At Overture Home Care we’re honoring Father’s Day with our partner senior living communities by co-hosting such events as a whiskey tasting, a root beer float celebration, and a poker tournament. But we didn’t stop there. To honor every dad on Sunday, June 16, we’ve also combed local calendars and event listings and put together a lineup of DFW events and activities, tailored to a variety of interests and activity levels — ideal for enjoying that special day with your dad!

March 10–16 is Patient Safety Awareness Week. At Overture Home Care, we’re taking advantage of this week to shine a spotlight on safety awareness for independent older adults and the home care caregivers who help them maintain that independence, keeping them from becoming patients anytime soon.

During National High Blood Pressure Education Month this May, let’s all give thanks for the humble blood pressure cuff and the essential health care insights it provides!

According to a National Alliance for Caregiving / AARP study, about 34.2 million Americans just like you provide unpaid care to a senior adult every year. Some of those Americans have created organizations and non-profit groups dedicated to providing their peers with needed guidance, support and human connection.

There are some health awareness months that need revisiting year after year. Unfortunately, Breast Cancer Awareness Month is one of them.

In our last post on Breast Cancer Awareness Month we talked about the dizzying array of medications that can make organizing cancer care for the elderly a cause of anxiety not just for patients, but for their family caregivers as well.

We can’t think of a better time to celebrate National Grandparents Day than Healthy Aging Month, because family engagement — and connection to young people in particular — is one of the best tools we have to keep our older loved ones mentally, emotionally and physically sharp.

Along with cooler weather (fingers crossed) September brings one of the most important celebration months in our calendar: Healthy Aging Month.

One thing we all learned from the COVID-19 experience is that viruses mutate frequently and vaccinations need to be updated to remain effective against the new versions. This is true for the seasonal influenza virus as well, and it's why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have long recommended that everyone 6 months and older get an updated flu shot every year.

This summer has seen record-breaking heat waves across the U.S. and Europe, and it has felt like our own North Texas area has been at the center of it all.

For the last two years, we've used our July posts to focus on ways for seniors to stay mentally sharp and socially active despite pandemic-era social distancing requirements and restrictions.

June brings a second set of recognitions that are always in our thoughts as home care providers: Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month and the Longest Day fundraising event for the fight against Alzheimer's.

June is Men’s Health Month, and that means it’s time to get some difficult conversations started with your older male loved ones.

After a series of March and April fake-outs, real spring is finally here. But it won't last long, so don’t wait to plan fun outdoor activities. While you’re making those plans, consider a few special trips for your older or health-challenged loved ones as well. We all need to get outside to stretch a little and enjoy the sunshine. And with Mother’s Day on May 8 and National Senior Health and Fitness Day on May 25, what more encouragement do you need to plan outdoor events this month that the whole family can enjoy?

Remember back in December when we suggested that holiday visits were a good time to take a look around your older loved ones’ homes and talk to them about the support they might need to continue living independently? We mentioned a number of red flags to look for, but here’s something we didn’t mention: the need for deep cleaning and decluttering.

Most of us can benefit from a seasonal tidy-up. But for older people and people with health or mobility concerns, clean and clutter-free living spaces and walkways aren’t just a spring-time thing. They are essential to independent life.

To live independently — that’s a key goal for so many seniors. And losing that independence as we age is a major fear. But according to a 2012 AARP study, 57% of seniors over age 70 need help with daily tasks and no longer find it easy to live alone. For a senior who has confidently handled their own life for half a century, losing full independence can be a hard blow, and having to accept help with daily tasks can be depressing, frustrating and even frightening.

We know that you and your loved ones have heard all of these recommendations before. And we know that it is not easy to make lifestyle changes. But step-by-step, day-by-day, it can be done. And we want to help, so we’ve included a lot of links below with real information that you can use.

Here's a New Year's resolution we're going to add to our list, and hope that you do as well: visit your older loved ones, spend quality time in their bathrooms, and take careful note of anything that needs to be updated or added to improve their safety.

Consider the holiday visit a good time to have a look around for warning signs that you might have missed, and to sit down for a heart-to-heart talk about health concerns and care needs that your loved ones might not have wanted to burden you with.

It has been a weird couple of years, so let’s take a moment to review safe driving tips for older adults, to revisit some issues you might face when traveling with senior loved ones, and to consider ways that travel — and local rules in areas you may be traveling to — might have changed in the wake of COVID-19.