Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among older adults in the U.S. In Connecticut, over 150,000 seniors live with a heart condition, and this number is expected to rise as the population ages. Caregivers of individuals with cardiac conditions play a vital role in supporting their loved ones' health and well-being. There are several ways in which a family caregiver can impact a loved one’s cardiac condition. Being diagnosed with heart disease can be frightening and usually requires lifestyle changes. The family caregiver plays a role in successfully managing heart disease.
For most people diagnosed with heart disease changes are necessary to diet, exercise, and smoking behaviors. Making these changes can be incredibly stressful. If the caregiver can embrace the changes, there is an increased likelihood the changes will be successful. Preparing heart-healthy meals for everyone, not just the person with heart disease, is one way to support the transition to heart healthy eating.
Regular exercise is important for everyone and especially for a person with heart disease. It is good practice for the caregiver to exercise with a person with heart disease. The mutual activity provides support for each other’s exercise plan. If you exercise together, you reinforce each other’s progress and remove the resistance created by being told what to do. You are in it together.
Smoking cessation is essential for people with heart disease. If you are a smoker, you can demonstrate your commitment to helping your loved one by quitting smoking together.
Another task a caregiver can help with is medication management. People with heart disease frequently take multiple different medications. It is essential that medications be taken as prescribed, but often older adults find managing multiple prescriptions with complex schedules difficult, resulting in medication non-adherence. We are fortunate to have highly effective cardiac medications to treat many types of cardiac disease, but if they are not taken as prescribed, they cannot work effectively. This is a place where a caregiver can, truly impact their loved one’s cardiac condition by ensuring medications are taken on time, doses are tracked, side effects are understood and report to the doctor and an updated list of medications and doses is kept in a handy place.
Heart conditions can cause individuals to feel emotional: anxious, depressed. The caregiver can provide emotional support and reassurance as needed. Some people become so frightened by having heart disease they are afraid to remain active. They become isolated and sedentary. The caregiver can watch for signs of emotional distress and provide encouragement and when necessary, seek professional help to manage emotional reactions.
Lastly, the caregiver can be a much needed, advocate for the person with heart disease. The healthcare system is complex, insurance benefits are complicated, treatment options may be difficult to understand. The caregiver can serve as an advocate for the person with heart disease as they navigate the healthcare system.