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The Eagle’s Eye January 2010

The Newsletter of the Gainesville Chapter, Military Officer’s Association of America (MOAA)

President’s Message

Happy New Year to each of you!! To bring you up to date, we had a wonderful Chapter holiday celebration on 11 De-cember at the Gainesville Golf and Country Club. We were served an excellent

meal on tables beautifully decorated by Del Dougherty. Each of the fifty attendees received a cute “Santa” favor. I am sure that everyone would agree that we owe a big Thank You to Del.

We had Troy Scott (Col, USA Ret), President of the Florida Council of Chapters, as our guest speaker. He gave us all an overview of our chapter in relation to the other chapters in Florida. Then, he conducted the installation ceremony of our offi-

cers and directors for 2010. Listed below are your new board members. OFFICERS: Candy Gleason, Member Spouse, President; Carter Nute, (Capt, USN

Ret) 1st Vice President; Jared (Jerry) Kennedy, (Capt, USN Ret), 2nd Vice President; Berness Whitmire-Yelle, Auxiliary member, Secretary; Nicklous Ross, (Capt, USN Ret), Treasurer. DIRECTORS: Paul Albritton (BGen, USAF Ret); Kirk Kirkland (Maj, USAF Ret); Jerry Kirkpatrick (Capt, USN Ret); Mayer Littman (Col, USAF Ret);

Mickey Smith (Capt, USN Ret); George Snyder (LCdr, USN Ret); Walt Visniski (Cdr, USN Ret).

As we look ahead this year, I would urge each of you to stay updated on legislative activity throughout 2010. Your voice can make a difference.

Our Board will be looking into how to increase our membership, make our events more interesting, and get sponsorship money for our Chapter ROTC and VA Home-less programs. We are always open to any of your suggestions. Our board meets

normally on the 2nd Monday of the month at Queen of Peace Church, 10900 SW 24th Avenue [Enter the Church, and follow meeting signs to the right]. It is an open meeting, and all are invited to join.

Our new Secretary, Berness Whitmire-Yelle, has had to resign her position for medical reasons. I am looking for a volunteer to take her position. Please call me if you could spend a few hours per month during our eight meeting months.

We look forward to seeing you at our Sweetheart Dinner on February 11th!

Candy

Inside

Chapter Social Functions and Meetings • Thursday, 11 February — Sweetheart Dinner, Gainesville Golf and Country Club. Social Hour: 6:00pm—

Dinner: 6:30pm [Reservation Form on p 3]

Sweetheart Din-ner—p 3 Board Meeting De-tails—p 3 Legislate Update— p 4 Legislative Action Alerts— How to use MOAA’s Email to respond to impor-tant issues—p 4 Legislative Action Alerts— Three Im-portant Issues to All of us—p 5-6 VA Homeless Pro-ject Update—p 6 Medical Corner — p 7-9 (Vision Loss and Macular Degenera-tion) May They Rest in Peace—p 9 Council of Chapters Convention—p 10 Our Sponsors—p 11-12

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR 2010

Chapter Social Functions and Meetings

• Thursday, 11 February — Sweetheart Dinner (Valentine’s Day), at Gainesville Golf and Country Club. Social Hour: 6:00pm—Dinner: 6:30pm

• Thursday, 18 March — Buffet Luncheon at Napolatano's with guest speaker, Mr. Rick Fabiani

• April — [Schedule for April and remainder of 2010 will be published in the February Eagles Eye]

• May — TBA

• June/July/August -Vacation Time

• September — TBA

• October — TBA

• Thursday, 11 November— Veterans Day Picnic, at Ginnie Springs at 2:00pm

• Thursday, 9 December—Holiday Dinner, at Gainesville Golf and Country Club. Social Hour: 6:30pm— Dinner: 7pm

Military Officer’s Wives (MOW) • Tuesday, 26 January—- Military Officers Wives

(MOW) Luncheon-Gainesville Golf and Country Club • Tuesday, 23 March — Military Officers Wives (MOW)

Luncheon—Gainesville Golf and Country Club [Designs by Jacqueline Program.]

