A Special Supplement to the Austin Daily Herald
Online sources make social security easy By Cindy Nelson Social Security District Manager in Austin
Friday, July 16, 2010
The sun is out and there are a thousand and one things you could be doing outside. The last thing you want to do is sit in traffic on your way to the Social Security office, or to wait in line once you get there. From your doorstep to the local office and back again, you could spend a lot of extra time taking care of your Social Security business. Or, you could choose to visit our online office at www.socialsecurity.gov and complete your Social Security business in a matter of minutes with no commute whatsoever. There are so many things you can do at our online office. For example, you can apply online for retirement benefits. Our website makes it simple, allowing you to apply for retirement benefits in as little as 15 minutes. In most cases, once
you fill out the application, you’re done. There are no forms to sign and no documents to submit. The direct link to applying for benefits online is www.socialsecurity.gov/a pplyonline. Not ready to retire yet, or not sure? We have online resources that can help you plan ahead or make your decision. Our Retirement Estimator will allow you to enter different scenarios to come up with the retirement plan best for you. You can find it at www.socialsecurity.gov/e stimator. Perhaps you need to file an application for disability benefits. A Disability Starter Kit explains the documentation and information you’ll be required to provide on the application, and includes checklists and worksheets to help take the mystery out of applying. You can find the Disability Starter Kit at www.socialsecurity.gov/d isability on the left-hand
side of the page. You can apply online for Medicare, if you’re within four months of your 65th birthday. Most people, even those who don’t plan to start getting retirement benefits right away, need to apply for Medicare coverage at age 65. The application takes as little as 10 minutes, from start to finish. Learn more at www.socialsecurity.gov/p ubs/10530.html. There are other things you can do online, such as apply for a replacement Medicare card, and request an SSA-1099 for tax purposes. You can learn about these and other online services at www.socialsecurity.gov/o nlineservices. So if you’d like to soak up some sun this summer, we suggest you take your Social Security business online. You may even be able to take your laptop outside and conduct your business in the great outdoors. See for yourself at www.socialsecurity.gov.
FDA lacks guidlines for risky meds Rachel Drewelow/rachel.drewelow@austindailyherald.com
Sid and Judy Brown pack a box in the common area of the Village Cooperative to ship to a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan. The Browns are volunteers for Operation Minnesota Nice, an organization which “adopts” soldiers and sends them monthly care packages.
A dose of Minnesota nice By RACHEL DREWELOW
Judy Brown explained. The soldier is then assigned to volunteers in Minnesota who commit to sending one care package a month. “I believe it must be very depressing to be over there alone, and not getting any mail,” Judy Brown said. “It’s such a simple thing for us to do
items. Judy Brown said the pair invites residents of the greater Austin area Every month, a certo donate as well by tain young soldier somedropping off items or where in Afghanistan or cash in the common Iraq opens up a package room. sent from Sid and Judy “It’s fun to see what Brown of Austin. you can find inexpenThe 25-pound box sively,” she explained, includes instant coffee noting she doesn’t take and juice mix, toothspecial trips to brushes and toothpaste, mag“It’s fun to see what you shop for the soldier, but tries to azines, candy, blank greeting can find inexpensively. If pick things up cards — and lots you can think of anything when she is out r u n n i n g of what the “If Browns are sure you’d like to receive they’d errands. is the soldier’s probably likey to receive you can think of anything favorite, beef it, too.” you’d like to jerky. receive, they’d Sid and Judy Brown pack the -Judy Brown probably like to receive it, too.” boxes for There are some Operation Minnesota and it’s so rewarding.” The Browns began restrictions on what can Nice at their home in the Village Cooperative of rallying up troops for be sent, however. For OMN, residents at the example, pork is not Austin. Operation Minnesota Village Cooperative, to allowed in the countries, Nice (OMN) is a volun- get the project going this so the Browns make sure to send only turkey teer organization which spring. “Our neighbors have SPAM products and beef coordinates the long-distance "adoption" of sol- been very, very gener- jerky. diers stationed abroad. ous,” Sid Brown said, Soldiers who are not standing next to a table receiving mail are rec- in the co-op’s common ommended to OMN for area, overflowing with BOXES, Page 4 “adoption” by their boxes of jerky, cans of Packages include wish lists for superiors or chaplains, sardines and hygiene soldiers to fill out and return. rachel.drewelow @austindailyherald.com
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE Associated Press
