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Medicare Column for November: Get a flu shot

Get a flu shot - not the flu

 

By David Sayen

Now is the time to protect yourself against the flu by getting your flu vaccine early, before flu season hits full force. Medicare covers the flu vaccination, along with many other preventive-health services.

 

People with Medicare can get the flu shot at no cost to them. There’s no coinsurance, copayment, or deductible.

 

Keep in mind that the flu shot helps prevent the flu; it doesn’t give you the flu. Getting the vaccine is the best way to avoid getting sick this flu season. Also, by protecting yourself, you’re protecting those you care about from getting the flu from you.

 

Who should get a flu shot? All adults, especially those 65 and older. People under 65 should get vaccinated if they have chronic illness, including heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, or End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure).

 

Here are some tips to follow during flu season:

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze – and throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. If you don’t have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve or elbow, not your hands.

• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners also work.

• Don’t touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs spread this way.

 

• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

 

• Stay home if you’re sick. Wait at least 24 hours after you no longer have a fever (100° Fahrenheit or 37.8° Celsius) or signs of a fever without using a fever-reducing medicine.

 

In addition to flu shots, Medicare also covers vaccinations for pneumonia and hepatitis B (if you’re at medium to high risk for hepatitis B.)

 

And while we’re on the subject, don’t overlook other Medicare-covered preventive services such as cancer screenings (mammogram, colorectal, prostate) and cardiovascular screenings.

 

Each of these services is critical to your overall health and can help you prevent diseases or detect them early, when treatment works best. Check with your doctor or other healthcare provider to see if you might need other vaccines, in addition to the flu vaccine.

For more information, visit www.medicare.gov/share-the-health or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048. You can also visit www.flu.gov for specific information about the flu. More information is available at www.healthcare.gov.

 

(If you have or know of a child 6 months or older that qualifies for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the child may qualify for a flu vaccination at no cost. Check with your state Medicaid office.)

 

FRIENDLY REMINDER: Medicare’s annual open enrollment period ends Dec. 7. If you want to sign up for, or switch, a Medicare Advantage health plan or Medicare prescription drug plan, this is the time to do it.

 

Plans can change their costs and benefits from year to year, so be sure to review your coverage and make sure it still works for you. Medicare has these resources to help you:

• Visit www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan to compare your current coverage with all of the options that are available in your area, and enroll in a new plan if you decide to make a change.

• Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to find out more about your coverage options. TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048.

• Review the ‘Medicare & You 2013’ handbook. It is mailed to people with Medicare in September.

• Get free, personalized help from a counselor from your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). Visit www.medicare.gov/contacts or call 1-800-MEDICARE to get the phone number for your state. Counseling is available over the phone or in person.

David Sayen is Medicare’s regional administrator for Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada. You can always get answers to your Medicare questions by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).

Payson Police Reports for the week of November 5 - November 11, 2012

Payson Police Reports for the week of November 5, 2012 - November 11, 2012 are now available on the Police Reports Page.

Prescribed burns this week for Payson area

Prescribed fire operations planned for

Payson area next Tuesday

Operations planned for piles along Colcord Rd., Pine, Pine-Perley and Blattner pits

Payson, Ariz. (November 8, 2012) – Payson Ranger District fire specialists plan to eliminate accumulated vegetative material in the Pine, Pine-Perley, and the Blattner pits on Tuesday, November 13, 2012. Visitors near these areas may see and smell moderate amounts of smoke for the duration of the day.

About 20 acres of vegetative debris piles will also be burned along Colcord Road beginning Wednesday, November 14. Residents and visitors to the Colcord Estates area can expect to see and smell moderate amounts of smoke during the day during prescribed fire treatment. Diurnal air flow will move residual smoke down Colcord Canyon in the evening hours.

            When fire operations begin, signs will be posted along roads that are likely to be affected by smoke. Motorists are urged to use caution while driving through these areas and to slow down for the safety of firefighters and the public.

            Prescribed fire treatments are always dependent on optimal weather conditions before ignitions begin, such as fuel moisture content, wind speed and direction, relative humidity, temperature, and other variables.

