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Elderday Adult Day Health Care Lift Line Senior Center Without Limits Learn more at / Obtenga más información en www.CommunityBridges.org or call/ o llame (831) 688-8840 Day services for adults with complex medical conditions Servicios de dia para adultos con condiciones médicas complejas Transportation to medical appointments Transporte a citas médicas Online classes and workshops Clases y talleres virtuales 10 Tips for Healthy Feet Feet are the foundation of our physical and emotional well-being. Healthy feet allow us to walk, play and travel, which is essential to our physical and mental health. Your health is the one thing you can invest in that gives a generous return on investment because it will last a lifetime. Unfortunately, too often are our feet taken for granted until we have pain. By the time pa- tients started to seek my foot & ankle care, there had been years of neglect which may take many more years to restore. The best thing you can do for your feet is give it more attention with these easy self-care tips. Here are 10 easy self- care tips to keep your feet healthy by your local holistic podiatrist: 1. Look at your feet from the top, bottom and in between the toes. Check for calluses, cuts, moles, or changes in shape or quality of your toenails and skin. Knowing what you start with helps you recognize changes to dis- cuss with your podiatrist. 2. Moisturize your feet daily to avoid dry cracking skin that may open and lead to pain or infection. Avoid applying between the toes. 3. Do not soak open skin which can hinder healing or cause infection. 4. Avoid barefoot walk- ing to reduce the risk of cuts, contracting plantar wart or fungus, and foot pain. 5. Make sure your shoes give enough space for your toes to wiggle freely. Cramped toes can lead to deformities like bunion and hammertoes. 6. Trim your toenails straight across the edge of the skin and round the corners, rather than digging into them which can cause an ingrown toenail if a spicule is missed. Make sure each member in the household has their own set of nail clippers to avoid contam- ination. Wipe them clean before and after use with rubbing alcohol. 7. Maintain flexibility in your feet with daily activities like yoga that focuses on stretching and strengthening the foot and calf muscles. 8. Do not use other people's prescription medications for your foot problem. You want to en- sure you have the correct diagnosis with the right medication so check with your podiatrist. 9. Pay attention to your diet. An unbalanced diet can lead to problems in the lower extremity such as chronic pain and inflammation. Stress can even induce problems like warts or Athlete's foot. Reducing refined sugar and processed foods while increasing water intake have huge benefits to your body. Aim to increase plants and lean protein instead. By Tea Nguyen, DPM CEO of Pacific Point Podiatry 10. Endorse profession- al help. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can seem overwhelming but it doesn't have to be that way. There is an abun- dance of resources right at your fingertips to help you with areas that you might need more focus on. As a holistic podiatrist, I aim to help people prevent long term foot problems with preventive foot care and address foot pain and deformity with minimally inva- sive options. In more chronic conditions such as diabetes and neuropa- thy, I adopt a functional medicine approach that looks into the root causes of their foot problem with science-based care so one can maintain their well- ness and prevent devastat- ing complications such as amputations. What's unique about my practice is that I do not contract with insur- ance which allows me to offer options beyond insurance restrictions, such as preventive care and innovative minimally invasive options. This model is called Direct Care and I am excited to be the first independently owned podiatry practice to introduce this to Santa Cruz County. It is my mission to help patients have functional feet so they can continue to have a physically and emotion- ally vibrant life. To schedule a consul- tation with me, visit 831feet.com or call 831- 288-3400. Tea Nguyen, DPM CEO of Pacific Point Podiatry Thank you for voting me as Best Podiatrist for a second time! Adobe Stock photo Saving Money with Medicare Preventive Services A common question we hear from clients at Senior Network Services HICAP program is about reducing Medicare expenses. When folks are on a fixed in- come it makes sense that reducing Medicare costs is an important topic. There are programs within Medicare to help reduce costs for some Medicare benefits, and there are benefits within Medicare to help reduce medical expenses for Medicare beneficiaries. Medicare Part B covers the cost of many Pre- ventive Services. The complete list of preven- tive services can be found at www.medicare.gov., or by calling our HICAP office at (831) 462-5510. Medicare hopes to save money and help seniors save money by preventing or identifying diseases or ailments before they occur. It is important for Medicare beneficiaries to use doctors who accept Medicare assignment when scheduling these preventive services. Some samples of different tests or screenings include cardiovascular disease screening, Lung Cancer screening test, mammo- gram screening, Prostate Cancer screenings, Diabe- tes screening, and Glau- coma Tests. There are also prevention measures such as Diabetes Self-Man- agement training, flu shots, Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program and Hepatitis B shots. There are many more preventive services provided in addi- tion to the few listed here. Again, it is important to be sure that the health care provider accepts Medicare assignment. For some preventive services, the beneficiary may have to pay a deductible or copayment depending on the kind of Medicare plan a person has. Along with the other tests and preventive services there is a yearly "Well- ness" visit. The goal of this visit is to develop a personalized prevention plan to prevent disease based on current health and risk factors. The ben- eficiary pays nothing for this visit if the health care provider accepts Medicare assignment. However, if the health care provider performs any other tests or services at the Well- ness visit, there may be costs involved for those services. Another benefit of the yearly "Wellness" visit is it keeps a patient on a doctor's patient list. A challenge in a smaller community like Santa Cruz County can be find- ing doctors who accept Medicare assignment. Staying on a doctors list can be a health benefit of its own. By Bill Proulx Senior Network Services The Yearly Wellness visit should not be confused with the one-time "Wel- come to Medicare" preventive visit. The "Welcome to Medicare" visit similarly must be with a medical provider who accepts Medicare assignment. This benefit is only available to some- one within 12 months of Medicare Part B enroll- ment. The visit includes a review of someone's health, education about preventive services, in- cluding certain screenings, shots and referrals for care if needed. This visit does not apply to the Part B deductible so there should be no out of pocket cost for the beneficiary. But there could be coinsurance or a Part B deductible payment if the health care provider performs any additional tests or services during the visit that are not included under the Welcome to Medicare benefit. It is important as a patient to communicate clearly with the medical care provider concerning any costs of additional tests or services. Lastly, one preventive immunization not cov- ered by Medicare Part B is the Shingles shot. The Shingles shot is covered by Part D prescription plans. In Santa Cruz County there are twen- ty-six stand -alone Part D plans. Starting in 2023 people with Medicare will be able to receive all recommended vaccines without cost-sharing or deductible payment. This is due to the Benes Act that was passed in 2022. In the past, prior to 2023, folks on Medicare who hadn't paid their deduct- ible for Part D would pay the deductible toward a Shingles vaccine. So, if you know someone who is a Medicare beneficiary and they say they had paid for their Shingles vaccine shots, this is why. Hopefully, the result of this article is a clearer picture of how Medicare preventive services are helping us save money and remain healthier into our retirement years. You can always find more Medicare information and related topics on our Facebook page located at www.facebook.com/ seniornetworkservices. Or you can call HICAP at 831-462-5510 Adobe Stock photo