• Tuesday, 25 May — Military Officers Wives (MOW)

Luncheon—Gainesville Golf and Country Club [Stein Mart Fashion Show].

• Tuesday, 26 October — Military Officers Wives

(MOW) Luncheon—Gainesville Golf and Country Club

2010 Officers and Directors President Candy Gleason First VP Carter Nute (Capt, USN Ret) Second VP Jerry Kennedy (Capt, USN Ret) Treasurer Nicklous Ross (Capt, USN Ret) Secretary Vacant Directors Paul Albritton (BGen, USAF Ret) Kirk Kirkland (Maj, USAF Ret) Jerry Kirkpatrick (Capt, USN Ret) Mayer Littman (Col, USAF Ret) Mickey Smith (Capt, USN Ret) George Snyder (LCdr, USN Ret) Walt Visniski (Cdr, USN Ret) Committees Legislative Walt Visniski (Cdr, USN Ret) Membership Roger Pierce (Maj, USAF Ret) New Members/Sponsors Jim Dougherty (Col, USAF Ret) Newsletter Jim Gleason (Col, USA Ret)

(352)333-8974 gleason6@cox.net (352) 335-1293 ccnute@earthlink.net (386) 462-3967 j.p.kennedy@att.net (352) 331-7958 nross@aol.com (386) 462-7160 jalbri7160@aol.com (352) 332-8421 kirkland11@cox.net (352) 375-9985 kdpclaw@aol.com (352) 331-4676 mayerlittman@gmail.com (352) 376-6611 mickey@acceleration.net (352) 372-9872 g_snyder@bellsouth.net (352) 331-8553 wvisniski@cox.net (352) 331-8553 wvisniski@cox.net (352) 378-7063 roger@piercepages .com (352) 692-4302 jamesd@fts-llc.com (352) 333-8974 gleason6@cox.net

Chapter Board Meeting

Date: Monday, 8 February Time: 7:30PM Location: Queen of Peace Church,10900 SW 24th Avenue [Enter the Church, and follow meeting signs to the right]

All Members, Auxiliary Members, and Spouses are welcome.

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Date: February 11th (Thursday) Piano Music

Location: Gainesville Golf and Country Club

Time: Social Hour with Open Cash Bar at 6:00pm, followed by Dinner at 6:30pm

Menu: Plated Dinner (Beef Tips or Chicken Marsala) with mixed green salad/sliced tomatoes, green beans almandine, rolls and butter, and Chef’s dessert. Coffee, tea, and sodas included. Name of Member/Spouse: _____________________________________________________________ Number of Reservations: Beef Tips ________ Chicken Marsala ______ Total Amount Enclosed ($21 per person): __________, or circle “Charge to my GGCC Account” [We need reservations by Tuesday, February 9th in order to give the Club our final headcount — call Candy Gleason at 333-8974 if you have any problem with this deadline]

Return this portion with your check payable to MOAA , Not Later Than February 9th.

(Clip)

Gainesville Chapter, MOAA P.O. Box 142423 Gainesville, FL 32614-2423 (Clip)

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Legislative Update By Walt Visniski (Cdr, USN Ret)

