Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program Counselor Tammy Findlay (Crawford County Council on Aging) describes a phone call Scam that the caller wants to verify her Medicare card number.
Brooke Mainville walks us through the MANY Evidence Based Disease Prevention Programs available for free to participants (some virtual; some in person): Diabetes PATH, Chronic Pain PATH, PATH, and A Matter of Balance.
Brooke and Kitty give the May Calendar of Events update and including Brooke's class schedules, the Region 9 Public Input Sessions and the May New to Medicare presentation ,
Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program Counselor Tammy Findlay (Crawford County Council on Aging) describes a phone call Scam that the caller wants to verify her Medicare card number.
Brooke Mainville walks us through the MANY Evidence Based Disease Prevention Programs available for free to participants (some virtual; some in person): Diabetes PATH, Chronic Pain PATH, PATH, and A Matter of Balance.
Brooke and Kitty give the May Calendar of Events update and including Brooke's class schedules, the Region 9 Public Input Sessions and the May New to Medicare presentation ,
Welcome to Let's Talk About Aging. This is Kitty Glomski and my cohost Brooke Mainville bringing you the next episode of Let's Talk About Aging and a Scam Alert. With me today is Tammy Findlay from Grayling, which is Crawford County Commission On Aging. Tammy, you and I have been talking about a situation. Do you want to describe it for us?
Tammy:I received a phone call and usually scams come up on my phone, people, I don't know, but this one came up as Armada Schools and I knew the assistant superintendent at Armada School District and I thought it was a him reaching out to me.
Kitty:This was on your own telephone?
Tammy:On my cell phone, yes.
Kitty:Anybody in your area could receive this as well.
Tammy:Exactly. So I picked up the phone and it was a foreign woman that asked me if I got my new to Medicare card in the mail yet and I said, I'm sorry, what did you say? And she said did you get your new to Medicare card in the mail? We just want to confirm the numbers. I said, I am not 65 years old. I do not receive Medicare. You are a scammer and a thief, and then I hung up on her. I reached out to Armada Schools and had conversation with the assistant superintendent. I let his school district know about this. It's not very common that scams are using school districts or school phone numbers or to have it appear on your cell phone. That's the first time I've ever seen that type of scam. Then I reported it so you would be aware of a scam that was out there.
Kitty:Ours also gets reported right through the network to Medicare as well. Some of this, because it involves a school district though you can report that also to the local police department and that way they can be aware. I know that several radio stations will sometimes also take the information, but It's important to just be aware. Tammy, if this were one of our beneficiaries that received the phone call, what do you recommend them to do?
Tammy:Report it to their police department in their community, and also to report it to their Commission on Aging so they can network it to the Regional Coordinator.
Kitty:To do that, we have our own hotline for scams, and that is 1 800-803-7174. Again, 1 800-803-7174 and that's the line that you can report. In Crawford county, that goes to Tammy. We have a lot of beneficiaries that are pretty vulnerable. What kind of recommendations would you make for them?
Tammy:One of the top things I would say to them I would say first stop. If they don't know who's phoning them, then I would not pick up the phone and let it go to their voicemail. I say to them all the time, when we're in conversation, if you don't know who's calling, you do not pick up that phone.
Kitty:Good advice. Thank you Tammy, and come back again. If you have any more scams, we want to hear about them.
Tammy:All right, thank you for having me.
Kitty:Brooke, I understand that this session is covering all of the Evidence Based Disease Prevention programs. And, there's a lot of them isn't there?
Brooke:There is a lot of them, and I'm really excited because they're a big portion of what I do for Region 9.
Kitty:What do you have upcoming?
Brooke:We have some virtual Creating Competent Caregivers and Powerful Tools, but I'll talk more about those in the upcoming Caregiver Resource podcasts.
Kitty:What's the first program that you're going to describe for us?
Brooke:It's called A Matter of Balance. It is an eight week, two-hour workshop for older adults that are concerned about falling, or maybe have fallen in the past, or want to improve on their flexibility, balance or strength.
Kitty:And who should attend?
Brooke:Any older adult, anyone concerned with falling or have fallen, or have restricted their behaviors due to the fear of falling or that wants to improve their flexibility, balance and strength. The nice thing is all the workshops are actually free for participants.
Kitty:What can the participants gain from attending this workshop?
Brooke:They can view falls as controllable. A lot of older adults think that falling is a normal part of aging. It really isn't. We set goals to increase their activity. We look at how they can change their environment around their home to reduce the risk of falls. And then also we spend a good portion of doing exercises as a group.
Kitty:If they've been tripping in their home over a rug, it might be a good idea to move the rug or get rid of it.
Brooke:Right. That's all the things we talk about. We go from room to room, think about different fall hazards that they could have. And then, we also talk to them about being assertive versus being aggressive, how to communicate better with their healthcare providers or their family members. So It's a great workshop. We have eight sessions for two hours.
Kitty:I understand that you're also teaching certain exercises to build strength for walking.
Brooke:They have the option of doing it standing or sitting depending on what they feel comfortable doing. It's led by two leaders. We have one leader that will do it sitting and we have the other leader doing it standing, and we've had participants in the past who have done it via wheelchair. It is a workshop really for anyone.
Kitty:From personal experience, I know that this is a very valuable workshop and, the benefits really are wonderful.
Brooke:I have a couple quotes here from different past participants one said after completing Matter of Balance, I'm getting in and out of bed easier. And another one said, they became more diligent in completing their exercises, taking their time and being more aware of their surrounding environment.
Kitty:I encourage anybody who is having mobility challenges or has experienced a fall this is the program for you and, it's easy to get in touch with Brooke. How do they register for this class?
Brooke:All the classes they can register by calling me at 989-358-4616.
