I can deal with so many disgusting things, insects, body fluids, rotting garbage, road kill. But for some reason my father's feet freak me out. His toenails need to be dealt with. You have no idea. Or maybe you do. You could trim off yellow guitar picks. Who can I hire to deal with cutting his toenails? He's not able to walk and I think that he'd find a pedicure in a salon humiliating. Is a podiatrist overkill? I just can't bring myself to trim them. My mother's hands are too shaky for me to suggest that she do it. My understanding is that it is forbidden for CNAs or nurses though he's not diabetic.
looking forward to seeing anyone else has any suggestions
My dad is diabetic so Medicare paid for a visit every 2 months and nobody else could legally cut them because of the risks. Non diabetic, I believe that anyone that is willing is able to do it, ask the caregivers. Some people are okay dealing with alien toes. Not me though, I gag just looking at yucky feet.
Let us know what you find out, different areas have different rules.
What nurses can do is follow orders for foot wounds where applicable.
As mentioned below, there are specially trained and certified nurses who CAN perform foot care. Be sure to inquire whether your home care nurse is appropriately certified for such care.
He's at a nursing home now and they have podiatry services there.
They trimmed them and said to just bring her back every 3 months or so. I would have soaked her feet and didn't know that soaking is a "no-no" for diabetics. A lot of folks bring their parents to a podiatrist. I brought my DH but he didn't like it.
Just call your dad's physician and ask to be referred to a podiatrist ASAP - we got my mother in pretty quickly. I hadn't seen her toenails - my father told me they needed cutting and he wouldn't do them. She had toenail fungus. I felt so bad - her toenails had curled right around her toes. That had to hurt.
BTW, took my DH to the VA (he too had toenail fungus) and his Nurse Practitioner took out her mini-dremel and proceeded to sand them down. That I could do - so I bought a mini-dremel and started doing them myself.
P.S. Soaking my DH's feet in Cider Vinegar 15 minutes a day helped a lot! Just remember to warm it first, lol. I learned the hard way to warm the cider vinegar, heheh.
These people to exist. Most of them do this service because they have had family members who have been in facilities that have not kept the hygiene aspect done as it should have been.
If your Father HAS diabetes is it extremely important that his nails and toe nails are kept clean and trimmed. If he should hurt himself by scratching with dirty nails, he may not realize he has done this and then you're going to have a really bad issue happening.
Our daughter when she was still living back in our home State, would go by Mom's and take care of her nails and toe nails. Our daughter is an RN. She would also check Mom's feet/legs for signs of any diabetes issues. She would stress very sternly about Mom not wearing some type of shoe or slipper to protect her feet. She would tell Mom that if she doesn't heed what our daughter was telling her, Mom would be looking at having surgery that will be taking all her limbs one at a time.
I don't have to worry about this issue any longer as the Assisted Living Group Home Mom is now living has a stylist/manicurist/pedicurist who comes to the home once a month or as needed to take care of these areas of hygiene.