Locked doors in Congress (transparency?)…the mi-nority party not permitted its input on legislation that will impact more than 16% of the economy? There is so much going on in Washington that I hesitate to mention or speculate on any of it. But much of it is critical to not only the military family and seniors, but to all citizens. Congress was supposed to address a fix for the Medi-care/Tricare doctor reimbursement problem, and the Medicare therapy cap, in its major health bill. As of this writing, the health “reform” bill is in limbo, but action on these two items CANNOT wait. Medicare and Tricare payments to doctors will be cut 21% as of March 1, 2010! Payments for speech, physical and occupational therapy have already been capped at $1,860 a year as of January 1, 2010. Unless Congress acts quickly, these cuts likely will devastate Medicare and TRICARE patients’ health care access. The corollary problem here is that doctors may NOT treat Medicare patients (including Tricare-for-Life), if their reimbursement is so low. Additionally, even if the big increases in Medicare workload included in the health “reform” package do not become law, millions of baby boomers will be-come eligible in this decade. This means Congress will have no choice but to make further changes soon. Will we have higher Medicare taxes, reduced benefits, and rationed care? Meanwhile, the budget deficit and national debt are rising at unprecedented levels, which means just hav-ing to borrow more money to fund growing health-benefit needs. So, there will be tremendous pressure in coming years to cut government spending in virtu-ally every area to free up more funds for those critical needs. That means tremendous pressure on the De-fense budget, which means a renewal of all the threats we encountered during previous tight budget year: force cutbacks, pay-raise caps, COLA delays, higher health care fees, commissary threats and more.

What can we do? It is essential for us to support na-tional MOAA, as they are on the scene, and do have access and input. We can send cards/letters/phone calls to our congressional representatives, on our own and as suggested by MOAA. Military Officer’s magazine. Please read the articles that affect all of us. The section entitled ”Legislative Update” is most important. If any postcards or letters are included, please sign (affix proper postage) and mail them . Remember the Florida’s Council 2010 Convention in Fort Myers, 21-23 May 2010. It sounds like a great event, and all are invited. As has been stated before, on these controversial po-litical subjects, MOAA’s concerns are the issues, and not the politics; I am trying to abide by this policy. In this update, I have paraphrased some of the concerns expressed by Col Strobridge of MOAA in his article, Scared Straight on Health Care. His way of putting forth these concerns is more tactful and PC than mine might be.

Legislative Issues and Updates

Important Action Alerts from MOAA In his Legislative Update above, Walt Visniski urges you to send postcards or letters included with the MOAA magazine. MOAA also has important Action Alerts online, allowing you to email the appropriate Senators or House Members. Below are instructions for doing so, and the current three Ac-tion Alerts that need your attention now:

How to email your letter in about 2 minutes or less • MOAA website: www.moaa.org • Put Cursor on “Legislative Action” (top left

hand corner of MOAA website homepage). See “Issues and Updates”. Find “Action Alerts”.

• Click on “Action Alerts” — then just follow the

user friendly guidance. • Call Jim Gleason at (352) 333-8974 for help

[Continued on page 5]

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I am writing to urge you to pass legislation to con-tinue the Medicare therapy cap exception in 2010. Years ago, as a cost-saving measure, Congress

capped Medicare payments for physical, speech, and occupational therapy at $1,860 per year. Con-gress has recognized that this is inadequate to cover the cost of needed care for many victims of stroke and other disabling conditions, and so has approved an annual waiver for cases of "medical necessity."

Unfortunately the waiver expired on Dec. 31, 2009, leaving many Medicare therapy patients with substantial out-of-pocket costs. Please pass legislation that would continue the

Medicare therapy cap exception in 2010.

You can send an email with the following text to our Senators and Congressman by following the instructions on the previous page (page 4)

You can send an email with the following text to our Senators and Congressman by following the instructions on the previous page (page 4)

Repeal Medicare Therapy Caps The Medicare therapy cap excep-tion expired on December 31 2009, leaving many Medicare therapy pa-

tients with substantial out-of-pocket costs. Years ago, as a cost-saving measure, Congress capped Medicare payments for physical, speech, and occupa-tional therapy at $1,860 per year. Congress has recog-nized that this is inadequate to cover the cost of needed

care for many victims of stroke and other disabling con-ditions, and so has approved an annual waiver for cases of "medical necessity." Please send a MOAA-suggested message urging your legislators to pass legislation extending the therapy cap

exception.

I am writing to urge you to do all you can to se-cure prompt Senate passage of H.R. 3961, the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009.