Kitty:Brooke, what's the next program that you're going to discuss?
Brooke:The next program is Chronic Pain Path. It's offered for someone that has primary or secondary diagnosis of chronic pain. Chronic pain is pain that lasts longer than three to six months. An example might be neck, shoulder pain, strain; all those kinds of things. They can attend this workshop and we don't change their diagnosis from their doctor, but also just add onto it, of techniques of how they can problem-solve when they get fatigued or frustrated or isolated or have poor sleep. Then we also talk about the benefits of incorporating exercise. We talk about medication, but we don't prescribe medication.
Kitty:In the MMAP program, I've talked to lots of older adults that have weather pain. In other words, we have a weather front coming in and their knee aches, so it gives them some mobility challenges. You talk about how to cope with that, right?
Brooke:Yes. And, We have a virtual option taking place August 26 from 1:00 to 3:00. If you're interested in that, feel free to give me a call and the nice thing that a lot of the participants like is that we do action plans at the end. So you fill out a form saying, what do you want to achieve in the next week, and then you come back the following week and present on it. The group holds you accountable. So that's one thing that participants do like about the workshop
Kitty:Accountability, always important. What's the next program?
Brooke:It's Diabetes PATH. It's a six week workshop designed for older adults that have type two diabetes, or if you're a caregiver or someone with diabetes, you're more than welcome to take this workshop. Diabetes PATH will help you learn techniques to change, take charge of your diabetes, and better communicate with your care team, and do action plans.
Kitty:This is in addition to working with your primary care provider, but it gives you some helpful tips and ways to cope.
Brooke:We talk about what to do on sick days, about proper foot care, and My Plate all of these things we discuss during that six-week workshop. The last one that I have for you is the PATH program and PATH means Personal Action Towards Health. It empowers people to take an active role in managing their chronic or long-term health conditions. This one is six weeks and is for anyone with a chronic condition, such as arthritis, heart disease, depression can benefit from taking this workshop.
Kitty:The acronym PATH, P-A-T-H is actually a coping class, dealing with health and how to be accountable and managing your condition, whatever that is. I noticed that you have two other PATH classes: the Diabetes PATH and the Chronic Pain PATH, and then the stand-alone PATH class is for just about anything else.
Brooke:All these programs: Matter of Balance, Chronic Pain, Diabetes Path and Path, as well as Creating Competent Caregivers and Powerful Tools are all evidence-based disease prevention programs. That means they've been studied and proven to work. It's not just something put together, it's actually been studied by different agencies, and are actually done all across the US and even around the world. I saw at one point that Stanford University had created some of the programs. Stanford University did the PATH programs and Maine Health did the Matter of Balance program. There are different facilitators of these programs.
Kitty:Anyone that participates is getting the benefit of a lot of study and something, especially for older adults.
Brooke:They will look at it and update the program so it stays relevant and current.
Kitty:Brooke, you want to give your contact information so that anyone that wants to participate or ask questions about the programs can reach you.
Brooke:You can contact me for more information at 989-358-4616 or go to our website and Facebook page for more information.
Kitty:There's lots of programs listed there. I highly recommend that you visit the Facebook and you want to give that address.
Brooke:If you search it's N E M C S A/Region 9 Area Agency on Aging.
Kitty:This is Kitty Glomski and my cohost Brooke Mainville and our calendar of events and what's happening throughout Region 9. Brooke, you have some happenings don't you?
Brooke:May's a little busier than April was. We have a virtual Powerful Tools for Caregivers starting May 3rd, going to June 7th from 5:30 to 7:00, and we have a Virtual Creating Confident Caregivers starting May 5th through June 9th from 10:00 to noon. We have our two webinars series. We have the Caregiver Webinar series the topic is Understanding Hospice and Palliative Care from 1:00 to 2:00 on May 13th. We also have our Healthy Living Webinar series, which is starting on May 20th, the topic is Living with Diabetes from 1:00 to 2:00. Through Region 9 Area Agency on Aging, we have our input sessions. One will take place on May 18th at the Arenac Sunrise Side Senior Services Center from 1:00 to 3:00, and our other public hearing is May 23rd at our NEMCSA Region 9 building from 1:00 to 3:00. The address is 2569 US 23 South, Alpena, Michigan.
Kitty:For people that aren't aware, the public input sessions this is a planning tool, isn't it Brooke?
Brooke:Yes. We take their ideas of what services would be useful in the local community.
Kitty:This helps the Area Agency on Aging plan for those services that will be offered for the next year. It's a really important meeting, isn't it?
Brooke:Also, if they can't attend, I think they can write public comments as well. Is that correct Kitty?
Kitty:Yes and you can send your public comment to that same address into the AAA and have your comments part of the plan.
Brooke:The address is 2569 US 23 South, Alpena, Michigan.
Kitty:I have one more date to add, unless you have others.
Brooke:No, that's all I have are two evidence-based workshops and two webinars series and our two input sessions. So it's a busy month in May.
Kitty:For the Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program, we have our monthly New to Medicare Presentation on Wednesday, May 11th from 10 to 11 o'clock. If you're new to Medicare, starting Medicare, if you've been working and are going to transition from employer insurance into Medicare, or if you're disabled and starting Medicare this is the webinar for you. This is where you're going to find out what your options are. So call us at 1-800-803-7174. If you have a question about our program, if you have a topic you'd like to know more about, or if you know about an active scam in your area, Call us at+1 800-803-7174. This is Kitty Glomski
Brooke:and Brooke Mainville saying thank you for joining us,
Kitty:and asking you to join us next time on Let's Talk About Aging.
Carla:Podcast music provided by Groove Music, selection titled"Modern Logo," created by Vadym Kuznietsov and can be found at https://elements.envato.com/modern-logo-ZVHFBJ6