Mark Berger Chicago: Transforming Post-Acute and Long-Term Care

When individuals leave the hospital after illness or injury, their journey to recovery is far from over. Many require specialized care during the crucial transition from hospital to home. At the helm of Villa Healthcare, Mark Berger Chicago leads the charge in providing top-tier post-hospital care, rehabilitation, skilled nursing, and long-term care services. In this article, we delve into the vital role of post-acute and long-term care and how Mark Berger Chicago's Villa Healthcare is making a difference in the lives of both patients and staff.

Mark Berger Chicago: Providing Essential Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Services

When individuals are discharged from the hospital after an illness or injury, their medical journey doesn't always end there. Many still require specialized care as they transition from hospital to home. Under the leadership of Mark Berger Chicago, Villa Healthcare stands as a leading provider of post-hospital care, rehabilitation, skilled nursing, and long-term care services. In this article, we explore the significance of post-acute and long-term care and how Mark Berger Chicago's Villa Healthcare is dedicated to improving the lives of patients and staff alike.

5 Reasons to Choose a Long Term Skilled Nursing Facility

 

If you or a loved one is in need of long-term care, it's essential to consider all of your options carefully. One of the most popular choices for long-term care is skilled nursing facilities. Skilled nursing facilities provide a higher level of care than other types of long-term care, and they are staffed by trained medical professionals. In this article, we will explore 5 reasons why you should choose a long-term skilled nursing facility, specifically those managed by Mark Berger Chicago, the Chief Executive Officer at Villa Healthcare.

 

The Social Benefits of Senior Living

Senior nursing homes offer a variety of benefits for seniors and their families. From social interaction to the security of knowing that their loved ones will be cared for after they retire, there are many pros at every stage in life who benefit from senior-friendly housing options. In this article, healthcare executive Mark Berger Chicago, CEO at Villa Helathcare, talks more about the social benefits of senior living.

 

Fun Fall Activities for Your Nursing Facility

 

The fall season is a beautiful time of year, and it’s also a great time to visit your local nursing facility. The crisp air, vibrant colors, and cooler temperatures are sure to make you feel rested and refreshed. However, it can also be an extremely challenging time for those who live at the nursing facility as well. With lower outside temperatures and less daylight hours, many residents will soon start feeling depressed and anxious. To help combat this challenge during the fall season, here, Mark Berger Chicago, the Chief Executive Officer at Villa Healthcare, shares some fall activities in your nursing home that you can enjoy with your residents:

 

Recommendations for Seniors With High Blood Pressure

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the health authorities have been clear that certain population groups were more predisposed to suffer serious health complications if contagion by Coronavirus occurred. Hypertensive patients have always been part of this especially vulnerable segment of the population.

In this post, Mark Berger Chicago, Chief Executive Officer at Villa Healthcare, will share some safety and hygiene guidelines for hypertensive people.

Hypertensive patients and risks of Covid-19

Every May 17, World Arterial Hypertension Day is celebrated, a disease that may take time to manifest itself with clear symptoms for the patient and that currently constitutes the risk factor with the highest prevalence among cardiovascular diseases. It is estimated that around 40% of the country's population is hypertensive and that only in 37% of cases the problem has been diagnosed.

The Covid-19 has brought to light aspects of the disease that until now may have gone unnoticed.

4 key recommendations for hypertensive patients

As more details about the behavior of Covid-19 in patients with arterial hypertension have become known, the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare has been updating the list of recommendations that both patients and caregivers of dependent people should keep in mind during the pandemic.

The recommendations given by Mark Berger Chicago to minimize the effects of the Coronavirus in hypertensive patients can be summarized in these four points:

Keep prescribed medication at all times

So far no negative interactions have been found between Covid-19 and the drugs commonly used in the treatment of hypertensive patients (angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers).

Avoid unnecessary travel

Even now that the de-escalation process allows some mobility, you have to be responsible. Mark Berger Chicago recommends that hypertensive people who enjoy autonomy should limit their essential outings to the less crowded times of the day. In the case of dependents, caregivers and family members should pay special attention to take daily walks through areas with little influx and with all the hygiene and distancing measures recommended by the health authorities.

