SturbridgeSeniorInformation

Medicare is Changing

In 2006,

Medicare will add an optional drug benefit to its list of covered services. Everyone on Medicare will eventually need to decide if this Part "D" coverage is appropriate for them.

If you already have drug coverage of some kind, your insurer should be contacting you as early as this summer to let you know if the new Medicare Part "D" coverage will affect the coverage you have now.

There is plenty of time to make your decision. Applications for Part D will be accepted between November 15th, 2005 and May 15t'', 2006.

Right now, the SHINE Program is gearing up to offer consumers accurate, unbiased, free information and counsel-ing about this new Medicare Part D drug benefit. We should be ready to work with your Council on Aging to get you the information you need, when you need it. For most people, that will be sometime in the late fall.

In the meantime, if you have questions about Medicare Part D. or about any other topic relating to Medicare and/or health insurance issues, feel free to call your local Council on Aging to ask for an appointment with a SHINE counselor.

You can also reach a SHINE counselor by telephone. Call 1-800 243-4636 (1-800-AGE-INFO) and press or say "2' when instructed to do so. Once you get the SHINE answering machine, leave your name and number and a volunteer will call you back.

SHINE (Serving the Health Information Needs of Elders) is coordinated by the Mass. Executive Office of Elder Affairs in partnership with CEMACA (Central Massachusetts Councils on Aging).

To Define is Devine

The difference between :

The Council on Aging (COA) and

The Friends of the Sturbridge/Fiskdale Seniors (Friends)

Is constantly being questioned and misunderstood. An attempt will be made here to clarify the roll of each entity.

The Council on Aging is a function of the municipal government as defined in

Chapter 40 Section 8B of the Mass.

General Laws and whose purpose is to coordinate and carry out programs designed to meet the needs of the aging in conjunction with programs of the Office of Elder Affairs.

"The mission of the Sturbridge Council on Aging is to promote the physical, emotional, and economic well being of elder adults and to promote their participation in all aspects of community life."

The Council on Aging is not a club and does not require dues to receive services. All seniors are welcome to receive services and participate in programs as they are described in the newsletter or otherwise advertised. If the COA must pay an instructor for a program (line dancing, chi kung and others) a fee is then required to offer and maintain the program.

The Friends of the Sturbridge/Fiskdale Seniors is a 501(3)(c) non-profit organization whose purpose is to encourage, initiate and sponsor programs and services for the Friends of the Sturbridge/Fiskdale Seniors.

To promote greater community interest, enhance the dignity and well being of senior citizens in Sturbridge/Fiskdale; to institute fundraising projects and activities for the services not provided for by the Town of Sturbridge or the Commonwealth of Mass.

To underwrite some of the ongoing operating costs of the Sturbridge/Fiskdale Senior Center facility through the purchase

of supplies, the care of its grounds and donations to the Senior Center's ongoing renovation programs: and to award, when possible, two scholarships to deserving

local high school seniors to use for their freshman year at college.

As part of their effort to raise funds and underwrite their projects the Friends collect annual dues of $5 per person from anyone, regardless of age, who wishes to join the Friends and promote their efforts to support the Sturbridge Senior Center and Sturbridge seniors.

The Sturbridge COA and Friends both support Sturbridge seniors. Their budgets

are separate but their goals are closely linked.