MINUTES: JANUARY 13, 2015
Posted by Lamar Evans
on Jan 20, 2015
President Wes Brooks presided over the meeting. Thanks to Lynn Walton who gave the invocation and to Jerome Brown who led the Pledge of Allegiance. Thanks to Tracie Fowler and Kemi Simmons for serving as our greeters today. Sean Priebe, sitting in for Aaron Ladner welcomed our guests. David Hayhurst is a guest of Faye Gilbert. John Gray is a guest of Tracie Fowler and Steve Ramp. Bernard Green is a guest of Paula Brahan and Stan Saulny is a guest of Abumere Akinwale.
Wes reported on the board of director elections from last week. Brett Phillips was elected as the club’s secretary for 2015-2016. Also elected to the board of directors was Jaclyn Adams, Mike Ratliff, Bruce Ryan, Faye Gilbert and Bill MacLauchlan. Jaclyn Adams reported on the tornado relieve efforts now underway for the victims of the recent tornados in Marion and Jones counties. Items that are needed include leather or heavy duty work gloves, tarps in the size of small, medium, and large, heavy duty garbage bags, comfort kits that include travel-size shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental floss, razor, and shaving cream (if you have any complimentary travel sized items from hotels or trips, this would be perfect as well.) If you would like to contribute any of these items or make a monetary donation, see Jaclyn Adams. A box to collect the items will be available at next week’s meeting.
Wes recognized and thanked Bill McLeod for his membership recruitment efforts. Bill was presented with a Rotary pin in recognition of his recruitment efforts.
Bill then gave a brief report on last Saturday’s Mid-Year Check up. Our club is doing well among District 6840 clubs. Bill, Wes and Sean attended the check up on behalf of our club.
Bill then introduced today’s guest speaker, Barbara Lofton. Barbara is the Resident Benefits Specialist for Bedford Care Centers. Her expertise provides the answers that patients and families need to know when they have to make difficult decisions regarding long-term care. Barbara provided a checklist of important legal documents and financial records that every family should have available, before they reach a crisis period. Some of those documents include a birth certificate, marriage license, Social Security cards, a passport, a will, Powers of Attorney, mortgage deeds of trust, vehicle registration and ownership documents, an ID and your driver’s license. You can get a more complete list of these documents by visiting www.hopecoalitionamerican.org.
Barbara also reported on the new Alzheimer’s unit that is being built for Bedford. Pam Kelly is the Administrator of the Alzheimer’s care unit. The unit is being built more along the lines of a home setting than a hospital model, which is the model most commonly used for nursing homes. She also noted that Mississippi is the only state that has an Alzheimer’s Division within the state’s Department of Health.
In 2010 there were 53,000 diagnosed Alzheimer’s patients in Mississippi. On the average, that means there are about 645 cases in every county. In Forrest County there are only 62 beds available for Alzheimer’s patients. The need is huge and growing. Daily costs for nursing home care in Mississippi runs from $175.00 to $300. To pay these costs, families can use their savings, purchase long term care insurance or rely on Medicaid if the patient qualifies. Because Medicaid both a federal and a state program, it is complex. Federal money matches every one dollar Mississippi spends on the program with four dollars. The 2015 Medicaid budget for Mississippi is expected to be about five-billion dollars.
To be eligible for Medicaid you must not have a monthly income exceeding $2,199 and you may not have total resources of more than $4,000. You can exclude your home, two automobiles, some personal property, household goods and some life insurance and burial funds. However, any property transferred up to 60 months prior to your Medicaid application may result in penalties.
To learn more or to apply for Mississippi Medicaid call toll free 1-866-635-1347.