A variety of health issues can cause an elderly person to suffer from bowel incontinence. This type of incontinence is a condition in which an individual lacks proper control over his or her bowels. As a consequence, an elderly person laboring under this condition has a propensity for defecating in unfortunate locations. Simply, they oftentimes find it difficult and even possible to reach the toilet in order to “do their business.” Not only is bowel incontinence a symptom of some sort of medical malady, it also has the very real propensity of stripping an older person of his or her dignity if not address in a proper manner on all fronts.
Living Alone and Increased Isolation
Many older people facing bowel incontinence live alone. If they had spouses, they’ve outlived them. They may have children, offspring with whom they have solid relationships. Nonetheless, these older women and men do spend a good amount of time alone.
With the onset of bowel incontinence, a significant number of older people tend to isolate. They do this for two reasons.
First, a person with bowel incontinence may have very real concerns about having an uncontrolled bowel movement away from home. Such an incident could prove devastating to a person, truly leaving an individual feeling as if he or she has been stripped of any sort of dignity.
Second, a person afflicted with bowel incontinence is also likely to severely restrict others from entering his or her home. The reality is that a person suffering from bowel incontinence will have “accidents” at different locations in a residence and not just in the bathroom. Although an older person may try to do his or her best to undertake feces cleanup, odds are that the task very likely may not be as thorough as desired.
How the Aftermath of Bowel Incontinence is Discovered
In many cases, the discovery of the ramifications of an older person suffering from bowel incontinence is when that individual leaves home to the hospital for medical care. At that juncture, a child of the older patient ends up inside the home, perhaps for the first time in a long time. It is at this time that a child may learn how bowel incontinence has impacted a parent’s living environment. It is at this juncture that a child oftentimes ends up having to take on getting feces cleanup undertaken at a parent’s home.
Preserving the Dignity of a Parent with Bowel Incontinence
The prime task at hand when an elderly person is afflicted with bowel incontinence is seeking medical attention. There is an array of different underlying causes of elderly bowel incontinence, a good many of the reasons for the condition being treatable. The next task at hand is thorough feces cleanup at an elderly person’s home where the aftermath of bowel incontinence is an issue.
Treating a person with bowel incontinence and cleaning his or her home can cause the individual to feel ashamed. Children and other family members need to be aware of how an older person’s dignity is at risk when bowel incontinence is an issue. Thus, care must be taken by children and other people to protect the dignity of an elderly person dealing with bowel incontinence and the issues this health condition can cause in a home.
One strategy that adult children can undertake as a means of protecting an elderly parent’s dignity when it comes to feces cleanup in a home is to engage the services of a professional cleaning company. An experienced, reputable feces cleanup company provides safe, comprehensive remediation services delivered with care and compassion. A professional maps out a cleanup strategy that restores a residence to a fully livable condition and does so with a focus on protecting the dignity of an older resident.
For example, as mentioned previously, adult children (and other loved ones) oftentimes find out that there is a feces issues in a residence associated with bowel incontinence when a parent is taken to the hospital for medical treatment. These children enter a parent’s home at that time and are able to get a better look at what is going on in the property. Because this oftentimes is the case, a compassionate feces cleanup company will develop a strategy that ensures that the cleaning at a residence will be fully completed by the time the elderly owner returns from the hospital.
The cleaning process itself includes a comprehensive approach. This includes the safe removal of human waste which is then disposed of in an appropriate manner. The physical removal of waste is followed up with the sanitization of contaminated surfaces and objects within a residence. Finally, a feces cleanup company deodorizes the residence as part of the comprehensive remediation process undertaken at a residence.