The arthritis pill Vioxx was withdrawn but menopause hormones were not, even though both were tied to heart risks. A multiple sclerosis medicine was pulled and later allowed back on. So, when is a drug too risky to stay on the market? Drug safety questions arose again recently, as calls mount for the diabetes pill Avandia to be withdrawn. Surprisingly, the Food and Drug Administration has no firm rules for deciding such cases — just a murky guideline of “when the risks exceed the benefits.” “Each drug has its own complex story,” so comparisons to previous decisions can’t be made, said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the FDA's principal deputy commissioner. The agency does need better criteria for weighing drug safety, he said. It has asked a group of outside scientists, the Institute of Medicine, to give advice. A report is expected before the July 13-14 hearing on Avandia, a controversial pill whose maker, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, insists is safe. The FDA can order a drug off the market, but that can be challenged in court. Usually, a company voluntarily withdraws the medicine at the FDA’s request. Many things influence whether such a request is made, said Dr. Brian Strom, a drug safety expert at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a longtime FDA drug safety adviser who has consulted for Takeda Pharmaceuticals, which makes Actos, an Avandia rival. Some factors to consider: • How serious is the illness being treated? Severe side effects are accepted for cancer drugs, for example, but not for an allergy drug such as Seldane, which on rare occasions caused sudden death and was withdrawn a decade ago, Strom said. • How big is the harm? “Causing a little nausea isn’t so bad. Killing people is,” Strom said. Ultimately, though, the decision whether to withdraw a drug rests with federal scientists. In 2007, the agency’s internal panel of drug safety specialists voted 8-7 to keep Avandia on the market. The agency’s drug safety panel, which con-
sists of high-ranking officials from the FDA and other agencies, was set up in 2005 to resolve safety disputes, after the agency was criticized for its handling of the Vioxx
situation. It will likely include FDA drug center leadership who oversaw the initial approval and subsequent labeling of Avandia.
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AUSTIN DAILY HERALD Senior Living
FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010
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The senior center’s new look After 35 years of existence, the Mower County Senior Center opened its renovated home last month. The center’s bathrooms, carpet and paint were all updated. The center now features a Wii gaming system, a coffee and snack shop with a television for news, and other new amenities. Photos by Eric Johnson
The new conference room at the Mower County Senior Center.
What used to be the Mower County Senior Center’s thrift store has now been converted into a recreation area and cafe.
Craft room at the Mower County Senior Center.
The expanded game room includes more room for pool and a Nintendo Wii system.
The Mower County Senior Center’s eating area with it’s newly tiled floor.
Senators staff discuss help for low-income elderly By Bethany Wesley McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
BEMIDJI — One man can't get a ride to the doctor. Another steals food from his workplace refrigerator. “If I can’t keep them fed, if I can't keep them healthy, I can’t keep them working,” said Rachel Cobenais, the employment and training coordinator for Experience Works, which provides training and employment opportunities for low-income older people. Cobenais was one of about a dozen individuals who met Wednesday morning at the Bemidji Public Library with re representatives from U.S. Sen. Al Franken’s staff. Franken’s staff members stopped in Bemidji during a twoweek statewide tour to gather input on the challenges retirees face. Franken serves on two commit-
tees that next year will reauthorize the Older American’s Act, which was first passed in 1965. The Act established the Administration on Aging and state agencies on aging and made available funding ($2.3 billion in 2009) in state and community grants for social service programs for the older population. Those who gathered in Bemidji praised existing programs and workers, but said more funding is needed. They also pointed out that rules have created roadblocks to the goal of keeping seniors in their homes longer. For instance, waivers for lowincome people seeking food will provide them in-home meals (i.e. through Meals on Wheels) but are not redeemable at congregate dining sites like an area senior center. “So you are deliberately isolating that individual,” concluded Valerie Gravseth, Franken's north-
west field representative. Darla Berquist, the program developer for the Land of the Dancing Sky Area Agency on Aging, said that Clearbrook Senior Citizen Center actually does fundraising to continue to make Meals on Wheels a possibility. “They shouldn’t have to fundraise to support senior meals in their homes,” Berquist said. She gave a lot of credit to Faith in Action groups, in this region Northwoods Interfaith the Caregivers, stepped up to cover service gaps created by underfunded necessities. Sara Turk, the volunteer leader for Lutheran Social Service Older Adults Team, said the federal government should help people stay in their home longer and elder abuse must be stopped. “We need to be more careful with our older people,” she said. “We need to be there for them.”
