Pikeville KY YMCA announces "Silver Sneakers"

The Pikeville Area YMCA introduces the SilverSneakers Program. Founded in 1992, the SilverSneakers Fitness Program is the nation's leading exercise program designed exclusively for older adults and offers an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially-oriented programming that allows older adults to take greater control of their health.

The unique SilverSneakers program is now available at The Pikeville Area Family YMCA at no additional cost to eligible Medicare members with the HUMANA  & AARP Health insurance plans.

Humana Health Insurance from Charlie Pinson Kentucky Health Agent

SilverSneakers offers an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programming that allows older adults to take greater control of their health. This class includes work for all major and minor muscle groups addressing strength, flexibility, muscular endurance, balance, coordination, agility, speed and power. The class includes a warm-up and rhythmic range of movement, stretch, work and resistance tools, cool down, final stretch and relaxation segment. It is a total body conditioning class in which students use hand-held weights, elastic tubing with handles, a SilverSneakers play ball and a chair for standing and/or seated support.

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To enroll in the SilverSneakers Program, bring your health plan membership ID card and a photo ID to The Pikeville Area Family YMCA. There will be a Senior Advisor and other friendly staff to guide you through the process!
The SilverSneakers Classes are offered at the following times: Mondays: 9:30 am; Tuesdays: 8:45 am & 5:30 pm; Wednesdays: 8:45 am; Thursdays: 8:45 am & 5:30 pm; and Fridays at 9:30 am.

Any questions? Call the Pikeville YMCA at 433-9622 or visit the YMCA online at www.pikevilleymca.org.

Article Courtesy Pike County Chamber of Commerce

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Charlie Pinson is an independent Kentucky Health Insurance Agent representing several Kentucky insurance companies including Humana Health Insurance. Humana recently partnered with the Pike County Chamber of Commerce to offer group health insurance rates to Chamber members.

Kentucky Senior Citizens urged to get Shingles Vaccine

May 15, 2008 Contact: CDC Division of Media Relations

CDC Recommends Shingles Vaccine

People age 60 and older should be vaccinated against shingles, or herpes zoster, a condition often marked by debilitating chronic pain, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended today.

CDC recommends a single dose of the zoster vaccine, Zostavax, for adults 60 years of age and older even if they have had a prior episode of shingles. The new full recommendation replaces a provisional recommendation that the CDC made in 2006, after the vaccine was licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and recommended by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a committee of immunization experts who advise CDC on immunization policy.

The recommendation was published in an early release electronic edition of CDC’s Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report (MMWR) Recommendations and Reports. The ACIP recommendation becomes CDC policy once it is published in the MMWR.

Researchers found that, overall, in those ages 60 and above the vaccine reduced the occurrence of shingles by about 50 percent. For individuals ages 60-69 it reduced occurrence by 64 percent. The most common side effects in people who received Zostavax were redness, pain and tenderness, swelling at the site of injection, itching and headache.

Over 95 percent of people are infected by the varicella zoster virus (VZV), during their lifetime. The virus causes the common childhood disease chickenpox and then becomes dormant within the nerves. If it reactivates later in life, the result can be shingles. Shingles is characterized by clusters of blisters, which develop on one side of the body in a band-like pattern and can cause severe pain that may last for weeks, months or years. About one in three persons will develop shingles during their lifetimes, resulting in about one million cases of shingles per year.

Chickenpox (also called varicella) is usually mild, but it can be serious, especially in young infants and adults. Children who have never had chickenpox should get two doses of chickenpox vaccine starting at 12 months of age. The risk of contracting shingles increases with age starting at around 50, and is highest in the elderly. Half of people living to age 85 have had or will get shingles. The risk of experiencing chronic pain also increases with age.

Shingles Facts

• Anyone who has had chicken pox can get shingles. That means 95 percent of adults are at risk.


• Approximately one-third of the U.S. population will get shingles.
  
• More than half of older adults do not understand the seriousness of shingles and its complications.


• Among those who get shingles, more than one-third will develop serious complications. The risk of complications rises after 60 years of age.


• Appropriate and immediate treatment of herpes zoster can control acute symptoms and reduce the risk of longer term complications. Starting anti-viral medication within 72 hours of the onset of shingles can reduce the pain and the length of time the outbreak lasts.

For more information about the
shingles vaccine, please visit this website.
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Senior Citizens being targeted in Insurance Scam

NEWS RELEASE from Kentucky Office of Insurance provided on this blog by   Kentucky Health Insurance Agents at Triple B Insurance

CONSUMERS WARNED OF SCAMS ASKING FOR PERSONAL DATA

Agency advises consumers to hang up on suspicious callers

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 16, 2008) – The Kentucky Office of Insurance (KOI) has received reports of several scams and is warning consumers to take extra precautions to protect financial information.

Consumer advocates, police departments and other agencies across the country are warning about a variety of scams coming from a Bismarck, N.D., telephone number - 701-221-2212.

A woman in Louisville told an investigator from KOI’s Consumer Protection and Education Division that she took a call from that number earlier this week. The caller, who identified himself as Sid Johnson, said Medicare was making some changes to its plan and he needed her bank account information to ensure that her Social Security check was properly deposited.

In an effort to prove the call was valid, the man said his Medicare ID # was MD10956J. The Louisville woman said the caller already had some information about her but was missing some key pieces, such as her age. She did not give him any information, hung up and called KOI.

Other scams associated with this number have included the promise of a rebate from the Internal Revenue Service or some other refund or check that can only be received by direct deposit.

Consumers should never give financial information over the phone, particularly if they did not initiate the call, said John Burkholder, KOI acting executive director.

Another scam report came from the Mt. Vernon police department. Several senior citizens in the area reported receiving an automated message that the consumer’s auto insurance was expiring and must be renewed by pressing “1.” When the consumer followed the directions, the next message asked for personal information. This call originated from 702-528-1131, a number in Las Vegas.

“If a call makes you suspicious or uncomfortable, hang up,” said Burkholder. “Government agencies, insurance companies and legitimate businesses would not ask consumers for information using these methods.”

The Office of Insurance is an agency of the Department of Public Protection in the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet.

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