Well, friends, we know Thanksgiving won’t look like holiday celebrations in the past. You’ve already made the hard decisions and the tough calls, and even though it hurts, you did the right thing.

Have you made your virtual gathering plans yet?

Sure, we’re all tired of social distancing. This is not the world any of us intended to be living in. But to stay safe, we need to keep that social distancing thing going at least a little longer — especially for our vulnerable senior loved ones.

For years now, long distance caregiving has been a growing trend as more and more seniors choose to retain their independent lives while adult family members move away in pursuit of careers and relationships. But in the age of COVID-19, even around the corner can mean long distance. Here’s what you need to know.

You may know Cherae Slack, R.N., as one of our nurse liaisons, but with COVID-19 threatening our senior friends and loved ones, we immediately designated Cherae as our COVID-19 Coordinator. In this role, she supports staff and families, ensures proper protocol, and stays up-to-the-minute on local, state, national, and regulatory recommendations and mandates.

The current COVID-19 crisis is a rapidly changing situation, and we encourage you to check the links below for up-to-date information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association

Our older relatives, friends and neighbors have been most at risk during the COVID-19 crisis. That risk continues for them, even as states around the country — including our own Texas — begin to reopen. As some of us reclaim more normal lives, our elderly loved ones are still facing both a viral pandemic and a very real pandemic of isolation and loneliness. Let us take this month to recommit to reaching out and to providing companionship and connection in any way possible.

Let’s give a hand to the occupational therapists who work hard to make the lives of our senior loved ones more comfortable and fulfilling. If you are a senior caregiver, you know the valuable services that occupational therapists provide — from training in basic mobility to help with domestic tasks, self-care routines and important communication, recreational and social skills.

Our senior friends and family members have always been most at risk to suffer neurological symptoms from Parkinson’s Disease. Now they are also most at risk for serious complications from COVID-19 viral infections.

We know why you are here, reading this. We know that caring for an aging parent or loved one has placed you under tremendous stress during the current COVID-19 crisis. We know that you worry about caring for high-risk elderly family members, and that you obsess over the conflicting need to keep them physically separated from the rest of your family.

It is hard to remember that just a few weeks ago the major concerns we had with grocery shopping for our senior loved ones related to healthy dietary choices and mobility.

Those issues are still concerns, of course, but we have new issues now in irregular store hours, worries about daily restocking of basic products and the recommendation that we keep shopping trips and social interaction in stores to a minimum. Getting a handle on healthy eating for older adults is still essential — and we’ve included a link to a downloadable document that offers dietary and nutritional guidelines from the National Institute on Aging — but it’s also important to have a plan for safely and reliably fulfilling those dietary needs before heading out the door.

We want to assure you that Overture employees are designated as essential home health care service providers.

Living with diabetes can be tough, but caring for an elderly parent or loved one struggling with the diagnosis can be just as tough. Type 2 Diabetes, the most common form of the disease among aging adults, responds well to careful management. But that management involves lifestyle and diet changes, and such changes can be hard to accept for seniors already reeling from a discouraging diagnosis.

In response to the coronavirus disease pandemic, we are now purposefully distancing seniors from their friends, family and others meaningful to them in order to keep them safe. This is an important health measure for our vulnerable senior population, and we stand behind it 100%.

But we are also concerned about the effects such physical isolation may have on our older loved ones. According to the National Institute on Aging (a division of the National Institutes of Health) research has linked social isolation to higher risks for a variety of physical and mental conditions. These conditions include obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. They also include a weakened immune system — exactly the opposite of what our seniors need to protect themselves in the current crisis.

During this confusing and stressful time, we are here to help.

White House instructions and guidelines on slowing coronavirus (COVID-19).

We are paying incredibly close attention to the CDC’s recommendations regarding COVID-19, particularly as their information relates to healthcare professionals. Here are the instructions we’re using to train our employees and caregivers.

Since you’re on this website, you’re likely responsible for a senior relative or friend, and this is an especially stressful time to be caring for a vulnerable loved one. We will continue to share helpful information, and we remain steadfastly devoted to the health and well-being of our clients and employees, now so more than ever.

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads, Overture Home Care continues to care for the most vulnerable population - the elderly with underlying health issues. The unique nature of home care means that seniors can remain in the safest place for them: their homes.