Seniors keep cool in summer, rodents and safety risks, do not call registry, SeniorSSuperStoreS Keeping in Touch newslsetter

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This issue of Keeping in Touch deals with several matters of interest to Prime Time Surfers:

1.) Ways to keep safe, healthy and cool this summer

2.) A Heavenly Marriage

3.) Avoiding "Do Not Call" scams

4.) Rodents pose safety risks for senior citizens

5.) First hurdle cleared to ending Canada drug ban!

6.) Your subscription details

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1.) Ways for Seniors to Keep Safe, Healthy and Cool this Summer

Summer is here and temperatures are soaring. Seniors especially need to be reminded of the special precautions they need to take to ensure their summer months are safe, healthy and cool.

No one knows this better than the expert team of geriatric specialists in Boston, at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged (HRCA), the country's preeminent organization dedicated to geriatric healthcare, research and training, at 617-363-8384. That team of specialists devised this list:

1. Drink water! Stay well-hydrated by drinking at least eight, 8-ounce glasses of liquid every day, especially water, juices, milk, club soda and decaffeinated beverages.

2. Eat watermelon and other water-based foods such as soups, ice cream and Jell-O.

3. Limit caffeinated and alcoholic beverages, which are diuretics and increase seniors' fluid needs.

4. Smell and taste disorders are more common in seniors. It is important for seniors to date-label all of their summer fruits and vegetables, as well as other perishable foods, to ensure seniors are eating fresh, healthy food.

5. Have a hearing screening if hearing loss is suspected to help ensure safety while participating in outdoor activities like walking and golfing.

6. Travel smarter during family summer vacations. Plan accordingly and be sure to receive proper immunizations if traveling overseas and that senior family members pack an emergency kit with important medical history information and telephone numbers.

7. Wear sunglasses at all times when outdoors (NOT just at the beach) to help protect eyes from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.

8. Stay indoors during extremely hot temperatures.

9. Wear a hat and apply sunscreen of at least 30 SPF to protect skin from overexposure to the sun's damaging rays.

10. Know the signs of stroke and seek immediate treatment for this medical emergency. Signs include a red flushed face, high body temperature (106 F+), headache, little or no sweat and rapid pulse.

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2.) A Heavenly Marriage

On their way to a justice of the peace to get married this couple has a fatal car accident. The couple is sitting outside heaven's gate waiting on St. Peter to do an intake. In conversation while waiting they wonder if they could possibly get married in Heaven. St. Peter finally shows up and they ask him.

St. Peter says, "I don't know, this is the first time anyone ever asked. "Let me go find out," and he leaves. The couple sits for a couple of months and in conversation they begin to wonder if they really should get married in Heaven, what with the eternal aspect of it all.

"What if it doesn't work out?," they wonder, "Are we stuck together forever?" St. Peter returns after yet another month, looking somewhat bedraggled. "Yes," he informs the couple," you can get married in Heaven." "Great," says the couple, "but what if things don't work out? Could we also get a divorce in Heaven?"

St. Peter, red-faced, slams his clipboard onto the ground. "What's wrong?" exclaims the frightened couple. "Jeez!" St. Peter exclaims, "It took me three months to find a priest up here! Do you have any idea how long it's going to take for me to find a lawyer!?"

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3.) Fraud on the Phone: Avoiding "Do Not Call" Scams

(Courtesy of The Better Business Bureau in their alert to members dated July 23, 2003.)

Have you received a call from a company inviting you to pre-register for the national "Do Not Call" list? What about a call asking to confirm your registration on a "Do Not Call" registry? If so, you may be the target of a scam, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the federal agency that has created the national "Do Not Call" registry at www.donotcall.gov.

The FTC does not allow private companies or other third parties to "pre-register" consumers for the registry. Web sites or phone solicitors that claim they can or will register a consumer's name or phone number on a national list - especially those who charge a fee - are a scam. Registration on the new national "Do Not Call" registry is free. The FTC says that once a consumer signs up with a "Do Not Call" registry, there is no need to confirm personal information. And the government will not call anyone to put them on a "Do Not Call" registry.

As we reported to you in our Arpil 28,2003, Keeping in Touch, you are able to register directly with the FTC, or through some state governments, but never through private companies. The FTC is accepting registrations from consumers who want to register online and who have an email account. Consumers who want to register by phone can call 1-888-382-2222, but you must call this number from the phone you wish to register for the Do Not Call service. The FTC says if you register during the summer months of 2003, you should notice a downturn in telemarketing calls starting in October.

The FTC warns consumers to be wary of scams related to the registry. Many consumers who want to get fewer telemarketing calls already have signed up with a state "Do Not Call" registry, the Direct Marketing Association's Telemarketing Preference Service, or individual company "Do Not Call" lists. But consumer protection officials say that rip-off artists have begun to take advantage of the popularity of these services to trick consumers into giving up personal information, such as their Social Security number, bank account number, credit card number or telephone calling card number.

