Senior News

By Diane Kittelson, Pope County Senior Services Consultant/Coordinator

The Caregiver Action Network began promoting national recognition of family caregivers in 1994. President Clinton signed the first NFC Month Presidential Proclamation in 1997 and every president since has followed suit by issuing an annual proclamation recognizing and honoring family caregivers each November.

Celebrating Family Caregivers during National Family Caregivers Month enables us all to:

• Raise awareness of family caregiver issues.

• Celebrate the efforts of family caregivers.

• Educate family caregivers about self-identification.

• Increase support for family caregivers.

Caregiving can start slowly after a visit to your parents when you start to worry about them living home alone or you find yourself taking over more of the responsibilities for your spouse who has been ill. Maybe it happened all of the sudden when your dad slipped and broke his hip or the neighbors called to tell you Mom was wandering around outside looking lost. Regardless of how it started, you are not alone. There are 90 million caregivers across the country. Nearly one-third of the adult population is a caregiver and they are providing an average of 20 hours of care per week. For National Family Caregivers Month 2022, the #CaregivingHappens theme reflects the reality that often caregiving just happens.

Western Prairie Human Services offers caregiver supportive services for caregivers, care receivers and their families. Caregiver support groups are held the second Tuesday of the month in Glenwood from 9-10 a.m. at Western Prairie Human Services. Groups are also held in Morris and Elbow Lake and are open for anyone to attend as well. For more information about Caregiver Support Group and Services please call 320-634-7837.

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I would also like remind you there is still time to review your current plan Advantage and Part D Drug plans and explore options for next year with Medicare Open Enrollment. If you would like to schedule a time to do a plan comparison, please call 320-634-7837.

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Scam Alert:  The Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General recently issued a new scam alert. It warns about a fraudulent offer to increase individuals’ benefits in exchange for personal information. Apparently, it involves criminals impersonating federal agency staff to obtain personal and financial information in exchange for the promise of Social Security benefits or extra money.

As always, the scam warning encourages people not to share personal or financial information and to ignore suspicious emails, texts or letters. If you feel you have been a victim of a scam, it can be reported by calling your local law enforcement or online to: oig.ssa.gov/report. If you would like to learn more about recent fraud activity and scams join the Pope County Triad for Coffee with a Cop on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022 at 9 a.m. at the Lowry Community Center.