The Monticello news. (Monticello, Ga.) 1903-current, April 25, 2024, Image 4

The Monticello news., April 25, 2024, Image 4

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Newspaper Page TextPAGE 4—THE MONTICELLO NEWS, THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024 Savvy Senior Recommended Vaccines for Medicare Recipients Dear Sawy Senior, My husband and I re cently turned 65 and would like to find out which vac cines are recommended and covered by Medicare? New Beneficiaries Dear New, All recommended vac cines for adults, age 65 and older, should be covered by either Medicare Part B or Part D, but there are some coverage challeng es you should be aware of. Here’s a rundown of which vaccines are recom mended by the Centers for Disease Control and Pre vention (CDC) and how Medicare covers them. Covid-19: Even though Covid-19 is no longer a public health emergency, it can still cause severe ill ness, particularly in older adults. Because the Covid virus continues to mutate, new vaccines are being developed to keep pace, so the CDC recommends that all seniors stay up to date with the latest Covid vac cines, including booster shots. All Covid-19 shots are covered 100 percent by Medicare Part B. Flu: Considered an an nual vaccination, most people of all ages receive flu shots in the fall when flu season begins. The CDC recommends se niors, 65 and older get a high-dose flu shot for ex tra protection beyond what a standard flu shot offers. The Fluzone High Dose Quadrivalent, FLUAD Quadrivalent and FluBlok Quadrivalent are your three options. Annual flu shots are covered under Medicare Part B. Pneumonia: These vac cines help protect against pneumococcal disease, which can cause pneumo nia, meningitis and other infections. The CDC rec ommends everyone 65 and older get a pneumococcal vaccine. There are several different vaccine options Local Weather April High Low Precipitation 18 85 33 0 19 85 33 0 20 86 34 0 21 84 57 1.6 22 59 34 3.5 23 66 31 0 24 72 31 0 Something on Your Mind? Write a Letter to the Editor editor@themonticellon ews. com or 247 W. Washington St. Or Mail to P.O. Box 30, Monticello, GA 31064 Call 706-468-6511 for more info All letters are subject to standard editing and brevity is encouraged. They should be typewritten, double spaced, or legibly hand written. Requests to withhold writers’ names will be honored if the subject matter is deemed ap propriate for publication, however manage ment may be required to disclose names un der certain circumstances. Letters endorsing or degrading commercial products, individuals, political candidates, or religious dogmas will not run. Unsigned Letters Will Not Be Accepted Letters are printed basically as submitted, and there Is no effort to verify any state ments made. Readers are on their own to determine the credibility of the letter. We welcome your letters and ask that they be submitted by Monday at 5 p.m. of the week ot publication. ItUmtiuTUi KTum KATHY H. MUDD Publisher & Editor JENNY MURPHY Advertising Manager Dedication: Christine F. Hughes 1932-1990 " William T. Hughes, Jr. 1930-2011 Periodicals Postage Paid at Monticello, Georgia 31064 USPS 361-640 Published Every Thursday at 247 W. Washington St Monticello, Georgia 31064 - PO Box 30 Phone 706-468-6511 Fax 706-468-6576 www.themonticellonews.com Email: editor@themonticellonews.com POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes to: The Monticello News P.O. Box 30, Monticello, GA31064 Email: news@themonticellonews.com Subscription Rates Jasper County-$35.00 Per Year; Out of County-$40.00 DEADLINES Legal Deadlines Friday - 5 p.m. News, Photos, Classified Advertising - 5 p.m. Monday Email: editor@themonticellonews.com advertising@themonticellonews.com news@themonticellonews.com j^athy’s j<C orner available, so talk to your doctor or pharmacists to find out which is best for you or visit the CDC’s Pneumococcal Vaccina tion webpage at CDC.gov/ vaccines/vpd/pneumo/ public/index.html. Medicare Part B covers both single dose and two- dose pneumococcal shots once in your lifetime. Shingles: Caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox, shingles is a painful, blistering skin rash that affects more than 1 million Americans every year. All people over age 50 are recommended to get the two-dose Shingrix vaccine, which is given two to six months apart, even if you previously re ceived Zostavax. In 2020, Shingrix replaced Zos tavax, which is no longer available in the U.S. All Medicare Part D pre scription drug plans cover shingles vaccinations, but coverage amounts, and reimbursement rules vary depending on where the shot is given. Check your plan. Tdap: Tetanus, diphthe ria, and pertussis (whoop ing cough) are diseases caused by bacteria that can lead to serious illness and death. Therefore, a one-time dose of the Tdap vaccine is recommended to all adults. If you’ve al ready had a Tdap shot, you should get a tetanus-diph theria (Td) booster shot every 10 years. All Medicare Part D plans cover these vaccina- | * tions. 1 RSV: Respiratory syn- | cytial virus (RSV) can | lead to pneumonia or | bronchiolitis and can worsen other chronic con ditions common among older adults, such as asth ma and chronic obstruc tive pulmonary disease (COPD). The CDC rec ommends all adults, age 60 and older, talk to their doctor about getting one of the RSV vaccines (either Arexvy or Abrysvo), usu ally in the fall and winter months when the virus is most prevalent. Most Medicare Part D plans cover the RSV vac cine, but not all. If your plan doesn’t cover it, you can ask for a coverage ex ception. You can also pay for the shot out of pocket and then follow-up with your plan to get reim bursed. If you pay for the shot upfront, your plan must pay you back. Other Vaccinations There are other vaccines you may need depending on your health, lifestyle or travel plans. To help you get a handle on which ones are appropriate for you, take the CDC’s What Vac cines Do You Need? quiz at www2.cdc.gov/nip/ adultimmsched. Also, talk to your doctor during your next visit about what vac cinations you should get. Send your senior ques tions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit Savvy- Senior.org. By KATHY MUDD, editor and publisher Another Trip Around the Sun Tomorrow, I turn 68 years old. It’s a defining moment. Not that there’s much special about be ing 68, but as I reflect the years, I realize I have less years to go than I have be hind me. My Apple news spot light popped up a minute ago saying something about most people only celebrate one healthy birthday after age 65. Well, I’m not most peo ple, cause I’m healthy, and this will be my tried healthy birthday after 65. Of course, healthy may be a relative term. I con sider myself healthy, but I do have a few health con ditions that require medi cation. However, I take my meds as prescribed, and all my numbers are fine. I exercise regularly, and would like to say I eat a healthy diet...but I don’t think that my diet is particularly healthy. Dr. Shannon Barton al ways laughs saying she told me to exercise for years, and now that I fi nally do, life is much bet ter. She sort of politely says, “I told you so!” But, I digress. At the paper, I have always en joyed interviewing some of our senior citizens who have given so much to us and get their take on life. I realize now that I am much closer to the age of that 90+ year old I’m interviewing than I am to the youth entering the workforce and making up so much of our popula tion. I’m about ready to start interviewing 20 year olds to leam about their views on life because I think they would be more dif ferent to me than those senior citizens. I fuss be cause the younger genera tion does not appreciate a local newspaper. They don’t want to hold the dirty paper in their hands. No, their news is on the phone. Which, in all hon esty, much of mine is too. But for local news; we haven’t been doing a very good job of updating the website since our wonder ful intern, Evan, left, and we never put the whole paper on there. Which brings me to the printed edition. Through the years, I learned to him to newspapers when I want the whole story. Newspapers tend to dig a little deeper and have more space to go into detail than your nightly news show. I get my state, national, and international news from lots of sources, none of which include The Monticello News. But I read it extra well, because it is about what really af fects me. No other outlet is writing about what the commissioners or city council are doing. No other outlet is bragging on our school children every single week. No other out let pays much attention at all to Jasper County. I love living in Mon ticello. I’ve always said we’re like a big family. And, all families have id- iosyncracies in some way, so even those among us I’d never claim as a sister, really are a part of my Jas per County family. I look forward to see ing many of you at the Jasper Jubilee in a couple of weeks. A home tour, which the newspaper of fice is on, is set for Sat urday, May 4, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the following Saturday, May 11, a fun day will be held in town. I hope lots of my family conies to each event. There will also be fes tivities during the week between May 4 and 11. But on May 11, activi ties will take place on the lawn at Thomas Persons Hall, on the Square, on the lot across from the Post Office, in the Visitors’ Center and on the vacant lot at the corner of Forsyth and Washington Streets. Join in the fun! ^lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllb From the Pastor’s Study By CLEO CAMPBELL St. John—We Shall Know Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways,” declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Proverbs 4:23 says Be careful what you think, because your thoughts my thoughts our thoughts run our life. Don’t use our mouth to tell lies; don’t ever say things that aren’t true. v25 Keep our eyes focused on what’s right, look straight ahead to goodness of his words, keep they always in mind they are the keys to life for those who find them,, they bring health to the whole body. St. Matthew 4 warns us watch out that no one de ceives you-me-us. St. Luke 13 teaches us that we will perish if we do not repent. St. Matthew 16:6 says Christ is giving warning about just how dangerous the errors of the pharisees and Sadducees really are. St. Matthew 7:15 says, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. Fero cious-untamed; cruel, brutal; barbarous, blood thirsty-murderous-refer- ring to not a single false prophet, but any false teachers within the Chris tian church who preach against the gospel. I Timothy 4:1 says, Those who will secretly introduce destructions heresies, even denying the Master who brought them. The spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits, and things taught by de mons. 12 These people are hypocrites and liars and their consciences are dead. v. 3 They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods—Read Revelation on marriage and when we eat manna again and with whom. Amen Amen Amen. Budget Work Session Continued from Page 1 pected to stay the same, and the Clerk of Courts & Magistrate Court are pro jected to have increases. After a brief break, the work session resumed with a discussion on ex penditures. Cost of living increases are expected for employees, 911 is seeking an increase in funding to fund two additional full time positions in the dis patch center, a $25,000 increase in county attor ney fees, audit fees will increase, and the in-house finance department is ask ing for a part-time em ployee. EMS Director Chris Finch was present to give a preview of his de partment budget request which includes a signifi cant increase. He reported that each of the ambu lances averaged 95,000 miles of use in 2023 and that while Medicare and Medicaid pays steady for their transported patients the non-paying transports bring down the average of paying transports. The next Jasper County Commission budget work session is set for Friday, May 3 at 9 a.m. in the Commissioners Meeting Room in Suite 116 of the Courthouse. ffeCCo TMonticeffo By JANET McCARTER JERNIGAN r I Know Why The Cicadas Sing These bugs only emerge son was President. from their underground hide-a-way in this volume every 13 or 17 years. And even stranger is that both the 13 cicadas, Brood XIX arrive at the same time as the 17 year cica das, Brood XIII version arrive at same time. The next time this occurs will be 220 years from now. The last time this occured was 1803, Thomas Jeffer- Early Americans thought this was a repeat from the locust in the Bi ble. Not so. Our cicadas will be in residence until the end of June. Then they will shed their crusty shell and go underground after de vouring some tasty bits. See them together in a mere 220 years, when they will sing again.