Tips for Getting a Good Night's Sleep

A good night's sleep can make a big difference in how a person feels during the day. Here are some suggestions to help seniors sleep:

· Follow a regular schedule. Go to sleep and wake up at the same time, even on weekends. Sticking to a regular bedtime and wake time schedule helps keep you in sync with your body's circadian clock, a 24-hour internal rhythm affected by sunlight.

· Try not to nap too much during the day -- you might be less sleepy at night.

· Try to exercise at regular times each day. Exercising regularly improves the quality of your nighttime sleep and helps you sleep more soundly. Try to finish your workout at least three hours   before bedtime.

· Try to get some natural light in the afternoon each day.

· Be careful about what you eat. Don't drink beverages with caffeine late in the day. Caffeine is a stimulant and can keep you awake. Also, if you like a snack before bed, a warm beverage and a few crackers may help.

· Don't drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes to help you sleep. Even small amounts of alcohol can make it harder to stay asleep. Smoking is dangerous for many reasons, including the hazard of falling asleep with a lit cigarette. Also, the nicotine in cigarettes is a stimulant.

· Create a safe and comfortable place to sleep. Make sure there are locks on all doors and smoke alarms on each floor. A lamp that's easy to turn on and a phone by your bed may be helpful. The room should be dark, well ventilated, and as quiet as possible.

· Develop a bedtime routine. Do the same things each night to tell your body that it's time to wind down. Some people watch the evening news, read a book, or soak in a warm bath.

· Use your bedroom only for sleeping. After turning off the light, give yourself about 15 minutes to fall asleep. If you are still awake and not drowsy, get out of bed. When you get sleepy, go back to bed.

· Try not to worry about your sleep. Some people find that playing mental games is helpful. For example, think black -- a black cat on a black velvet pillow on a black corduroy sofa, etc. Or, tell yourself it's five minutes before you have to get up and you're just trying to get a few extra winks.

· If you are so tired during the day that you cannot function normally and if this lasts for more than 2 to 3 weeks, you should see your family doctor or a sleep disorders specialist.

ACA OPEN ENROLLMENT BEGINS FOR 2018

You can enroll in or change 2018 Marketplace health insurance right now. The 2018 Open Enrollment Period runs from November 1, 2017 to December 15, 2017.

IMPORTANT: 2018 Open Enrollment is shorter than in previous years

It's important to act quickly. If you don't act by December 15, you can't get 2018 coverage unless you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period. Plans sold during Open Enrollment start January 1, 2018.

·         November 1, 2017: Open Enrollment started — first day to enroll, re-enroll, or change a 2018 insurance plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace

·         December 15, 2017: Last day to enroll in or change plans for 2018 coverage. After this date, you can enroll or change plans only if you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period.

·         January 1, 2018: 2018 coverage starts, if premium paid

To seek help in enrollment for 2018 Marketplace health insurance use one of the links below.

www.healthcare.gov

findlocalhelp.covermissouri.org

www.coverks.org

myarinsurance.com

www.ma4web.org

The Definition Of Palliative Care Vs. Hospice Care.

People often confuse hospice vs. palliative care. In fact, hospice care includes palliative care within it. However, the two can be separated as different services.  An agency in the Kansas City area provided this definition.

Hospice care focuses on a person’s last six months of life of less. When curative treatment is no longer an option, hospice professionals work to make the patient’s life as comfortable as possible. This means that hospice care includes palliative care, because the goal is to make the patient as comfortable as possible for the time that’s left.

Unlike hospice, palliative care can be performed for non-terminal patients. It is in fact to help people live longer, happier lives.  Palliative care is included within hospice care to keep hospice patients comfortable. However, for non-terminal patients, palliative care is about managing the symptoms and side-effects of life-limiting and chronic illness. Therefore, you can receive palliative care at the same time you receive treatment meant to cure your illness.

Consider illnesses like heart disease, HIV/AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, the side-effects of chemotherapy. Palliative care, also performed in a patient’s preferred location, looks to make these conditions as manageable as possible so they don’t interfere with the patients’ lives.  Someone can receive palliative care at any stage of an illness, whereas hospice care is only appropriate at an end-of-life stage.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

On average, 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the U.S., according to The National Domestic Violence Hotline. That’s more than 12 million women and men a year—roughly the entire population of Pennsylvania.

Sexual assault and physical violence victims reach across a broad spectrum of individuals.  We tend to think of women but men may be victims too.  Older adults, persons with disabilities and children may be mistreated by care givers or family members. 

Another form of domestic violence is stalking, a pattern of repeated and unwanted attention, harassment, contact, or any other course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. One in six women and one in 19 men have been stalked during their lifetime.

According to the Stalking Resource Center, National Center for Victims of Crime, stalking can include:

•        Repeated, unwanted, intrusive, and frightening communications from the perpetrator by phone, mail, and/or email.

•             Repeatedly leaving or sending victim unwanted items, presents, or flowers.

•             Following or laying in wait for the victim at places such as home, school, work, or recreation place.

