| Issue 19.12 It’s an American tradition to pay tribute to the men and women of the Armed Forces each Memorial Day — especially honoring those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country. If you are a military service member who was wounded and needs to apply for disability benefits,it’s important to know that you will receive expedited processing. Our wounded warriors initiative is for military service members who become disabled while on active duty on or after October 1,2001,regardless of where the disability occurs. Depending on the situation,some family members of military personnel,including dependent children and,in some cases,spouses,may be able to receive benefits. Learn more about it at www.socialsecurity.gov/woundedwarriors. Did you know that May also is National Military Appreciation Month? Even more reason to let members of our military know how much we value what they do for us and our nation. To learn more about the Social Security benefits for those who have served in the military,read our publication,Military Service and Social Security. You can find it online at www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10017.html,or send us an email at OPI.Net.Post@ssa.gov,or call us at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) to ask for a free copy to be mailed to you. Memorial Day also is a good time to remind families of fallen military heroes that we may be able to pay Social Security survivors benefits. If the person you depended on for income has died,you should apply for survivors benefits. Learn more about Social Security survivors benefits at www.socialsecurity.gov/pgm/survivors.htm. Issue 18.12 I am often asked if Social Media such as Facebook is safe to use. The quick and easy answer is “no”,but most people use it anyway and there are things you can do to make it closer to safe and an acceptable risk. I use it,but have had to learn about their privacy settings and make changes in their default settings to protect myself. The problem is that,not only is there quite a bit of information about you that you put on their site,others that are linked to you often have very porous security settings that can allow anyone they are linked to access to your information. The bright side is that you can restrict access to most of your information by making changes in the settings you use. Because of space limitations,I will only share a few of the most important settings,but if you are interested in going further in depth on this,you can go to http://mashable.com/2011/02/07/facebook-privacy-guide/ to see what they recommend. The first thing to remember is to not post anything either in your profile or your posts that you don’t want available to the whole world. Horror stories are numerous about people who thought they were just sharing with a friend or venting and suddenly everyone can see and comment on what they posted. To start with,look at the bottom right hand corner of your facebook page. There you will find the word “privacy”which you can click on. Then click on “Interactive Tools”which will get you to a menu. I suggest starting with “Download Your Information”which takes a while,but will provide you with everything you have posted and shared with others. It will give you a sense of what you are allowing the world to see and may give you pause about what you want to do in the future. The other options here are also instructive. I personally like the “Preview Your Profile”link because you can not only see what you have shared,but how others see your profile when they seek your data. Now,look on your original facebook page at the top right corner where you will see an arrow pointing down. When you click it you will see options for Account Settings and Privacy Settings. Spending a little time with these can make you much safer. The two I would work on first are the “Limit the Audience for Past Posts”and “Apps and Websites”menus. Limiting past posts is a good choice because it keeps people from searching your long and possibly embarrassing list of statements and actions you have taken,even years before. The “Apps and Websites”deserves some special attention. When you review these,you may find that you are being connected to things you did not ask for and possibly things that you are very much against. Other people can actually add you to certain apps without your permission which can open you up to having things posted on your page that you very much do not want. You can remove apps here as well as change your relationship with them. It is also very important to be careful about what you sign up for. Many apps and facebook groups will ask for your permission to add you. They will outline what that group will know about you and your online actions. Most are very intrusive and inform others as to everything you are involved in. Some even receive your permission to share your information with others (that you may not want to share with) or post information to your page without your permission. That’s all I have room for this time,but be careful,and as always,remember to back up anything important to you. Shaun McCausland has worked in the computer industry for over 30 years,20 years of it locally with Bits ‘N’Bytes and Musicomp and currently does in-home and on-site computer consultation,service,training and repair. If you have