Unless the Senate does so, Medicare and TRI-CARE payments to doctors will be cut 21% as of March 1, 2010 -- and a cumulative 40% over the next five years. H.R. 3961 (already passed by the House) would repeal this flawed formula and replace it with

one that puts an emphasis on primary and pre-ventive care services. Without this fix, large numbers of doctors will stop seeing elderly and military patients.

Please do everything in your power to ensure the Senate passes HR 3961 and protects health care access for America's seniors and military beneficiaries.

Protect Military/VA Beneficiar-ies Under Health Reform

As Congress works to resolve differ-

ences between the two versions of health reform legislation passed by the House and Senate, it's impor-

tant to ensure the final version includes provisions to ensure the final law will not negatively impact military or VA health care beneficiaries.

Please enter your ZIP code to send a MOAA-suggested message urging your legislators to include specific language to hold TRICARE, TRICARE For Life, and VA beneficiaries will be held harmless in the final health care reform legislation.

You can send an email with the following text to our Senators and Congressman by following the instructions on the previous page (page 4)

I am writing to urge you to ensure that final ne-gotiations on health reform legislation do not adversely affect military and VA beneficiaries.

Specifically, please ensure the final legislation does not affect the authority of DoD and VA to run their existing programs, including TRICARE For Life for older military beneficiaries. In addi-tion, the final legislation should explicitly ex-empt military and VA beneficiaries from being taxed on the value of those health care benefits.

[Continued on page 6]

Stop 21% Medicare/TRICARE Payment Cut Unless Congress changes current

law, Medicare and TRICARE pay-ments to doctors will be reduced 21% effective March 1, 2010. (The

cut was originally scheduled for Jan. 1, but legislation approved in December deferred the effective date for 60 days.)

The Senate needs to pass H.R. 3961, which the House has already passed, to fix the flawed statutory payment formula. Without that relief, such dramatic payments cuts will cause many doctors to stop seeing Medicare and TRICARE patients.

Please send your Senators a MOAA-recommended email urging them to make this essential fix.

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The VA Homeless Veteran’s Program.

You can donate the following kinds of goods by calling Mindy Duncan, who works with

Vianne Marchese (our speaker at the June 2009 Luncheon). Members of our Chapter have donated goods, and we also have made a monetary donation to this program.

dishes, linens, towels, utensils, furniture, cleaning products, personal hygiene (new) products, sheets, blankets, pillow cases [Anything that a homeless Vet with nothing can use when going into an apartment would be a good donation].

You can deliver small items. Mindy will make arrangements with you for the pickup of furniture or large items.

The address below is a new one, so please note it. The VA program received

funding to renovate the building at this address. It is newly renovated, and will house about 40 Veterans who are in need of institutional care prior to be-

ing placed in an apartment.

Mindy’s contact information is as follows: Mindy Duncan Telephone: (352) 379-7461, Ex-tension 1227 Address: 1604 SE 3rd Avenue

Directions to the VA Facility: Williston Rd to Right on E Uni-versity, Right on SE Hawthorne Rd (SR 20), Right on SE 15th Street, Left on SE 3d Avenue to 1604 SE 3d Avenue

The unique military and VA health care systems are essential offsets to the unique sacrifices ex-perienced by career service personnel and those disabled by service.

Please ensure that whatever Congress does on national health reform does not undermine that important standard.

Action Alerts, continued

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NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH National Eye Institute

Vision Loss from Eye Diseases Will Increase as Americans Age

With the aging of the population, the number of Americans with major eye diseases is increasing, and vision loss is becoming a major public health problem. By the year 2020, the number of people who are blind or have low vision is projected to increase substantially. These findings appear in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

Blindness or low vision affects 3.3 million Americans age 40 and over, or one in 28, according to study authors. This figure is projected to reach 5.5 million by the year 2020. The study reports that low vision and blindness increase significantly with age, particularly in people over age 65. People 80 years of age and older currently make up eight percent of the population, but account for 69 percent of blindness. The study provides the most robust and up-to-date estimates available of the burden of visual impair-ment. It was sponsored by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the Federal government's National Institutes of Health (NIH).