            For information about prescribed fire and mechanical fuels reduction operations, please call the Payson Ranger District at 928-474-7900.  Residents can also stay updated on forest prescribed fires at www.fs.usda.gov/tonto.  To report a wildland fire, the fire emergency number is 480-457-1555, or 866-746-6516.

Payson begins process of revising General Plan

The Town of Payson is beginning the process of revising their General Plan.  As residents, neighbors, and partners in land management I encourage everyone to take a couple of minutes to complete a survey that will gauge general interest and concerns regarding this planning effort.

If you know of others who may want to give their input to the Payson General Plan process please forward this link:
http://www.paysonaz.gov/index.html

The survey is 17 questions and takes only about 2 minutes to complete.  I believe this survey only will be available for the first couple of weeks of November.

Movie Reviewer Andy McKinney gives "Looper" 4 Sawblades

Looper

 

Andy says, "Four saw blades for this innovative, imaginative, important and ultimately wise film.  Producer and star Joseph Gordon-Levitt is re-united with writer/director Rian Johnson.  They worked together in another Rian Johnson writer/director project, the clever and very well done inde flick Brick in 2006.  Gordon-Levitt was young enough then to play a high school student in a film noir crime movie set in a modern day California high school.  It was brilliant, as is Looper."

For more of Andy's comments on Looper and Argo, now showing at the Sawmill Theatre in Payson, go to the Payson Daily Bugle's Movie Review Page.

Big Canyon Fire contained

Big Canyon Fire on Tonto National Forest Contained

2 miles west of Tonto Fish Hatchery, 14 miles east of Payson, Ariz., Oct. 23, 2012, 0930 hrs.

Fire Facts

Incident Commander: Rich Harnden
Date reported: Oct. 14, 1030 hrs.	Number of personnel: 0
Location: 34,22.686 x 111,8.238 (Big Canyon area)	Resources committed:
Cause: Lightning
Size: 110 acres	Cost:  $730,000
Containment:  100%
Terrain: Rough and inaccessible terrain (except on foot and by air)
Fuels: Timber grass understory, dead and down, logging slash, chaparral

Summary: 

                 The Big Canyon fire was reported Sunday, October 14, at approximately 10:30 am.

                 The lightning-caused fire is burning 2 miles west of the Tonto Fish Hatchery in the Big Canyon area near the Highline Trail, approximately 14 miles east of Payson, Arizona, in a rough and remote section of the Tonto National Forest, accessible only by air and on foot.

                 The Big Canyon fire has been declared fully contained and remaining personnel have been released. 

                 For more information, please contact the Tonto National Forest at (602) 225-5200, or check online at www.fs.usda.gov/tonto     

Wildfire in Big Canyon area east of Payson at 100 acres

Tonto National Forest

NEWS UPDATE       

                                               

Tonto National Forest, 2324 East McDowell Road, Phoenix, Arizona 85006    www.fs.usda.gov/tonto                                                                                  

For Immediate Release                                                         Contact: Fire Information Officer

October 14, 2012, 1600 hrs.                                                                  

                                                                                                              Website: www.inciweb.org

Big Canyon Fire on Tonto National Forest

2 miles west of Tonto Fish Hatchery, 14 miles east of Payson, Ariz., Oct. 14, 2012, 1600 hrs.

Fire Facts

Incident Commander:
Date reported: Oct. 14, 1030 hrs.	Number of personnel:
Location: 34,22.686 x 111,8.238 (Big Canyon area)	Resources committed: Personnel from engine crews Resources ordered: -         Type 3 incident management team, report 0700 hrs. tomorrow -         3 Hot Shot crews -         1 Type 1 helicopter -         1 Type 3 helicopter
Cause: Under investigation	Aircraft (current) 1 Air attack plane
Size: 80-100 acres
Terrain: Rough and inaccessible
Fuels:

Summary: 

                 The Big Canyon fire was reported today, Sunday, October 14, at approximately 10:30 am.  It is burning 2 miles west of the Tonto Fish Hatchery in the Big Canyon area near the Highline Trail, approximately 14 miles east of Payson, Arizona, in a rough and remote section of the Tonto National Forest.

                 Personnel and air attack are on scene.  More resources are being ordered.

                 For more information, please contact the Tonto National Forest at (602) 225-5200, or check online at www.fs.usda.gov/tonto