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Consider discussing your family’s health history over Thanksgiving

Posted at 1:06 PM, Nov 25, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-25 17:12:59-05

Something you may not think about discussing over your Thanksgiving meal on Thursday are the health conditions in your family.

“I think it's particularly important this year in the COVID landscape ,because the last thing we want are additional conditions for a person to face if they're already at exposure for COVID,” said John Schall, CEO of the Caregiver Action Network.

Thanksgiving is also National Family Health History Day.

Schall says it's extremely common that people don't know the details of their family history when it comes to certain conditions. That could be everything from high blood pressure to heart issues.

It's not an easy conversation to have, but the holiday, especially if it's happening over Zoom this year, can make the topic easier to bring up.

“When you make it clear that it's really in everybody's best interest that we know what diseases that the aunts and uncles and grandparents and everybody faced is really to everybody's benefit, then maybe it's a little easier to have the conversation,” said Schall.

Typically, Thanksgiving is also a time you can check in on family members you haven't see in person for several months.

If those in-person visits aren't happening because of COVID-19, the Caregiver Action Network says you want to make sure you're asking questions over a video chat that you'd normally be able to observe in person.

That includes things like making sure your family member doesn't have bills pilling up, or there aren't rugs or other hazards in their home that could cause them to fall.