the assistance of a trusted personal care institution like Ambassadors Caregivers, this endeavor could be made easier.