"Blindness and low vision can lead to loss of independence and reduced quality of life," said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., Director of the NIH. "As our population lives longer, eye disease will be an ever greater concern. These data under-score NIH's commitment to the support of vision research that will prevent, delay, and possibly cure eye diseases."

The study identifies age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, cataract, and diabetic retinopathy as the most common eye diseases in Americans age 40 and over. The leading cause of blindness among white Americans is AMD, accounting for 54 percent of all blindness. Among African Americans, the leading causes of blindness are cataract and glaucoma. Among Hispanics, glaucoma is the most common cause of blindness. The study authors em-phasize the importance of annual comprehensive eye ex-aminations in preventing and/or delaying eye disease for those at higher risk for blindness, such as those over age 65, people with diabetes, or African Americans over age 40.

Study authors provide estimates of the number of Ameri-cans with each disease. The authors say that due largely to the aging of the population, the prevalence of low vision and blindness will increase markedly by 2020.

There were other significant findings from the study:

The National Eye Institute (NEI) conducts and supports research that leads to sight-saving treatments and plays a key role in reducing visual impairment and blindness. The NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser-vices.

• AMD is strongly associated with increasing age, particularly after age 60. AMD rises dramati-cally in whites over age 80; more than one in 10 white Americans over age 80 has vision loss from AMD.

• Glaucoma is almost three times as common in African Americans as in whites.

• The prevalence of glaucoma rises rapidly in Hispanics over age 65.

• Cataract is the leading cause of low vision among all Americans, responsible for about 50

Medical Corner Eye Disease Prevalence and Projections

(Number of Adults 40 Years and Older in the U.S.)

* Another 7.3 million people are at substantial risk for

vision loss from AMD

Current Esti-mates

(in millions)

2020 Projec-tions

(in millions)

Advanced Age-Related Macu-lar Degenera-tion

(With Associated Vision Loss)

1.8* 2.9

Glaucoma 2.2 3.3

Diabetic Reti-nopathy

4.1 7.2

Cataract 20.5 30.1

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Symptoms of Dry Macular Degenera-tion By Mayo Clinic staff

Dry macular degeneration usually develops gradually and

painlessly. You may notice these vision changes:

• The need for increasingly bright light when reading or

doing close work

• Increasing difficulty adapting to low light levels, such

as when entering a dimly lit restaurant

• Increasing blurriness of printed words

• A decrease in the intensity or brightness of colors

• Difficulty recognizing faces

• Gradual increase in the haziness of your overall visio

• Blurred or blind spot in the center of your visual field

combined with a profound drop in the sharpness

(acuity) of your central vision

Your vision may falter in one eye while the other eye re-

mains fine for years. You may not notice any or much

change because your good eye compensates for the weak

one. Your vision and lifestyle begin to be dramatically af-

fected when this condition develops in both eyes.

Hallucinations

Additionally, some people with macular degeneration may

experience visual hallucinations as their vision loss be-

comes more severe. These hallucinations may include un-

usual patterns, geometric figures, animals or even faces.

You might be afraid to discuss these symptoms with your

doctors or friends and family for fear you'll be considered

crazy. However, such hallucinations aren't a sign of mental

illness. In fact, they're so common that there's a name for

this phenomenon — Charles Bonnet syndrome.

When to see a doctor

See your eye doctor — particularly after age 50 — if:

• You notice changes in your central vision

• Your ability to see colors and fine detail becomes

impaired

One way to monitor your eyes to determine if you may

need to visit your eye doctor is to check your vision regu-

larly using an Amsler grid. This simple test may help you

detect changes in your sight that you otherwise may not

notice. Here's how to perform the Amsler grid test:

• Hold the grid 14 inches (about 36 centimeters) in front

of you in good light. Use your corrective glasses or reading

glasses if you normally wear them.

• Cover one eye.

• Look directly at the center dot with your uncovered

eye. While looking at this dot, determine whether all of the

lines of the grid appear straight, uninterrupted and have

the same contrast.

