Health & Wellbeing

With nearly half of all deaths in Texas related to COVID-19 occurring among nursing home residents and staff, advocates at AARP Texas are encouraging those with loved ones in long-term care facilities to check regularly on the loved ones’ health and wellbeing.

The following is a report from Roz Brown of the Public News Service (TX):

Pets are a lifeline for social interaction during the pandemic. But the uptick in time spent with our pets is a disruption to their schedules.

Tai Chi can help increase your energy and your sense of well-being, and that is important in this day of COVID-19. To keep you safe and healthy, we are offering online Tai Chi classes you can take at home.

Stress – or the body’s response to any demand – may not be all that bad in small doses. It can help us get through a short-term crisis, such as the first few days of a pandemic. But chronic stress -- the ongoing kind, such as weeks’-long interruptions to our normal rhythms due to the coronavirus outbreak -- is the stuff that can be a mental killer.

Being anxious is a perfectly understandable reaction to our rapidly changing environment during the pandemic, and coping starts with normalizing these feelings and accepting them, says Dr. Andy Keller, a clinical psychologist and president and CEO of the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute.

“It’s okay not to be okay,” says Erin Perez, a palliative care nurse practitioner from San Antonio and a guest in AARP’s new Facebook Live series on May 19. “Anxiety comes from the fear of the unknown, but there are things we can control during these uncertain times.”

AARP Texas voiced support Thursday (May 7) for an Austin City Council resolution that calls for more resources to combat the high numbers of COVID-19 cases in area nursing homes.

The COVID-19 outbreak has taken an emotional toll on everyone including caregivers. It is important to help family caregivers keep themselves and those around them safe, happy, and healthy. AARP in Texas knows the value caregivers bring to all our communities which is why we work feverishly to provide practical resources and up to the minute information to keep them safe.

AARP Texas Director Tina Tran issued the following statement on Monday, April 27, 2020: