Hunter “Patch” Adams is probably the most popular physician who promoted humor as an alternative health care without the need for insurance. Many patients under a home health care program are victims to boredom, which can lead to depression and loneliness even while surrounded by family. It is especially painful and difficult for a patient who lived a very active life prior to getting sick.
Fortunately, there are non-medical therapies that you can use at little or no expense to prevent boredom, listlessness, or disinterest in life from setting in. Here are a few:
Tech Therapy
Bring in new technology! Some of the latest technology to be introduced for the elderly include the:
- Doro PhoneEasy which has huge numbers and very few features to confuse the user
- Touchscreen tablets
- Nana Nechnology which offers products like snail mail alerts, smart walkers with remote control, and pillboxes with audio alerts
- And soon Intel will introduce its IS tech smartphone software, which will have caller ID and memory recall on previous calls so the user can be reminded of what transpired in a previous conversation
- Phone captioning that enables the receiver to read what is being said by the caller
- Video chats
Voice & Music Therapy
Voice therapy is an option you can try to keep the patient’s voice at an adequate level. At the same time, this kind of therapy helps emotional and social needs as well as encourages vocal hygiene.
A patient does not have to have vocal damage to try this therapy and the therapy exercises can be patterned to suit the needs of the patient. At the start, it is best to get a speech-language pathologist to recommend the therapy exercises as there are several types. The Lee Silverman Voice Therapy is used for Parkinson’s patients and helps exercise the weakened voice. A simple voice therapy is called the Accent Voice Therapy which focuses on breathing techniques and vocalization of difficult words. It’s educational, fun, and interesting to work on different accents and body movements.
Of course, singing is a great way to let out stress and you can arrange for voice lessons or use an app to play sing-a-long tunes with the lyrics displayed on your tablet screen. If singing is not something the patient is interested in, offer musical instrument lessons like a guitar, ukulele, or some other lightweight instrument.
Online Dating or Chatting
With supervision, you can help set up the patient in acceptable chat rooms that will offer either support, social meet-ups online, or information. Online dating is also an option if the patient wants to meet and establish an online social network but it is advised that it be done with all the security precautions established to avoid scamming or unscrupulous persons victimizing the patient.
Online Shopping
Shopping is therapeutic, provided controls are put in place, otherwise you could end up with huge credit card bills or hoarding issues. Set boundaries like Cash on Delivery only, local purchases (no international shopping), and a maximum limit every month.
There are a lot of other therapies you can find, including oxygen therapy, occupational therapy, sleep therapy, brain training, and virtual travel.