questions you can reach him at 435-668-7118 or through his website at www.bitsnbytescomputers.com. Issue 18.12 Young families often don’t think about estate planning. Who can blame them? They’re extremely busy raising small children,finishing their educations,beginning their careers,and all the other things that go along with getting established in life. However,parents with minor children may not be aware of just how important having a will and/or trust can be to the welfare of their young family. As uncertain as life is,none of us can be 100% confident that we will be around to see all of our children grow to maturity. In the case that one or both parents pass away while their children are still young,it is extremely important to have a plan in place for what comes next. Who shall care for the children? Who will manage the child’s money? If only one parent passes away,the surviving parent can take control of the situation and make arrangements. However,what if both parents pass away together,such as in a vehicular accident? That situation is much more precarious because the result is minor children being left,not only with no parents,but with an inheritance of their parents’ assets that may or may not need to go through probate and an uncertainty of where they belong. Within a will,a parent can make designations of who shall care for their minor children in the case that the parent passes away. The person designated to care for the child can also be the person designated to manage the funds and assets of the child,or the parent can designate somebody totally separate to do that. In the case that both parents have passed away,these designations can be vital,as many times there will be two sets of grandparents vying for the parental role. This can create unnecessary,lengthy,and costly litigation,which can throw the already upended children into a cauldron of conflict. Planning for this situation will also allow parents to protect their children from unnecessary court supervision. If the children are the direct heirs of the funds of their deceased parents’ estates,the court will be required to intervene,appoint a conservator for the child,and require yearly accountings to be filed. However,if the parent has established an estate plan that takes this situation into account,estate planning devices like trusts or testamentary trusts can be utilized to pre-select a trustee to “step into” the parent’s shoes when they pass away to manage the funds for the benefit of the child. This will bypass the need for court intervention,and will prevent the necessity of continuous and costly court supervision. Parents who utilize estate planning will be able to exercise more flexibility than is allowed by the court in supervised processes. For example,the parents can take into account who has an affinity for the child and appoint them to be the caretaker of some or all of their children. If the parents think it is in the best interest of the children to go to separate homes,they can specify this. Unless there is some risk of harm to the child,the court will generally uphold the stated wishes of the parents,if challenged. In contrast,if the court is forced to step into the shoes of the parent and make these decisions,the judge is not going to have the benefit of intimately knowing the child’s relationships and family situations,so the children may be forced into a less-than-ideal situation. These considerations become even more vital in situations where a child has special needs. Estate planning can offer a family the comfort and security of knowing there’s a contingency plan in place if everything goes suddenly wrong. With the help of some estate planning strategies,children can be cared for by the individuals selected by their parents,and not an uninvolved judge. Jeffery J. McKenna is a local attorney serving clients in Utah,Arizona and Nevada. He is a shareholder at the law firm of Barney,McKenna,and Olmstead with offices in St. George and Mesquite. If you have questions you would like addressed in these articles,you can contact him at 435 628-1711 or jmckenna@barney-mckenna.com. Issue 18.12 If you go to www.familysearch.org you will see Trees,those trees include the millions of lineage linked genealogies that came from Ancestral File,the Pedigree Resource File and other patron submissions. Soon,not to confuse you,but FamilySearch will add Family Tree to FamilySearch.org,which is a replacement for new.familysearch.org. This has not been fully implemented yet but I am beta testing it and it is coming,plus in writing this article I realized it will take me weeks to explain it! PART 1 New.FamilySearch.org was a good system that has been beneficial in helping people document their genealogy and reduce duplication of research. However,it was designed with the premise that all opinions should be collected together on a person and that each user should own their contributions (my tree) and no one else could change them. That led to some issues with the system handling people called IOUS or “Individuals of Unusual Size” that were so big that they could not be combined. Many of the early Utah pioneers fell into this category and it created a problem. Family Tree is an upgrade to new FamilySearch and it includes a different concept in collaborative genealogy research. The Family Tree will allow