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How To Know If A Call From A Contact Tracer Is Real

Question: How do I know that the call I received from a contact tracer stating that I may have been in contact with someone who tested positive to COVID is real and what is my next step? Answer: Contact tracing has been a tool utilized by organizations and governments for many years. Situations like food poisoning, sexually transmitted diseases, and respiratory diseases (like COVID-19) all use contact tracing to help isolate and inform those individuals who may be in danger of getting sick and spreading the disease. During this situation we have found it difficult to determine what ...

How To Dispose Of Medications You No Longer Take Or Use

Question: How do I get rid of the medications I no longer take? Answer: Usually medications and how to obtain them and costs are discussed, but this is the other side of the medication discussion. Do not flush your unused medications down the toilet. Those medications are toxic to our water table and the surrounding environment. The unused may be medication we no longer take, medication that has expired, medications not needed due to a death or moving into a nursing home as the facilities can't accept the medications we have already purchased. There are all types of reasons these ...

What Do You Need?

There is so much going on in the world and it is difficult to know what is available and what is not. Ads on TV, FaceBook and word of mouth can sometimes mislead people when looking for help. Sometimes you need a trusted source to help you navigate to what you need right then and there! Chautauqua NY Connects is here for just that purpose. We are here to help you find information and assistance in finding care in your community. Finding services and programs that help people in the community manage daily needs is what we do. It is easy to access, you can call, e-mail, or do your own ...

Changes For OFA Health Insurance Counseling Appointments

So for most of you, Medicare’s Annual Open Enrollment is still looking like it’s far away. Due to COVID-19, the Office for Aging’s Health Insurance, Information and Assistance program (HIICAP) is looking at Open Enrollment now and planning for how we should assist our clients from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, 2020. Time seems to fly by so quickly and the need for health insurance counseling continues to be in big demand each year. This year’s counseling process will be a little bit different. Our HIICAP counselors will be providing counseling via telephone only. In order for the ...

Stay Safe As We Continue To Take COVID Precautions

We hope everyone is staying safe as we continue to take precautions to protect ourselves and our loved ones from COVID-19. As you know, until there is a vaccine available and it can be widely distributed, we need to limit our circles of contact to protect the most vulnerable, people over 65 and those of any age with underlying health conditions. In August, most of Chautauqua County services that were shut down are back up and running but with new procedures to ensure you and the employees are as safe as possible. Like the Office for Aging, many departments continue to do as much as ...

Live Well With Diabetes

Diabetes is a serious condition that, if not controlled, can cause health problems such as heart disease, nerve damage, eye problems, kidney damage, and teeth and gum damage. Controlling diabetes is a lot of work – you have to work to maintain your weight, increase physical activity, make healthy food choices, and take your medicines even when you feel good. While diabetes cannot be cured, it can be controlled so the complications of diabetes can be delayed or prevented. It is not easy, but definitely worth it! Blood sugar monitoring is the only way to know how well your diabetes ...