Organ donation

Employee health fair

Another urgent care center

The whole grain truth

Life insurance

Accessories after cancer

Organ donation
More than 53,000 Americans wait for kidney transplants. