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Get The Best COVID-19 Information You Can

As we start to open up our senior centers and congregate meal sites, I am getting questions from older adults about how vaccines work. Can we mandate that everyone who comes into our building be vaccinated? And are we protected from the Delta variant of COVID-19? I will try to answer these questions in this article but realize that information is changing as time passes. Information is changing because we are learning more as millions of people have been vaccinated and as the virus changes. Your best source of information is our local county health department as it bases its ...

Milestone Moment

More 100 friends and family of Dr. Frederick Giddy gathered in May at Chautauqua Harbor Hotel in Celoron to celebrate a century of the amazing life of a well-known local man. Born in Bideford, England, in 1921, his family migrated here in 1924. His parents, four brothers and two sisters ...

LTCI Claims Require A Process

Question: My spouse and I have Long Term Care Insurance (LTCI), but we are not sure how to use it? Answer: This is the third and final answer to this question — filing a LTCI claim. LTCI insurance works by reimbursing you for care costs you have already paid. If you have help in the home, and you don’t pay the help money (maybe they are family) the LTCI will not pay any benefit. When you hire help in the home, the LTCI could potentially reimburse you for homecare costs. The caregiver completes LTCI paperwork explaining her qualifications and experience to become an approved ...

Senior Life Matters: How Is Long Term Care Insurance Used?

Question: My spouse and I have Long Term Care Insurance, but we are not sure how to use it? Answer: Long Term Care Insurance (LTCI) is an insurance product that is designed to help a person pay for the care he receives when they are sick. LTCI is not health insurance. It really is care Insurance. To qualify for coverage you must need help with your care. Generally the LTCI will begin to reimburse for care once help is needed with at least two activities of daily living (ADLs) more than half the time. The ADLs include six activities: walking, dressing, bathing, bathroom, eating, ...

Hope Springs Eternal

After the hard year of 2020, Spring 2021 seems like a bright, shining beacon of light! One can breathe a sigh of relief at being able to be done with the snow, the hard weather that has kept us indoors, and the struggles which we have faced this past year. So, here’s to Spring! To flowers, blue skies, gentle winds, and fresh starts. As easy as this sounds however, many still struggle to do just that-begin a fresh start and have hope for brighter days, for change that really helps. Self-Harm Awareness Month, also known as Self-Injury Awareness Month, is an annual global awareness ...

Finally Seeing The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

March 2021. It has been a difficult year for everyone but we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It has been especially difficult for older adults who have been on lockdown for a year, unable to interact with family or friends for fear of catching the virus. You have good reason to be afraid. COVID -19 has disproportionally killed more older adults than any other age group. 39,000 people have died in New York State from complications of COVID -19 and 138 of those are from right here in Chautauqua County. Close to 90% of those who died were over the age of 60. That is a ...