Health & Wellbeing

A listing of free and virtual events that AARP Texas will host in celebration of 2020’s Hispanic Heritage Month, beginning Sept. 15.

AARP has called for enactment of a bipartisan five-point plan to protect nursing home residents and staff by providing adequate PPE and regular testing, creating more transparency, requiring access for virtual visitation, improving staffing and oversight, and stopping attempts to provide blanket immunity for long-term care facilities who fail to protect residents and staff.

AARP Texas wants older residents to be aware of their voting options, as well as important dates and deadlines, so they can exercise their right to vote while minimizing their risks of exposure to COVID-19.

By Aimee Knight

Many Texans are using telemedicine for the first time. The pandemic has underscored disparities in access to health care and broadband internet.

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.

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.”