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FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010
Senior Living AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
Boxes: Couple helps ‘adopt’ soldier to receive care packages From Page 1 A wish list is enclosed in the package, for the soldier to fill out and send back, but the Browns said they’ve yet to receive mail from their adoptee. “I’d like to try to look him up when he gets home,” Judy Brown said. Though OMN volunteers send packages to soldiers who come from all over the country, the Brown’s soldier happens to be from Mankato. OMN began in 2004 when founder Denise Jorgensen had a friend whose son was deployed to Baghdad. He told his mom, who then told
Jorgensen, that many soldiers were receiving very little from home and that he was sharing contents of the many care packages he received with them, according to the organization’s website. Jorgensen asked for the names of these soldiers, and she promised to adopt them by sending them a box every three to four months. Word spread and soon Jorgensen’s friends were adopting soldiers too; within two months, 17 soldiers had been adopted by 10 volunteers. The Browns too found out about OMN by word of mouth. Their daugh-
ter and son-in-law participate in the project’s Faribault operations. The Browns’ soldier is among thousands that have been adopted and the Minnesota nice has even been spread to other states as volunteers have popped up nationwide, according to the organization’s website. “We send multiples of the same items,” Brown said. “And I know our soldier is sharing everything, so it’s really like we’ve adopted a whole group.” For more information about Operation Minnesota Nice, go to www.operationminnesot anice.com.
Rachel Drewelow/rachel.drewelow@austindailyherald.com
Austin residents Sid and Judy Brown prepare boxes in the common area of the Village Cooperative to send to a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan. The two volunteer with Operation Minnesota Nice, an organization that sends monthly care packages to “adopted” soldiers.
OPERATION MINNESOTA NICE SUGGESTED DONATIONS: Food: Beef jerky Breakfast bars Canned fruit Canned meats Canned soup Cereal (in small boxes) Cookies (snack sizes) Crackers Granola bars Nuts Instant oatmeal packets Pop tarts Protein bars Ravioli Sardines Dried soups Tuna Candy *Canned items should have pop-top lids Condiment packets: Creamer Chocolate syrup Ketchup Mustard Sugar Personal care items: Baby wipes
Chapstick Cold water wash Deodorant Disposable razors Eye drops Feminine products Floss Foot powder Hairbrushes Hand lotion Knee highs Mouthwash Nail clippers Q-tips Saline Shampoo Shoe insole cushions Soap Socks Sunscreen Tissues Toilet paper (including travel size) Toothbrushes Toothpaste Tylenol Drinks-Nothing carbonated: Instant coffee Gatorade mix
Kool-Aid bursts Powdered drink mix Shelf stable milk Tea bags or mixes Miscellaneous: Batteries Bug spray Deet lotion or wipes Board and travel games Books CD fanny packs CDs Crossword puzzle books Decks of playing cards Disposable cameras DVDs Flashlights (and extra bulbs) Flypaper Greeting card assortment Magazines Local newspapers Pencils and paper Prepaid Phone Cards Items can be donated to Operation Minnesota Nice at the Village Cooperative inside the main entrance, 2301 10th St. NW.
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