anyone to change any data so we will be able to fix the bad data. So we all log into the same database and change anything we want! That will scare some of you,but because changing the data is powerful it will be balanced with a good change log that allows incorrect changes to be easily recovered. This balancing also requires better collaboration tools such as discussions and a watch or notify feature if someone makes a change to an ancestor you are watching. This will work similar to how Wikipedia works now. Anyone can log in and make changes but they have found that most people only make changes when they have more or better information to add. Also if someone comes along who just wants to cause a problem,pages are watched by so many contributors that want the information to appear correctly that problems are reverted or eliminated within minutes. This is called open source open edit and this is the function that the Family Tree will follow. Continued next week …. For more information,contact Shanna Jones shannasjones@msn.com or (435) 628-4900. Issue 18.12 Recently I talked to a good friend,who was visiting his parents. He recounted the conversation between the two of them that went something like this. Mom,in the dining room: “Did you take out the trash?” Dad,in the living room: “I have plenty of cash. What do you need money for?” “What? I don’t want any money.” “Why did you ask for it?” “What did you say? You’re mumbling again.” He said he felt as though he was in the middle of watching an episode of ABBOTT and COSTELLO. He also quickly commented the only difference is that after a while,the daily misunderstandings and frustrations of having to repeat yourself becomes a whole lot less funny. When he suggested to his parents that they might want to get their hearing tested,their first reaction (after exasperated sighs) was that they didn’t want to be bothered. Turns out,they’ve got a lot of company. The average person typically struggles with hearing issues for 7 to 10 years before they come in and get treatment to resolve these problems. The person with a hearing problem is often the last to notice it,because the change comes on gradually over years and starts subtly. Adults with hearing loss typically say,“I can hear just fine if people would just stop mumbling.” They’re half right. It isn’t that they can’t hear….they can. The problem is that they can’t understand. The first clue to a hearing impairment is mixing up consonants. Age-related hearing loss often occurs in the high-frequency ranges that are directly related to the consonants. Many older adults think it’s normal to loss some hearing ability. If a majority of older people have hearing loss-and 55% of those over age 70 do- then it can’t be that harmful,right? WRONG! Because the ear plays a role in balance,hearing loss can lead to falls,said Dr. Lin,assistant professor of otolaryngology and epidemiology at John Hopkins University,citing his own research stating that even mild hearing loss can triple the risk of falling. And then there is the link to dementia. Dr. Lin’s studies also suggest that mild hearing loss is linked to a doubling of dementia risk,and that moderate hearing loss can triple it. With severe hearing loss,the risk can be five times as high. In addition,few people realize that delayed treatment may make hearing loss worse. After reading this article,if there is any of you that have questions or concerns regarding your hearing or the hearing of a loved one,I personally invite you to come in to Miracle-Ear at 616 S. River Rd. (inside the Deseret First Credit Union Bldg. Suite 210) and get your free hearing evaluation. Please call 673-8743 and make your appointment today! Issue 18.12 Traditions are activities or practices that are enjoyed and repeated over time with some regularity. Simple family practices as eating special foods at holiday times,enjoying a yearly vacation or attending special celebrations together such as reunions,birthdays,weddings,graduations or decorating graves on Memorial day,etc. can build family unity and identity. When I was a young girl I remember visiting my grandparents often. My grandmother liked to put together puzzles with me. We would sit together for hours in her quiet home working together,talking a little and just building our relationship. Now I can do that with my grandchildren (IF I can get them unplugged.) I remember making tarts with another grandma. Cooking or baking together is almost a lost art during these days of fast foods. Making homemade bread was a necessity in those good old days,nowadays it’s a rare occurrence. It was fun to make cookies together or other treats to enjoy during our visits. Eating meals together was a celebration. Being an empty nest parent of four sons,I was delighted to have my grown son and his family visit recently during their spring break. My computer savvy son offered to cook a special meal for my husband’s birthday (his stepfather.) What fun to work by my son’s side as grownups as he taught me how to fix real Italian spaghetti. Though we aren’t Italian,his wife has that ancestry. When in-laws join a family,they can bring in new traditions that can be incorporated. Ethnic dishes can be discovered and new traditions enjoyed together. Families constantly expand and change as new members are added through birth,marriage and/or