•             Making direct or indirect threats to harm the victim, the victim's children, relatives, friends, or pets.

•             Damaging or threatening to damage the victim's property.

•             Harassing victim through the internet.

•             Posting information or spreading rumors about the victim on the internet, in a public place, or by word of mouth.

•             Obtaining personal information about the victim by accessing public records, using internet search services, hiring private investigators, going through the victim's garbage, following the victim, contacting victim's friends, family work, or neighbors.

2017 MAK-AIRS Regional Conference

Networking

LGBTQ101 - Diversity Training

Budget Project

Human Trafficking

Pension Project

Nutrition for Lifelong Health

NAMI - In Our Own Voice

The 2017 MAK-AIRS Regional Conference was a great success! Check back for future posts with more pictures and information on the insightful presentations.

MAK-AIRS Regional Conference

"With New Eyes" 

 August 24 & 25, 2017 is your opportunity to attend MAK-AIRS (Missouri-Arkansas-Kansas AIRS Affiliate) educational conference for Information & Referral/Assistance providers. The regional conference is being held in Branson, MO this year and is full of interesting and relevant topics across the spectrum of I&R/A interest. MAK-AIRS makes it a priority to offer affordable conferences to support education & training for its member and the community alike. This year’s conference will include sessions on:

• Human Trafficking
• Diversity - LGBT 101
• Nutrition for Lifelong Health
• NAMI - In Our Own Words
• Budget Project
• Plus more

You’re invited to join us and take advantage of this affordable & educational conference that is taking place in one of the Midwest’s best known vacation hot-spots. So not only will the conference be a great educational & networking offering, you’ll have the option of exploring Branson MO too.                     

Get registered now, as space is limited.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Register Now

http://www.agingmatters2u.com/MAK-AIRS.aspx

Missouri Rx Changes Effective July 1, 2017.

Missouri Rx has been reauthorized by legislature for another 5 years until August, 28, 2022. This reauthorization has come at a cost. Eligibility for MO Rx has been decreased to only those that have Medicaid dual eligibility. Those that still qualify for MO Rx benefits are Medicare Part D plan or Advantage plan enrollees with:

• Full Medicaid (MO HealthNet) Benefits
• A Medicare Saving Program – QMB, SLMB and QI-1 (SLMB Group 2)

Those with an open Missouri Spend Down Case :

1. If they have met or paid in their spend down– MO Rx will pay 50% of the co-pays $3.30 – generics and $8.25 – name brand medications
2. If a person has not met or paid in the spenddown amount, Missouri Rx will pay up to $4.13 per prescription.

Missouri Rx coverage will no longer provide benefits for those with:

• Medicare with Extra Help from SSA or Low Income Subsidy.
• Medicare Part D or Advantage coverage only

This group includes about 64,000 enrollees currently. This will be the group that is hit the hardest by this new set of rules. MO Rx has been paying 50% of their cost sharing on all covered medications until now.

The loss of eligibility for the State Pharmacy Assistance Program does quality a person for a Special Enrollment Period to join or switch to another Medicare Part D plan or Medicare Advantage Plan with drug coverage. The SEP starts the month you lose the SPAP (MORx) because you are no longer eligible or are notified of the loss (whichever comes first) and continuing for two months after you are notified of the loss or lose the SPAP (whichever comes later). The new coverage would begin for first day of the month after you submit a completed application.

MoRx Reauthorized with changes:

 As of July 1^st , 2017 MoRx is  limiting the program to those who are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. About 60,000 Missourians will lose assistance.

However, had the program not been reauthorized, about 250,000 Missourians would have lost assistance.

Missouri Rx (MORX) is a State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program that works with Medicare Prescription drug coverage to help beneficiaries save money on prescription drugs. MoRx pays for 50% of the costs of all covered Medicare prescriptions. 

TAI CHI FOR ARTHRITIS FOR FALLS PREVENTION

Tai Chi originated from ancient China and is the oldest form of internal martial arts. It is now practiced throughout the world as an effective exercise for health of mind and body. Tai Chi is a graceful form of exercise using gentle movements, which are performed in a slow, focused manner combined with controlled breathing. Dr. Paul Lam created a specially designed Sun style Tai Chi program for people with arthritis. With its low impact movements, minimal stress on muscles and joints, and proven health benefits, Tai Chi is an effective exercise for older adults with arthritis and has been adapted by the Arthritis Foundation. 

Tai Chi is proven to help reduce the prevalence of falls among and is rated as the highest level evidence-based program for senior adults for health and wellness. Regular Tai Chi exercise has been proven to improve balance, increase leg strength, improve mobility, increase flexibility, reduce stress, improve posture and reduce the fear of falling.

To learn more about Tai Chi for Arthritis or to find out how you can become a certified Tai Chi instructor, please visit www.taichiforhealth.com for more information. You can find upcoming Master Trainer workshops and certified leaders in your area.

