Age Spots by Jackie Dover - Helpful Programs

One of my twins recently got a concussion playing football. We had several days of dark rooms, sunglasses and quiet time. One of his restrictions was no screen time, that is torture to a 15 year old. We had to search to find other ways to entertain him. I busted out the colored pencils and let him be creative and we played board games and did puzzles. It was great to have those reliable, non-electronic ways to keep him busy. This made me think what reliable programs are available that seniors might be looking for.

CLAIM is Missouri’s official State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). CLAIM offers free, unbiased counseling and education to Medicare beneficiaries. Several Aging Matters staff are CLAIM volunteers and receive training and education on Medicare, Medicaid and health insurance. Claim is always looking for volunteers to help, so if you are interested in learning about Medicare and helping others, please call Claim at 800-390-3330.

Missouri Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) helps Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries prevent, detect and report health care fraud. The SMP conducts outreach such as meetings, presentations and community events to educate seniors on how to protect their personal information, how to identify errors on their Medicare Summary Notices and how to report issues found. The SMP works with Medicare beneficiaries to address the problems and if needed can report the issues for investigation. SMP can be reached at 888-515-6565.

If you have ever tried to find a pension from a company that changed names or ownership, you know what a difficult process that is. The South Central Pension Rights Project can assist anyone with a pension question or problem, regardless of age, income, or value of the claim. This is a free service. Pension counselors assist:

Answering questions about complicated pension laws and how they affect retirement

Obtaining and explaining hard to find retirement publications, forms and other documentation

Correcting pension miscalculations

Claiming retirement benefits  that have been denied

Tracking down benefits from past employers

South Central Pension Rights Project serves Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. If you have questions, you can contact them at www.southcentralpension.org or 800-443-2528.

Wolfner Library is a free library service for qualifying Missourians who are unable to use standard print reading materials due to a physical or visual disability. Wolfner Library offers a wide variety of services including: 

Braille 

Large print 

Fiction and non-fiction audio books for all ages 

Over 70 magazine subscriptions

Loanable machines for those renting audio books

Materials are mailed to and from library patrons free of charge. If you would like more information, you can visit the Wolfner Library website: www.sos.mo.gov/wolfner or follow them on Facebook: facebook.com/wolfnerlibrary or call 800-392-2614.