Keep a regular check on your blood pressure

The record that we can keep at home will be of great use to both the patient and the doctor who provides their treatment. Blood pressure is not the same throughout the day and can vary as a result of different stimuli. This regular control will make it possible to identify possible changes in the cardiovascular system and act accordingly.

Maintain healthy lifestyle habits

The abandonment of tobacco and alcohol, a diet low in fat, salt and processed foods and the practice of physical exercise between 3 and 4 times a week are a guarantee of health. Likewise, and especially in these exceptional moments, we must not lose sight of the mental and emotional balance, especially in people who are hypertensive women of advanced age, those who live alone and those who depend on care for the performance of their routines.

World Hypertension Day

If the lockdown has been a successful virus containment measure, responsibility, common sense and information must now take over. World Hypertension Day reminds us that there is a quarter of the population of the planet that suffers from this disease and that for this reason it is more exposed to suffer the most serious consequences of contagion. The healthcare executive, Mark Berger Chicago indicates that providing them with the necessary means for their progressive return to normality and insisting on maintaining healthy habits are essential conditions to address hypertension in the current context.

What is Lewy Body Dementia

There are many neurodegenerative diseases that involve loss of memory and cognitive abilities (dementia). The best known is Alzheimer's, but not the only one. What is the difference between dementia, Alzheimer's, Lewy bodies, and Parkinson's? All of them are diseases that are related between each other.

“A common point that these neurodegenerative diseases have is that in their final stages, the person suffering from dementia becomes dependent and needs home care to be able to perform both household chores and to meet their needs: getting up, eating, washing,” says Mark Berger Chicago, owner of rehabilitation and healthcare center Villa Healthcare.

Among the named pathologies, Lewy Syndrome or Lewy Body dementia is the least known, although its incidence in the population is not high. Here, Mark Berger Chicago explains more about Lewy Body Dementia.

What is Lewy Body Dementia?

Lewy body dementia is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. It is a fairly common type of dementia, along with Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia. The age of onset of the first symptoms is usually after 50 years.

Mark Berger Chicago indicates that Lewy Body Dementia is hereditary, so having a relative with this disease is a risk factor for suffering from it.

Symptoms of Lewy Body Dementia

Healthcare executive Mark Berger Chicago shares that this disease has very characteristic symptoms that differentiate it from other neurodegenerative diseases:

Memory loss and cognitive impairment: It is difficult for the patient to perform mental functions such as reasoning, speech, memory, concentration, and spatial perception. Over time, this makes it difficult for you to follow your daily routines without help from a caregiver.

Difficulties in mobility: The person has trouble walking, tremors, muscle stiffness, and even spasms. The symptoms are the same as those of Parkinson's.

Emotional disorders: Pictures of depression, anxiety, sadness, apathy and lack of motivation appear. Pictures of aggressiveness may even appear.

Hallucinations: This symptom is also present in Alzheimer's. Sometimes one of the initial symptoms of Lewy Body disease are visual, olfactory and auditory hallucinations, sometimes even related to touch.

Atypical behaviors during sleep: Specifically, during the REM phase is when people with this type of cognitive impairment have changes in their behavior. They act as if the dream were reality, vivid dreams, they talk in their sleep and they can even fall out of bed. There are cases in which this is an initial symptom and appears years before the other symptoms, so it has not been related to the original cause for a long time.

Autonomic dysfunction: This causes in the patient a poor regulation of body temperature, sweating, and instability in blood pressure.

Lewy Body Dementia Treatment

Lewy body disease has no cure. Today, as in other types of cognitive impairment, the symptoms can only be treated to make them milder and extend the well-being of the person suffering from Lewy disease.

Treatment for Lewy Bodies is personalized, so if you believe that you have this pathology or that a person in your environment has it, experienced professional Mark Berger Chicago recommends going to a neurologist to make the diagnosis and create a treatment plan for your specific case.