Missouri Air Guard leads medical training event for southeast Missouri community

By: Lt. Sean Navarro
mo.ngpao@mail.mil
Published: 3/14/2017
 

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Air National Guard’s 131st Bomb Wing will lead Operation Healthy Delta 2017, a medical Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) exercise where around 5,000 citizens of southeast Missouri and the surrounding communities are expected to receive services at no-cost.

About 250 service members are expected to participate, including units from the Missouri Air National Guard, the New Jersey Air National Guard’s 108th Air Refueling Wing, the New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing and the Navy Reserve, and will partner with the Delta Regional Authority.

The medical focus of Operation Healthy Delta means that Bootheel region communities will be able to receive routine health exams, routine dental services (including dental extractions) and optometry services.

“We will have two clinic sites, one in Charleston and one in Caruthersville, that will provide services,” said Maj. James Miller from the 131st Medical Group and officer-in-charge for the operation. “This gives providers a chance to conduct valuable training that is essential to their medical and operational skills in field-like conditions.”

Because of the scale of the training, service members in other military jobs will be able to participate, including finance, logistics, public affairs, security, communications, services and transportation.

“We usually train using simulated situations,” said Miller. “This operation will help us apply our training from set-up to tear-down, while providing services to real people in our community.”

The IRT program provides high quality training opportunities for active, Guard and Reserve service members while helping to meet the country’s civil needs. Missions can focus on engineering and medical specialties.

For more information on the IRT program, visit http://irt.defense.gov/.

BRAIN INJURY AWARENESS MONTH MARCH 2017

March has been designated as Brain Injury Awareness Month.  More than 3.5 million children and adults sustain an acquired brain injury (ABI) each year, but the total incidence is unknown.  An ABI is any injury to the brain that is not hereditary, congenital, degenerative, or induced by birth trauma. Typical causes of ABI include: electric shock; infectious disease; lightning strike; near drowning; oxygen deprivation (Hypoxia/Anoxia); seizure disorders; stroke; substance abuse; toxic exposure; trauma and tumor.  For information please contact the toll-free Brain Injury Information Center at 1-800-444-6443. The e-mail address is braininjuryinfo@biausa.org

The American Brain Tumor Association was the first and is the only national advocacy organization committed to funding brain tumor research and providing education and information support for all tumor types and all age groups. Assistance includes support groups and organizations offering financial aid. For information please contact 1-800-886-2282 or email  abtacares@abtaorg

The National Brain Tumor Society provides information to the nearly 700,000 people in the United States living with a primary brain tumor. Brain tumors can be deadly, significantly impact quality of life, and change everything for a patient and their loved ones. They do not discriminate, inflicting men, women, and children of all races and ethnicities. 688,096 Americans are living with a brain tumor; 550,042 tumors are benign and 138,054 tumors are malignant. For information on treatment center options please contact http://www.braintumornetwork.org/and for clinical trials, www.braintumor.org

The Boot Campaign now offers a veteran assistance program – ReBOOT –providing a comprehensive, individualized, multi-disciplined approach to increasing mental and physical well-being for America’s military veterans. Whether combating traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress (PTS), depression or other transitional issues, ReBOOT tackles the root cause of the struggles affecting so many servicemen and women. The program brings together world class mental and physical treatment partners thorough diagnostic evaluations, so each veteran gets specific care needed to live a fulfilling life.

ReBOOT is an innovative pipeline to “reboot” and remove all financial barriers related to treatment and conditioning for overall mental and physical health and well-being for veterans. It is a multi-discipline approach to treating veterans with TBI and other combat-related issues. Because brain injuries are so complex and different for each person, a multi-directional approach is necessary. The program brings together the best TBI facilities in the country that offer a veteran-based treatment program and strategically aligns them with the veteran’s needs. The program begins with a pre-cognitive assessment so the candidate has a baseline to build on. The candidate will visit the appropriate center for valuable treatment and training protocols for their particular issues. Additionally, the candidates will have the opportunity to visit a high performance institute to balance out their nutrition and get their bodies back into physical shape. The last stop is to conduct a post-cognitive assessment in order to measure how far the candidate has come.

Donations in support of ReBOOT go to veteran grants for everything they need to regain positive mental health, including treatment at an innovative brain treatment center, travel costs, living expenses and lost income replacement. Approximately 22 percent of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom combat wounds are brain injuries, and Boot Campaign believes financial concerns should not be the barrier between a veteran and necessary treatment. For information please contact: http://www.bootcampaign.org/reboot/

Since 1987, the National Organization for Rare Disorders/NORD has provided assistance programs to help patients obtain life-saving or life-sustaining medication they could not otherwise afford. These programs provide medication, financial assistance with insurance premiums and co-pays, diagnostic testing assistance, and travel assistance for clinical trials or consultation with disease specialists. To apply for assistance you may call 1-800-999-6673. NORD’s Patient Services Representatives are available: Monday-Thursday: 9:00 a.m.- 7:00 p.m. EST and Friday: 9:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m. EST.

Some tips in anticipation of possible ice storms: