Health Insurance

November is Native American Heritage Month

Native American Heritage

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November 2022 | National American Heritage | Native American | Special Event Insurance

About National Native American Heritage Month

What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S., has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose.

One of the very proponents of American Indian Day was Dr. Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca Indian, who was the director of the Museum of Arts and Science in Rochester, N.Y. He persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to set aside a day for the “First Americans” and for three years they adopted such a day. In 1915, the annual Congress of the American Indian Association meeting in Lawrence, Kans., formally approved a plan concerning American Indian Day. It directed its president, Rev. Sherman Coolidge, an Arapahoe, to call upon the country to observe such a day. Coolidge issued a proclamation on Sept. 28, 1915, which declared the second Saturday of each May as an American Indian Day and contained the first formal appeal for recognition of Indians as citizens.

The year before this proclamation was issued, Red Fox James, a Blackfoot Indian, rode horseback from state to state seeking approval for a day to honor Indians. On December 14, 1915, he presented the endorsements of 24 state governments at the White House. There is no record, however, of such a national day being proclaimed.

November is National American Indian Heritage Month The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans.

The first American Indian Day in a state was declared on the second Saturday in May 1916 by the governor of New York. Several states celebrate the fourth Friday in September. In Illinois, for example, legislators enacted such a day in 1919. Presently, several states have designated Columbus Day as Native American Day, but it continues to be a day we observe without any recognition as a national legal holiday.

In 1990 President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar proclamations, under variants on the name (including “Native American Heritage Month” and “National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month”) have been issued each year since 1994.

Native American Heritage Month

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The Consumers Energy Foundation announced today $500,000 in grant funding

Consumers Energy Foundation gives $500,000 in grant money

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Consumers Energy Foundation Announces $500,000 in Grants for Basic Needs Assistance to Food Bank Council of Michigan, Michigan Association of United Ways

NewsJournal.com | By Consumers Energy Foundation | Nov 2, 2022 | Contractors Insurance

JACKSON, Mich., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Consumers Energy Foundation announced today $500,000 in grant funding to help two statewide organizations — the Food Bank Council of Michigan (FBCM) and the Michigan Association of United Ways (MAUW) — to provide direct assistance and necessities to Michiganders. The grant funding is part of the Consumers Energy Foundation’s commitment to investing in Michigan’s people and addressing critical and emergent needs in a meaningful way.

“As costs continue to rise in nearly every facet of our lives, we know many in our state are facing significant challenges to accessing basics like food and safe housing,” said Brandon Hofmeister, president of the Consumers Energy Foundation. “The Consumers Energy Foundation is committed to eliminating whatever barriers possible to those basics, and these grants will allow two organizations that are out in our communities every day to continue and expand the work they’re doing to connect people and families with the resources they need to thrive.”

The two $250,000 grants will allow both organizations to distribute the funding throughout the state where the need is greatest, with a focus on addressing immediate needs for residents within the Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed (ALICE) population. Specifically, the funding will provide:

  • $250,000 for FBCM to distribute to food banks for the purchase of food, which has become increasingly difficult due to increasing food prices and supply chain shortages; every $1 will support six meals, resulting in 1.5 million meals.
  • $250,000 for MAUW to distribute to local United Ways to provide direct assistance with basic needs, including housing repairs, gas and transportation assistance, rental assistance and other necessities.

Those in the ALICE population do not qualify for federal assistance yet are often one major expense — a car repair, broken water heater or unplanned medical expense — away from financial disaster.

“The Food Bank Council of Michigan is grateful, and very appreciative, for the support of the Consumers Energy Foundation to help fund the work of our food bank network to address food insecurity in Michigan,” said Food Bank Council of Michigan executive director Dr. Phil Knight. “For so many people in our state a daily meal has become an impossible choice between food and other crucial needs, such as electricity, childcare, or medicine.  Food banks across the state are seeing an uptick in the number of food insecure individuals due to inflation.  This generous donation from the Consumers Energy Foundation is very timely and impactful and will go a long way toward increasing food access for Michigan residents.”

“The Michigan Association of United Ways works together with Local United Ways across the state every day to help ALICE families thrive,” said Teresa Kmetz, Board Chair of the Michigan Association of United Ways. “With the generous and continued support of the Consumers Energy Foundation, the Michigan United Way Network is able to advance our work to help Michigan’s 1.5 million ALICE families meet their most basic needs – housing, child care, food, technology, health care, and transportation. We are grateful to have steadfast partners, like Consumers Energy Foundation, alongside us in this work.”

The Consumers Energy Foundation

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AirNow.gov - Home of the U.S. Air Quality Index

Home of the U.S. Air Quality Index

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AirNow.org | Air Quality | Home Insurance

Put in your zip code and see your air quality

What is AirNow?

AirNow is your one-stop source for air quality data. Our recently redesigned site highlights air quality in your local area first, while still providing air quality information at state, national, and world views. A new interactive map even lets you zoom out to get the big picture or drill down to see data for a single air quality monitor.

AirNow reports air quality using the official U.S. Air Quality Index (AQI), a color-coded index designed to communicate whether air quality is healthy or unhealthy for you. When you know the AQI in your area, you can take steps to protect your health.

AirNow is a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Park Service, NASA, Centers for Disease Control, and tribal, state, and local air quality agencies. Complete list of AirNow partners. Agencies all over the country send their monitoring data to AirNow for display. The Department of State provides data from U.S. Embassies and Consulates to inform personnel and citizens overseas, and the U.S. Forest Service and NOAA provide fire and smoke data.

AirNow’s centralized data system provides quality control, national reporting consistency, and the ability to distribute data to the public, researchers, businesses, educators, and to other data systems. In AirNow, you’ll find:

  • Current and forecast air quality maps and data for more than 500 cities across the U.S. 
  • Current and historical data for U.S. Embassies and Consulates around the world
  • Current fire conditions including fire locations, smoke plumes, and air quality data from permanent and temporary air quality monitors
  • Air quality data for Canada and Mexico
  • Enviroflash emails, apps, widgets, and an API
  • Health and air quality information for
    • the public
    • healthcare professionals
    • teachers and students 
    • weathercasters

Air Quality

Air Quality Index (AQI) & Health
Millions of people live in areas where air pollution can cause serious health problems. Local air quality can affect our daily lives. Like the weather, it can change from day to day. EPA developed the Air Quality Index, or AQI, to make information available about the health effects of the five most common air pollutants, and how to avoid those effects.

Click here to find out how your air quality is!

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What Black Adults Need to Know About Stroke Risk

What Black Adults Need to Know About Stroke Risk

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Preventing and recognizing signs of the medical emergency are key

AARP | By  Joyce Sampson | September 21, 2022 | Black Adults

​Richard Horton, an insurance broker in Pasadena, California, walked around for at least a decade of his middle-aged years with blood pressure hovering around 178/95 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg, the unit of measurement for blood pressure), dangerously close to a hypertensive crisis and a sure candidate for stroke. For comparison, what’s considered a normal level for most adults is less than 120/80 mm Hg.

Diagnosed with high blood pressure during a routine physical exam in the late 1990s, he wasn’t worried. Per his doctor’s orders, he returned for weekly follow-up visits to monitor changes. The numbers didn’t improve. But Horton, who is Black, didn’t receive treatment.

“At that point,” he recalls, “the doctor said that in the medical field, we find that African Americans have a higher blood pressure rate than whites and others. Because of that fact, we’re not going to push medication, but we’ll keep an eye on your pressure. If it gets much higher, then we’ll prescribe medication.” (Research shows Black patients often aren’t offered the full range of appropriate treatments when it comes to blood pressure management.)

In August 2011, while preparing to close a big sale, Horton climbed out of bed and walked into the bedroom wall. He was having a stroke. During a hospital stay that lasted over two months, Horton, who was then 55, had a second stroke. He couldn’t walk, talk or use his left arm. ​

A growing gap | Black Adults

Nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. have stroke each year — this happens when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked or bursts — and Black adults bear a disproportionate burden of those cases.

In fact, the risk of stroke among Black Americans is nearly twice as high as it is for whites, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows; some studies suggest it’s even higher. Black Americans are also much more likely to die from stroke, and those who do survive are more likely to be disabled than stroke survivors in other racial groups.

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The Unique Challenges of Dementia Caregiving

The Unique Challenges of Dementia Caregiving

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Dementia Caregiving. Tips on how to manage such often-difficult care

by Selene Yeager, AARP, May 31, 2022

Dementia Caregiving: Douglas Scharre, M.D., author of Long-Term Management of Dementia and director of the division of cognitive and memory disorders at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, explains how to manage such often-difficult care.

With Alzheimer’s disease, a loved one can seem lucid one day and unrecognizable the next. Why?

Dementia Caregiving: Alzheimer’s is a slow process in which toxic proteins build up in specific areas of the brain, starting with the area where you form new memories. So if you have conversation with someone in early stages, they may not remember the lunch they had with you yesterday, but they may be able to talk about a wonderful anniversary dinner from three years ago, because they’re accessing a stored memory in the part of the brain that’s not damaged.

The disease also causes you to lose brain cells, so you have less of a reserve when something throws you off, such as a bad night’s sleep or being under the weather. So they might seem OK, but if they didn’t sleep well, they can have much more trouble because they don’t have the reserves.

What causes symptoms not related to memory, like mood swings or confusion?

In about 75 percent of people with the disease, those toxic proteins spread to other parts of the brain, like those responsible for comprehension and language, which is why you have to communicate more simply as the disease progresses. It can affect the spatial area, which is why people get turned around and lost. The area that’s responsible for executive function like problem-solving and decision-making can be affected, which is why someone might pause and ponder, How do I figure out this microwave?

In addition, it can affect the limbic lobe, or our emotional brain, so they may have mood issues like anxiety, depression, restlessness and sleep issues. One common behavior when this part of the brain is affected is delusions or false beliefs — they think something happened when it really didn’t.

What are some ways to be an effective caregiver in those circumstances?

You need to change your approach. Your loved one is not going to change even if you explain something 500 times. False beliefs get fixed. If your dad thinks he’s not in his house and needs to get home, trying to bring him back to reality by saying, “My gosh, Dad, don’t be silly. This is your house. You’ve lived here 40 years,” is only going to start a fight. Instead, empathize with them. You can say, “Thank you for telling me. It’s getting late, so why don’t we just hang out here? We’ll figure it out tomorrow.” That way, you are on their side, and they feel reassured.

Also, make them feel that you are doing things together rather than making them feel bossed around. They are constantly being told, “You better go to the bathroom. You better get dressed. You better eat now.” No one likes that. Instead, try, “I’m going to the bathroom now, but would you like to go first?” Then they don’t feel singled out.

Finally, employ redirection. If it’s time to eat, but they’re in a mood or don’t want to come to the kitchen, do not insist they come to the table. Instead say, “Can you help me?” Most often they will say, “OK, what do you need?” Then you can say, “I need help in the kitchen.” And when they get there, you can say, “Let’s sit down and have dinner now.”

Dementia Caregiving

How should a caregiver deal with outbursts of anger? And how common is it for a person with dementia to lash out physically?​

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Shield Insurance Blog How Long You May Need To Walk Outside To See A Boost In Your Mental Health

See A Boost In Your Mental Health

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A new study underscores just how important it is for your mental health to spend time in nature or green spaces.

HuffPost.com | By Jillian Wilson | Sep 14, 2022, 05:45 AM EDT | Updated Sep 15, 2022

Mental Health

There’s a reason why the sounds of nature — chirping birds, flowing streams, falling rain — are often sound options for white noise machines and meditation apps: They’re calming.

A new small study published in Molecular Psychiatry further underscores this. The study found that a one-hour nature walk reduces mental health stress when compared to a one-hour walk in a bustling city environment.

The study followed 63 people who were randomly assigned a nature walk or an urban walk. The nature walk took place in a forest in Berlin and the urban walk took place on a busy street in the city.

Participants were instructed not to check their phones or stop in stores while on their walk. They were given a bagged lunch and a phone with a 30-minute timer that instructed them to turn around.

Before the walk, participants filled out a questionnaire and then underwent an fMRI scan that measured two tasks.

The first task measured brain activity during a “fearful faces task,” in which participants were shown 15 female and 15 male faces that either had a neutral or scared expression. The second task measured was brain activity during an “Montreal Imaging Stress Task,” which is designed to create a level of stress in participants. During the task, participants had a set amount of time to solve challenging arithmetic problems.

After the walk, participants filled out another questionnaire and underwent another fMRI scan that measured the same tasks they conducted before their walk.

The results showed that nature significantly improved people’s mental health.

The study found that those who took part in the 60-minute nature walk experienced lower stress levels following their time outside.

“The results of our study show that after only [a] one-hour walk in nature, activity in brain regions involved in stress processing decreases,” Sonja Sudimac, the lead author of the study, told Medical News Today.

Particularly, the researchers found the brain’s amygdala activity (which is responsible for our stress and fear response) decreased in those who were in the nature walk group.

This decrease was not seen in people who completed the city walk. According to the study, urban environments can negatively impact one’s mental health, leading to increased rates of anxiety, depression and mood disorders. (Just think about the stress that comes with frequently honking horns, running to catch a bus or dealing with long lines just to get some groceries.)

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Shield Insurance Blog You Can Store Medical Records on Your Phone. Is That Healthy

You Can Store Medical Records on Your Phone. Is That Healthy?

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Hunting down medical records is enough to give anyone a migraine.

By Edward C. Baig | AARP | September 14, 2022

Encrypted electronic medical records option for iPhones, Androids weren’t possible a decade ago

You likely see a primary care physician, and as you get older, perhaps one or more specialists. But these doctors may not all be part of the same health care system.

Meanwhile, a separate laboratory or clinic may handle your bloodwork. Your last surgical procedure took place in a hospital. You’ve gone elsewhere for immunizations and to fill prescriptions.

Worse, office workers at your health care providers are overstretched, and at times you must navigate a bureaucratic maze to reach someone who can help. While you might be able to chase down your records online, each doctor group may have a separate web-based patient portal.

Still, you can probably find many of your medical records more easily than you could a decade ago, when almost two-thirds of physicians were using fax machines to share information. That’s because of a 2009 federal law, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, that dispensed incentives to providers for digitizing health records and then, seven years later, penalized large hospitals that hadn’t adapted.

In 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act continued to smooth the way for electronic health information sharing, and consumers are just now seeing the results of that law. Yet even today, your electronic medical records are all over the place.

Apple prescribes a new, personalized path for medial reords

Apple set out to address the epidemic of scattered health records in 2018 by letting people with an iPhone download those records into the Health app on their phone. Nowadays, the health records feature on the iPhone is available to patients at more than 800 institutions with more than 12,000 locations in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, the company says.

How it works: A direct, encrypted connection is created between participating providers and a patient’s iPhone so people can get a centralized view of their allergies, clinical vitals, conditions, immunizations, lab results, medication records and procedures in one place.

The feature is based on something called Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), a standard for the sharing of electronic medical records among different computer systems. Apple says its Health app data is never shared with any third party without the user’s explicit permission.

Android has alternatives in others’ apps

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Nordic Walking Can Improve Your Heart Function. Here's How It Works. - Shield Insurance Agency Blog

Nordic Walking Can Improve Your Heart Function.

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A recent study found people with coronary artery disease saw improved health outcomes after committing to the nordic walking workout for 12 weeks.

HuffPost | By Jillian Wilson | Sep 8, 2022, 05:45 AM EDT | Updated Sep 8, 2022

It’s widely known that walking is great for you. Research shows that walking can cut your risk of heart disease, reduce joint pain and naturally relieve stress.

A study published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology in June also found that a specific kind of walking can be beneficial for people with coronary artery disease: Nordic walking. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, coronary artery disease “is the most common type of heart disease in the United States.” The study results suggest that people with the disease saw improved heart function after committing to Nordic walking for three months.

Nordic walking involves using poles similar to ski poles as you move. Unlike a regular walk, this kind of walking incorporates your upper body muscles in addition to your lower body muscles. According to the International Nordic Walking Federation, Nordic walking began as an off-season workout for skiers and has been around since the mid-1900s.

For the study, 130 people with coronary artery disease were randomly split into one of three groups. The first group followed a 12-week high-intensity interval training program; the second group followed a 12-week moderate-to-vigorous intensity training program; the third group followed a 12-week Nordic walking program.

After the workout program, participants were observed for 14 weeks, and their functional capacity ― or their ability to exercise or perform daily activities that require physical effort ― was tested by measuring how far they walked in six minutes.

Additionally, the researchers had participants fill out a heart disease-specific questionnaire and a 36-question health survey. Depression levels were also measured using the Beck Depression Inventory-II, which is commonly used to measure depression after heart attacks. Participants were tested at the beginning, the middle and the end of the study.

Nordic walking yielded the best results.

While all participants saw favorable health outcomes, those in the Nordic walking group experienced the largest increase in functional capacity compared to their baseline level at the start of the study.

In other words, those who committed to the 12-week Nordic walking program were most able to show increased exercise capacity during the six-minute walk test. And one’s functional capacity is “an important predictor of future cardiovascular events in patients with [coronary artery disease],” the study stated.

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Lower Prescription Drug Costs - Shield Insurance Blog

Drug Costs Lowered By States

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The sweeping federal bill aimed at cutting prescription drug costs follows years of action at the state level

AARP | by Emily Paulin, AARP, August 18, 2022 | Drug Costs | Health Insurance |

En español

Congress’ passage of a sweeping bill that will help millions of Medicare enrollees better afford life-sustaining medications was fueled by a blizzard of recent legislation to make prescription drugs more affordable at the state level. State lawmakers have introduced hundreds of bills aimed at lowering prescription drug costs in the past five years, with more than 230 measures enacted across all 50 states.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will allow Medicare to negotiate prices of some high-cost drugs for the first time, put an annual limit on Medicare Part D beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket costs, and impose tax penalties on drugmakers that increase prices more than the rate of inflation, among other things.

The move follows decades of advocacy for drug affordability by AARP and others, which until recently yielded progress mostly at the state level. “States are the laboratories of democracy,” says Jonathan Bartholomew, a government affairs director at AARP. “They’ve come up with really creative ideas to dissect, legislate and regulate this complicated and confusing marketplace, and I think that progress has really helped build federal momentum around this issue.”

AARP CEO Lauds Activists for Fighting for Rx Bill

Though states are restricted by federal law in how far they can go in directly reducing drug prices, they’ve worked to improve transparency around drug pricing, cap costs for consumers, bolster their drug-purchasing power and more. And collectively, they’ve spotlighted drug affordability as a national issue that calls for federal solutions.

Here are some key state initiatives that advanced prescription drug affordability in recent years.

Increasing price transparency

For states to pinpoint what’s driving price hikes in prescription drugs, it helps to have access to pricing data across a drug’s often long and convoluted supply chain. It’s why 14 states have passed drug price transparency laws that order manufacturers, wholesalers, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), insurers and others to share cost information.

What pharmaceutical companies must report about their products differs between states, but common requirements include advance notice and justification of the initial price of a drug and when prices increase above certain thresholds; summaries of the state’s most prescribed and costly drugs; and rebate and reimbursement amounts for PBMs, which health insurers use to manage their prescription drug benefits.

Most of the data collected is made public, which can help doctors, consumers and other health care stakeholders. Advance notice of price hikes gives doctors and patients time to analyze patient care plans and adjust as necessary. Summaries of the most prescribed and costly drugs can show state officials where to focus reforms.

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Shield Insurance Agency Blog | 16 Easy Exercises That Can Improve Your Posture

16 Easy Exercises That Can Improve Your Posture

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16 Easy Exercises That Can Improve Your Posture: working from home or staring at your phone has you slouching, these moves are here to save your back, shoulders and neck.

Huffpost | Nicole Pajer | Aug 12, 2022, 05:45 AM EDT

Have you been slacking in the posture department?

Thanks to our smartphones, iPads and more, many of us spend our days with our necks craning down to stare at our devices. Working from home has also created complications, affectionately referred to by experts as “pandemic posture.”

Fixing your posture can not only relieve back or neck pain, “it can also have a significant impact on all things related to our respiratory function, core and pelvic health,” explained ­­­­Trista Zinn, a trainer and founder of Coreset Fitness.

Taking tiny steps toward improving your posture is the best way to go. Here are 16 exercises to try to help get you standing and sitting straighter.

Easy Exercises

Seated Row

“This exercise works all the muscles of the back, and helps counterbalance the weight of the chest and support the spine,” explained Sebastien Lagree, a trainer and founder of Lagree Fitness.

Sit cross-legged or straddle a bench with cables or bands wrapped around a doorknob or floor mount in front of you. Next, pull the handles back toward your rib cage.

“As you continue to pull the handles toward you, focus on lifting the spine or sitting taller,” Lagree said. “Each time you pull the handles in, aim to sit higher.”

Bent-Over Rows

If you don’t have a cable system at home, or access to a gym, grab some free weights and perform bent-over rows.

“Strengthening the muscles that retract the scapula leads to better posture,” said Dr. Alejandro Badia, an orthopedic surgeon in Miami. “This also helps avoid shoulder pain, which often occurs when we slouch or work in a slumped position.”

Bend your knees and lean your upper body forward, keeping a straight spine. Start with your arms straight down in front of you with your palms facing your body, then pull the weights back, squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top. Try not to over-extend the movement: Stop right when you get to where your pockets would be on your pants ― i.e., near your hips. Lower your weights and repeat the movement.

Cat-Cow

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