•August 1, 2018•

By Trudy Lieberman,
Rural Health News Service

Two years ago in this space I told the story of a Mississippi woman Katherine Green who got caught in the unsavory business practices of the air ambulance industry that has trapped many more Americans since then. Green, a college history professor, chose to fight the company that transported her late husband to a Jackson hospital after he suffered a fatal fall in their home.
The ambulance company Rocky Mountain Holdings, a subsidiary of Air Methods, billed her $50,950. Her husband’s insurance company, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, which administered the State and School Employees’ Health Insurance Plan, paid $7,192 of the $58,142 the ambulance billed. She was on the hook for the balance.
Green’s retirement savings was in jeopardy. Alarmed, she took her case to Mississippi state officials and the media, which resulted in lots of publicity about her plight. In a recent phone call, Green told me, “I figured out from this, you have to contact everybody. The more inquiries you get out about your situation it eventually becomes too much trouble for them.” Read More

•August 1, 2018•

Senior Education Ministries, Inc. in partnership with the Sullivan community has scheduled Dine with a Doc ® -Sullivan on the First Tuesday of every month from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Max J. Knight Community Building Banquet Hall at Mason Point.
Dine with a Doc® is a free educational program that welcomes the local senior public to getting to hear an educational topic while enjoying a complimentary lunch.
This program is a community effort of a doctor, a lunch sponsor, the senior citizens, local churches and area businesses coming together for the good of all to serve the senior citizens. Read More

•August 1, 2018•

Representing a quarter of the U.S. population, there are more than 83 million Millennials (those born between 1982 and 2000) in the U.S., surpassing the number of Baby Boomers alive today by nearly eight million people. They’ve grown up in a digital age and want different things when it comes to accessing health care.
A PNC Healthcare study last year found that Millennials are twice as likely as Baby Boomers to prefer retail clinics and acute care facilities for speed and efficient healthcare delivery. More than a quarter of Millennials say that they do not have a primary care provider. They value convenience, availability, cost and speed over a relationship with a health care provider.
OSF HealthCare has launched OSF Urgo, a new, modern urgent care, which is designed to meet the wants and needs of individuals and families who are not yet ready or willing to connect to a health care system through a traditional physician-patient relationship. The term “Urgo” is derived from urgent care for people on the go. Read More

•August 1, 2018•

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is partnering with the Lake Volunteers Association, Central Illinois Mountain Bike Association, and the General Dacey Trail Mountain Bike Club to host the First DirtWorx MTB Fest on September 14-16.
DirtWorx MTB Fest invites mountain bikers to spend the weekend camping at Coon Creek Campground as they enjoy the trails Lake Shelbyville has to offer, including the General Dacey Trail and Camp Camfield. Weekend activities include Strava Time Trials, free tune-ups, games, food vendors, live music and pocket-sized maps provided for riders to easily navigate self-guided rides throughout the weekend. Read More

The action by the Moultrie County Board to place an Advisory Question of Public Policy on the November 6, 2018 General Election ballot concerning individual rights of citizens currently guaranteed to all U.S. citizens by the Constitution seems to be only political in nature.
Every Illinois citizen has the right and responsibility to discuss his or her individual opinion about any legislative actions desired with any state and federally elected representative. Read More