COA Welcomes Newest 2012 Board Members

The Council on Aging of Nassau welcomed 3 new Board Members for the 2012 season — Annette Calfee-Wells Fargo, Barbara Gingher-Baptist Medical Center Nassau, and Ed Kane- Ocean Club Villas HOA President.  The Board also bid farewell to outgoing Board Secretary, Darrell Heun. 

 ”All of us are looking forward to an exciting 2012 as we continue to provide  services to more than 2,800 Nassau residents this year while also developing plans  to increase the number of  recipients of these services by 20-30% ,” stated Fran Shea, Board President.

 The COA is in the process of relocating from their current location across from Baptist Medical Center Nassau to property north of Atlantic Avenue between North 13^th and 14^th Streets.  A new Transportation Center building is currently in the construction phase and plans are completed for a new East Nassau senior center tentatively to be named The Life Center, although a naming opportunity for the center does exist should a major benefactor step forward.  The COA is currently in the midst of an aggressive Capital Campaign to raise funds to allow relocation in the summer of 2013.

  ”However, construction of the Life Center is only partially funded, so much work remains to be done.  We need our community’s help in accomplishing this task,” stated Allen Lennon, Capital Campaign Chairman.

Arlyse McDowell holds her 2012 SHINE award

Congratulations to Council on Aging’s Arlyse McDowell. She was recently named winner of the 2012 Serving Health Insurance Needs of Seniors (SHINE) Award for highest percentage of eligible beneficiaries served in a large fringe metro county.  Arlyse has been a case manager at the Council on Aging (COA) of Nassau since 2008 but just recently took on the duties as our county’s SHINE representative in 2011. The COA could not be prouder of Arlyse, not only for volunteering for this difficult additional duty, but also for winning this statewide award in her first year in the program!

 Last year, ElderSource sent out a call for volunteers to help them manage the state-wide SHINE program.  Arlyse immediately volunteered and after completing an extensive 6 day training class from The Department of Elder Affairs received her SHINE certification.  With the knowledge she obtained from the training, Arlyse has been able to figure out a solution to almost any health insurance problem. Arlyse has met with several seniors who were losing sleep over problems they were experiencing with their Medicare insurance coverage.  Often the problem was as simple as understanding a correspondence or a bill.  Sometimes it is quite difficult–finding a solution to fix a claim, billing problem, or prescription coverage.  Arlyse says that she has had a number of seniors come to her with cleverly worded letters that looked official but were really just advertisements.  With her training Arlyse cuts through the “mumbo-jumbo” and “too-good-to-be-true” sales gimmicks that entrap so many seniors in today’s complex world, and advises them on their options–if action is really needed or if they can just toss the solicitation away and toss their worries away with it.

 Arlyse will continue to work with COA clients with their SHINE needs in fall of 2012.  Arlyse’s best tip to seniors as they head into the 2012 Medicare insurance open season is to never sign anything that they don’t understand.  And if you need help understanding anything, please make an appointment at one of the COA centers and become a client of The Council on Aging of Nassau and Arlyse will be glad to assist you.

 Although there are over 500 SHINE volunteers statewide, there are not enough volunteers here in Nassau County to meet the need of the local population.  As the number of Medicare beneficiaries needing assistance increases, the need for volunteers increases too.  If you are interested in helping meet the need of this workload by becoming trained and being ready for the busy fall re-enrollment time, please contact Marilyn Parker, SHINE Liaison, ElderSource, 4160 Woodcock Drive, 2nd Floor, Jacksonville, FL  32207 Telephone:  904-391-6645 or 1-888-242-4464. 

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) provides free electronic, or E-file and traditional paper income tax filing assistance for low-to-moderate income and elderly tax filers.  According to an article appearing in the January 18th News Leader, the VITA volunteers are certified by the IRS and work in cooperation with the Real Sense Prosperity Campaign, a United Way initiative, and the Nassau County Public Library System.

Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments can be made at the Atlantic Rec Center and the Peck Center by calling the Fernandina Beach Library at 277-7365. Walk-ins will be assisted after those with appointments. Please bring the following items with you to your appointment:

• Photo ID
• Your 2010 Tax Return
• All 2011 Tax Documents such as W-2s, 1099s and SSA-1099s.

VITA volunteers cannot work from year-end documents.

Appointments at the main auditorium of the Atlantic Rec Center, located at 2500 Atlantic Blvd, are Tues and Thurs. from 1 to 5 pm beginning on Jan. 24th to April 12th.

Appointments at the Peck Center, located at 516 South 10th St. are Weds from 4 to 7 pm begining  Jan. 25th to April 11th in the reception room. 

Tax assistance will also be available at the WorkSource office located at 96042 Lofton Square Court, Yulee until April 12th. on Tues. and Thurs from 9 am to 3 pm. Please call 432-0009 ext 2660 to make a reservation.

Please click on the “downloads” icon on the lower left corner of the COA homepage to access a 2 page PDF file of our recent groundbreaking event held on Jan. 6, 2012.  There’s also a photo album on Coa Facebook page.