adoption. Differences can be celebrated and added to the mix of a constantly expanding group of individuals called family. Each person has some unique quality or personality to add to a group bonded by love and shared experiences. Forming new traditions or practices to celebrate together will build unity and understanding. Just the simplicity of sharing holidays by taking turns which family hosts a special meal or time together can be enjoyable. A family is a working lab of relationships as each person interacts,whether it’s a childless couple or a larger group of related individuals. Conflict is inevitable,but solvable if the commitment to communication exists. Learning to not take disagreements personally is a great help in building unity and continuing traditions. NEXT TIME:Resolving Conflict There’s an opportunity to buy any or all of Lin’s books:Looking Back at the Good Old Days,Find Your Voice:Write Your Life Story or Family Home Evenings for Empty Nesters and Singles on Sat,May 19th at Tuacahn’s Saturday Market in Ivins from 9 am-1 pm next to the concessions on the upper level. Issue 18.12 Given the current economic climate,buying a nice gift for Mother’s Day may be more difficult than in years past. But people across the nation are discovering that the best gifts are often free. This Mother’s Day,you can show Mom how to save an estimated $4,000 a year on her Medicare prescription drug costs. Here’s how. If your mother is covered by Medicare and has limited income and resources,she may be eligible for Extra Help — available through Social Security — to pay part of her monthly premiums,annual deductibles,and prescription co-payments. The Extra Help is estimated to be worth about $4,000 per year. To figure out whether your mother is eligible,Social Security needs to know her income and the value of her savings,investments and real estate (other than the home she lives in). To qualify for the extra help,she must be receiving Medicare and have: • Income limited to $16,335 for an individual or $22,065 for a married couple living together. Even if her annual income is higher,she still may be able to get some help with monthly premiums,annual deductibles,and prescription co-payments. Some examples where income may be higher include if she and,if married,her husband: —Support other family members who live with them; —Have earnings from work;or —Live in Alaska or Hawaii. • Resources limited to $13,070 for an individual or $26,120 for a married couple living together. Resources include such things as bank accounts,stocks,and bonds. We do not count her house or car as resources. Social Security has an easy-to-use online application that you can help complete for your mom. You can find it at www.socialsecurity.gov/prescriptionhelp. To apply by phone or have an application mailed to you,call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) and ask for the Application for Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Costs (SSA-1020). Or go to the nearest Social Security office. To learn more about the Medicare prescription drug plans and special enrollment periods,visit www.medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227;TTY 1-877-486-2048). Mom will be grateful when you give her a useful gift this year:help her save an estimated $4,000 a year on Medicare prescription drugs. It won’t cost you anything more than a little bit of quality time with her — something you and Mom both want anyway. These rules apply to Dad as well,so plan ahead for your Father’s Day gift too. Issue 18.12 I recently wrote to an old high school buddy of mine who was a World War 2 submariner. He now lives in the house in my old neighborhood that he grew up in. With the help of a Conscientious mail person,I got a letter to him. He told me that of the bunch of boys that palled around together,He,his younger brother and I are the only ones still among the living. When the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor,we all couldn’t wait till we could get into the fight. As soon as Phil turned seventeen,he went to the navy recruiter and tried to enlist. Phil was about 3 pounds under weight so the recruiter told Phil to overeat for a few days and then before he came back,to eat about five pounds of bananas. Well,those five pounds of bananas did the trick and Phil was in the navy. Phil wanted to be in the most exciting part so he was put in the submarine service. Phil’s small size was an enhancement for subs. Phil went on five patrols each were about 60 or 70 days in length. That length of time on a patrol was not only hard on a person but also hard on the sub so time had to be factored in to get the boat and crew ready for another patrol. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel was taken over by the navy for use by sub men. Some shore time was spent at Brisbane and Perth Australia and also New Zealand. I called the submarine a boat. Surface vessels are ships but submarines are boats. While on these patrols,Phil’s boat sunk 13 ships;some transports and some Jap warships. Some of their patrols took them within sight of Japan. Once they surfaced very close to Japan in order to pick up survivors from a downed B-29 bomber. In order for this to be successful,American fighters from a carrier flew cover till all twelve flyers were safely aboard and they could dive for protection. Another time a different sub picked up another downed crew that George Bush was a member of. Phil’s sub had many close sinking experiences. They had to wait out depth charge attacks at a depth of 585 feet. They also withstood bomb attacks from the air. During the war,52 American Subs and 3,500 men were lost As the Air Corp had Clark Gable make a movie of my wartime bomber group,the 351st Heavy Bomb Group so had the navy made a movie of Phil’s boat called “Sailors Beware”starring Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. Some people were also a little superstitious. Phil had a two dollar bill that he once tried to spend back in Montana but it was so rare and strange that the store clerk wouldn’t accept it so Phil carried that with him on all five patrols. His Captain Cleary wore the same pair of red socks for protection also. Phil spent the war on the USS 387 named Pintado. Submarine crews ate very,very well while at sea and Phil’s Boat was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.  Issue 17.12 Maintaining a home may be a longstanding source of pride for you or your loved one. It can be a very difficult experience to leave a place that you have grown so comfortable in and is a source of so many happy memories. Unfortunately though,for many,homes become a burden with age. Perhaps your home has a large yard which requires constant maintenance,or maybe it’s becoming more and more difficult to clean those extra rooms that are rarely used. Perhaps your home is no longer accessible because of your changing needs. This may include a steep flight of stairs or a bath tub that is difficult to step in and out of. Below are a few important questions that you should ask to determine whether you or a loved one is ready for assisted living. 1. Do you feel lonely or depressed? 2. Is your home not as clean and tidy as it used to be? (is laundry or are dishes piling up?) 3. Do you lose your balance in the shower? 4. Do you forget to take your medications? Do you know what they are for? 5. Do you have a fear of falling and worry that there will be no one there to help you? 6. Have you been losing weight or don’t seem to have an appetite? 7. Do you struggle getting going in the morning? 8. Does your prized lawn not look as green as it used to? 9. Do you find it uncomfortable to drive? Many people wait until they fall or hurt themselves before making the decision to move to an assisted living community. Don’t let that happen to you or your loved one. The truth is,assisted living provides many levels of care from simple medication assistance to incontinent care. Just because you live in an assisted living community doesn’t mean that you need all the services that it offers. The Retreat at SunRiver is dedicated to making sure that our residents maximize their independence while also making sure that they receive the care they need. Please feel free to call us anytime at 435-256-8900 if you have any further questions. We would be happy to offer you a free lunch and assessment. For more articles such as this,we invite you to visit our website at:www.SunRiverAssistedLiving.com. We look forward to hearing from you!  Issue 17.12 The comparisons may appear to be a strange topic,but hopefully you will see commonality between the two. A world-class,male Alpaca in breeding prime is approximately $750,000. The fine Alpaca fibers continually increase in demand from the limited supply of North American Alpacas. A Llama from South America can be purchased for approximately $50 as they are used as pack animals with no further value. The value difference between the two animals is astounding yet most consumers cannot identify the difference between them. The entry-level degree for an Audiologist is a clinical doctorate. This advanced degree requires a university education of 8 years,plus competency in a number of subjects including,but not limited to:anatomy,physiology,vestibular diagnostics,neuro-anatomy,diseases of the ear,plus hearing instrument amplification and technology. A Doctor of Audiology must complete over 1,800 hours of supervised patient-care in various settings,from private clinics to hospitals. All this training assures that recipients of this degree are prepared to provide premier care to the patients served. However,many states simply require a high school diploma,6 months on the job training and no underlying vocational education for hearing aid dispenser to work with hearing impaired individuals. Again,this is an astounding difference. Perhaps more astounding,the average consumer cannot tell the difference between the two. Just because a hearing aid dispenser wears a white lab coat,and allows you to call them “doctor”,does not make them a Doctor of Audiology any more than a $50 Llama qualifies to be a $750,000 Alpaca. One critical question will tell the difference between an Audiologist and non-Audiologist: Do they have the credential,“Au.D” behind their name? If the Au.D credential is not seen,chances are you are not seeking services from a Doctor of Audiology. Our 5 Audiologists specialize in: digital open-ear hearing technology;adult/child medical hearing;dizziness exams;are qualified to determine if your hearing problems are “nerve” loss or need an ear surgeon referral. For an appointment in one of our 11 Utah or Nevada locations,call 435-688-8866. | |
