Photo furnished
Newborn Kambri Hildebrand, with parents Brett and Mara Hildebrand, models a sleep sack at Sarah Bush Lincoln. They are pictured with SBL women and children’s nurse Haley Campbell (center) and Angie Goebel with her three-year-old son Grant.

•June 22, 2016•

Angie and Ben Goebel still struggle with the loss of their three-month-old daughter Maggie five years ago.

The couple never imagined tragedy would strike when the child’s baby sitter laid her down for a nap one morning. “We received a frantic call saying she wasn’t breathing and they had called 911,” Mrs. Goebel said. By the time the family reached the hospital emergency department, their baby girl was gone. “Maggie had rolled over into some soft bedding while napping in a “Pack’N Play” and suffocated,” Goebel explained. “It was a horrible accident.”

In the years that have followed this unthinkable tragedy, the Newton mother has made it one of her life missions to educate others on safe infant sleep practices. “I just want to educate everybody so there’s not another family that has to go through what we’ve gone through,” she said.

The Goebel family recently donated more than 100 HALO® Sleep Sacks to be given to parents enrolled in Oh! Baby childbirth classes at Sarah Bush Lincoln. Since 2005, The American Academy of Pediatrics and First Candle/SIDS Alliance suggest the use of a wearable blanket, like the HALO® Sleep Sack, instead of a loose blanket to help keep a baby warm. Loose blankets in the crib can pose a significant risk as they can cover a baby’s face and interfere with breathing. Read More

•June 22, 2016•

SBL Lincolnland Home Care and Lincolnland Hospice will conduct a free blood pressure clinic from 8:30-9 a.m. Thursday, July 21 at the Senior Center in Sullivan. For more information, call Lincolnland Home Care at 1-800-879-3212.  Read More

•June 22, 2016•

Carolyn W. Colvin, the Acting Commissioner of Social Security, and other leaders in the fight to end homelessness gathered today to continue the ongoing battle against homelessness among veterans, seniors, and other vulnerable populations.

“Social Security plays a key role in reducing homelessness, and our benefit payments help people to secure and maintain stable housing,” Acting Commissioner Colvin said. “Social Security is the most successful anti-poverty program in our country’s history and collaborates with other federal, state and local agencies to ensure that veterans, people who are disabled, have lost a loved one, or are retiring have access to our benefits and services.”

Acting Commissioner Colvin joined with federal and state officials to discuss initiatives to end homelessness and outreach programs to vulnerable populations, including veterans, at a forum called “Ending Homelessness: Lessons Learned from the Commonwealth of Virginia.” Representatives from the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Virginia Department of Veterans Services, and the Virginia Housing Alliance participated in the discussion.

In 2015, Virginia announced that it had ended homelessness among veterans. Many federal and state agencies are looking to replicate best practices from Virginia’s success in their respective states.  Read More

Compiled by Bekki Ferguson-Stevens

25 Years Ago This Week

Hydro-Gear employees really pulled together as they accepted a challenge from Shrock Bros. in a tug of war with $100 in prize money to be donated to the Quincy Veteran’s Hospital in the name of the winning team. On the women’s team were Susan Tipsword, Lisa Todd, Scarlet Mayer, Sue Pope, Linda Fultz, Kelly Nolen and Karen Click. The women took second place. On the winning men’s team were Ron Sporer, Doug Moore, Ron White, Lyle Elzy, Gary Cooper, Tom Key, Keith Hughes, Kevin Corley, Joe Taber and Todd Harris.

Rural Sullivan resident  Dean Byers became so intrigued with the fishing at Lake Shelbyville when the lake was built he honed his fishing skills as a fisherman and became a fishing guide.

Sullivan Middle School teacher Bill Ward of Sullivan handed out his final report cards last week. Ward retired at the end of the school year after teaching in the Sullivan School District for 33 years.

Cassie Jackson was elected president of the Okaw Challengers 4-H Club when the group met May 13 for its first session of the year. Officers serving with her will be Dane Jackson, vice president; Sarah Jackson, secretary; Meg Reedy, reporter; Brad Smith, recreation chairman; and Carrie Jackson, treasurer.

Sullivan High School baseball team members have chosen Troy Rogers as the team’s most valuable player and Monte Johnson as captain. Read More

•June 15, 2016•

By Trudy Lieberman
Rural Health News Service

An Indiana couple who wrote to me a few weeks ago has experienced the ups and downs of Obamacare, and they wanted me to know about one downside they now face---a monthly premium of $836.

“No one should have to pay those high premiums unless you’re considered high class, and we aren’t,” the woman said.

The couple-she is 59 and he is 62-are self-employed, and their income fluctuates. At first the Affordable Care Act was, a “godsend,” the woman told me. Before they signed up for Obamacare, they were paying almost $1,000 a month for insurance coverage. Then they bought an Obamacare policy, a Gold plan Anthem sold on the Indiana shopping exchange. It was a good policy with a relatively low deductible, low copays and coinsurance costing about $1,435. Best of all, they qualified for a subsidy.

Their income that year was low, between $23,000 and $28,000. That entitled them to a subsidy of around $1,200, leaving them to pay only about $235, which they could easily swing. Recall that subsidies are intended to help those with the lowest incomes, and because their income was low, their subsidy was generous.

Then, as the economy started to improve, their income went up, but their subsidy went down. As they’re supposed to do, the family regularly reports income changes to the government so they don’t get stuck with a gigantic bill at the end of the year, money they would owe for subsidies they were not entitled to. Read More