Photo furnished
Pictured is Windsor Elementary School sixth grader Rory Hite.

•December 6, 2017•

Rory Hite, a sixth grade student at Windsor Elementary School in Windsor has started a “Blankets for the Homeless” drive.

“It is all about how the homeless people don’t have many blankets, and I would just like to help them by giving them blankets,” Hite said.

Rory said the last time his father and he were in Saint Louis they bought about 60 hamburgers and gave them to the homeless people who were gathered in one of the small parks downtown.

It was there Rory came up with the idea: these people need blankets to keep them warm this winter.

He has secured a trailer, and his goal for the blanket drive is to fill the trailer with blankets.  Read More

•December 6, 2017•

Influenza (flu) activity is starting to increase across the country just as friends and family are coming together for the holidays. Getting a flu shot is the best line of defense when it comes to protecting yourself, and those around you, from getting the flu.

The flu causes millions of illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations, and thousands or tens of thousands of deaths each year in the United States. The majority of hospitalizations and deaths occur in people 65 years and older, but even healthy young children and younger adults can have severe disease or even die from influenza.

“One of the biggest myths about getting a flu shot is that is that it gives you the flu. I’m here to say it has been scientifically proven that the flu vaccine does not give you the flu,” said Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) Director Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D. “December 3-9, 2017 is National Influenza Vaccination Week and I encourage everyone who has not gotten their flu shot this season to get it sometime during the week to help protect you and those you care about during the holidays and beyond.” Read More

•December 6, 2017•

By Wendell Potter,
Rural Health News Service
Medicare and drug coverage: some good news, some bad

One of the benefits of the Affordable Care Act to Medicare beneficiaries has been the gradual closing of a big and costly gap called the “doughnut hole” in the prescription drug (Medicare Part D) program. By the end of 2020—if the ACA is not repealed or altered substantially by Congress—the doughnut hole will be completely closed.

In 2010, people hit the doughnut hole coverage gap when the total amount they and their plan had paid for prescription drugs reached $2,800 in a coverage year. At that point, people had to pay the full cost of their prescription drugs until they had reached the out-of-pocket spending limit established by the law. In 2010 that limit was $4,550. After someone paid that much, their plan paid 95 percent of the cost of their drugs for the rest of the year.

The gap has been shrinking a little every year since the ACA (Obamacare) was enacted in 2010. This year, those enrolled in the Part D program personally paid 40 percent of the cost of brand-name drugs in the doughnut hole and 51 percent of the cost of generic drugs. Next year, the percentages will drop to 35 percent and 44 percent, respectively. In 2020 and beyond, Medicare Part D beneficiaries will pay 25 percent for both brand-names and generics.  Read More

•December 6, 2017•

The public is invited to a Holiday Stroll in Strasburg 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9   to visit local businesses and churches. Participating are 32 Below, Country Financial, Edwards Crafts, Junk to Gems, Krile Auction Service, Kull Appliance Service, Olivier’s Country Creations, Short Stop, The Gym, Uptown Hair, York Bin Company, Strasburg Fire Department, Grace Lutheran Church, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and United Methodist Church.

Pick up a Holiday Stroll map at the Strasburg Community Center beginning at 2 p.m.  Read More

•November 29, 2017•

Sullivan High School junior Cullen Dyer was recently elected president of the Eastern Illinois District Association of Student Councils during the annual convention at Eastern Illinois University.

Over the next year Dyer will represent the EIDASC by traveling to different schools in the district, run monthly district meetings, representing the district at the State Convention and LEAD Convention and overall work to improve the relationships between member schools.

Dyer is the Sullivan High School Student Council vice president and the son of Karen and Doug Dyer.