• Repeat the above steps with your other eye.

• If any part of the grid is missing or looks wavy, blurred

or dark, contact your eye doctor immediately.

Medical Corner continued

Vision with macular degeneration

As macular degeneration develops, clear, nor-

mal vision (shown left) becomes impaired by a

general haziness. With advanced macular de-

generation, a blind spot forms at the center of

your visual field (shown right). See page 9 for

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Amsler grid

May They Rest in Peace Colonel (USAF, Ret) John Oberg LTC (USA, Ret) Frederick (Fred) Hill Mrs. Elizabeth “Tib” Heffelfinger Our deepest sympathy to the families. [We were notified by members, and were able to provide timely email notice to all members who receive the Ea-gles Eye by email. Please continue to provide us with notice of illnesses and deaths].

Do You Know CHAPTER MEMBERS doing unsung Volunteer work?

Email gleason6@cox.net with information for the newsletter or call Candy at (352)333-8974.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Medical Corner continued

Members Recovering Our thoughts and prayers are with Sue DeWitt who is recovering from shoulder and hip surgery; and with Berness Whitmire-Yelle who is recovering from a leg injury.

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Chapter Membership Application

Full Name: _______________________________ Rank: ___________________________________ Service: __________________________________ ____Retired ____Reserve ____Active Duty ____Widow (er)* ____Former Officer ____National Guard ____Regular Mailing Address: __________________________ ________________________________________ E-mail:__________________________________ Phone: __________________________________ Birth date: _______________________________ Spouse’s Name: __________________________ Spouse’s Birth date:________________________ ____Member of MOAA ____Not a member of MOAA MOAA # (if known):_______________________ ____Volunteer to be Chapter Officer/Director ____ Volunteer to be on Chapter Committee(s) Signature: ________________________________ * Fill in your own name, address, etc. and show deceased spouse’s rank and service.

Annual Membership (1 Jan through 31 Dec) is $15.

Mail completed form with check for $15 (payable to MOAA) to: Gainesville Chapter, MOAA, PO Box 142423, Gainesville, 32614

May 21 – 23 are the dates for the MOAA Flor-

ida Council of Chapters annual convention.

Join us in beautiful Southwest Florida at the

Crowne Plaza hotel in Ft. Myers. See what

other parts of your state have to offer! We

have beaches famous for their shells at Sani-

bel, an archaeological dig at a Calusa Indian

village site, wild nature viewing at Ding Dar-

ling nature preserve, and the Edison-Ford Es-

tates, to name just a few of the things to see

and do.

Give yourself a special present this year –

register for the 2010 convention and make

your holiday fun last all the way to May! You

can make it a mini-vacation by adding on a

few days on either end of the conference for

the same price, and our chapter will set up

tours to local places for groups of 20 or more.

We can even arrange for a charter fishing

tour at $75.00/person (normally $120.00) for

Friday May 21 or Sunday May 23, 6 person 6 person 6 person 6 person

limitlimitlimitlimit, so contact us right away to reserve a

spot if you’re interested in that one, and

we’re working on a golf outing at The Dunes

golf course on Sanibel Island.

John Snyder, our Florida Council of Chapters

webmaster, is going to set up a computer to

help anyone who can use hands-on assis-

tance with the Florida Council of Chapters

website, or how to build your own chapter

web site and hook it into the FCOC one, and

will try to answer any computer questions

you have, so write them down and bring them

with you. He’s volunteering his personal time

to do this – thanks, John!

For details and registration form, go to the

Florida Council of Chapters website

www.moaafl.org, click on the “convention”

tab, then choose “2010” convention or you

can contact Jim Conner at 239-542-5627 or

jmcfl@comcast.net. We can even mail a form

to you complete with return addressed enve-

lope if you prefer. [Note: All Gainesville Chap-

ter Members, Auxiliary Members. and

spouses are welcome]

2010 Florida Council of Chapters (FCOC)

Convention

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We Thank Our Sponsors!!