Here's how the scam works: someone calls claiming to represent a "Do Not Call" registry or the FTC. The phony registry "official" asks for your personal information, supposedly to verify that you want to be on the "Do Not Call" list. The caller is a con artist who could use your personal information to run up debts in your name or otherwise steal your identity. Some con artists are pushing a similar scam through spam email.

The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection says you can avoid these scams. Here's how:

Keep information about your bank accounts and credit cards to yourself - including the numbers - unless you know who you're dealing with.

Never share your Social Security number with a person you don't know.

Don't share your personal information if someone calls you claiming to represent a "Do Not Call" registry, an organization to stop fraud or even the FTC itself.

If you get such a call, either hang up immediately or write down the caller's organization and phone number and report it to the FTC at www.ftc.gov (or call 1-877-FTC-HELP), or report it to your state attorney general.

For more information on how to reduce unwanted telemarketing calls, visit www.ftc.gov/donotcall. If you believe that your personal information may have been compromised, visit www.consumer.gov/idtheft.

And from the Department of Unintended Consequences:

The Federal Trade Commission's "National 'Do Not Call' Registry" has attracted a huge response. As of July 16,2003, 26.3 million telephone numbers had been registered on the site, www.donotcall.gov. However, on the first day that the FTC web site was open for business, June 27th, it fell victim to the old "Law of Unintended Consequences".

The site permits consumers to register up to three telephone numbers and requires entry of an email address for verification. The site automatically generates an email to the consumer for each registered telephone number. The registration is not complete until the consumer clicks on a link in the email to "confirm" the registration.

During the first day, hundreds of thousands of email messages were being generated by the site. Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) - running software to block spam - interpreted the barrage of email from a single site as spam, and "helpfully" blocked the registration messages, preventing them from arriving in the consumer's email box.

The FTC, working with various ISPs, quickly rectified the problem. But, for a short period of time, a program designed to help consumers block unwanted telemarketing calls was frustrated by another program designed to help consumers block unwanted email messages. As if no one ever thought beforehand this may happen? Go figure!

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4.) Rodents Pose Safety Risks for Senior Citizens

According to the Centers for Disease Control, rats bite more than 45,000 people each year. Rodent-associated diseases in the U.S. include plague, murine typhus, salmonellosis, rat bite fever, leptospirosis, trichinosis, toxoplasmosis, and hantavirus. The rat population in the U.S. is estimated to be at least one rat for every person.

These safety and health risks are magnified for seniors and the elderly because of their often compromised immune systems and tendency toward infection.

Rats contaminate and destroy enough food worldwide each year to feed 200 million people, according to estimates of the World Health Organization. In the U.S. rats cause between $500 million and $1 billion a year in property and health losses.

There is a safe and humane way to rid yourself of these dangerous rodents. Learn more about the problem and what you can do about it at Rodents Pose Safety Risks for Senior Citizens.

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5.) First Hurdle Cleared to Ending Canada Drug Ban!

Residents of Canada and Europe pay 30 to 300 percent LESS than Americans do for many of the most widely prescribed drugs. Is fair or right? We also don't believe it's right that many Americans have to choose between their high-priced medications and affording the rent, or being able to put food on the table. As a result of efforts by The Seniors Citizens League, and others, Congress is finally looking at the situation.

The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) supports the bill to allow for market access to prescription drugs--medicines that are made in FDA-approved facilities with mandated safety precautions. The pharmaceutical industry and organizations that oppose the bill made an all-out-effort to get Members of Congress to oppose the bill, H.R.2427.

Before the House of Representatives left for its Summer District work period during the week of July 28, 2003, it passed legislation allowing Americans to import prescription drugs from Canada and Europe -- medicines made in the same FDA-approved facilities as those here in the United States. The House passed the bill, H.R.2427, by an overwhelming margin of 243-186.

Just hours before the vote, many "insiders" -- reporters, Members of Congress and others -- felt the outcome was too close to call. And the pharmaceutical industry had some 600 lobbyists and a huge budget to spend in order to urge Members of Congress to oppose the legislation.

But seniors have not yet won the final victory. Even as the House was preparing to vote, 53 Senators wrote to Members of the House, saying that the Senators would not support final passage of the comprehensive Medicare prescription drug legislation if it contained the language of H.R.2427. It�s time now to ask the Members of the Senate to stand up for seniors -- not for special interests -- and to support affordable access to medicines for seniors and all Americans.

While Members of Congress are "back home," their staffs will be working in Washington on this issue. We need to make our voices heard and persuade the Senate that markets should be opened for Americans to purchase safe, more affordable prescriptions.

Please, take a minute now and write to your Senators and urge them to ignore the big drug companies and other special interests and end the ban. Seniors need and deserve the right to pay less!

Go to Contact your U.S. Senators to express your views to your Senators.

Please, will you also take a minute to send this e-mail along to your friends and family, and urge them to contact their Senators as well?

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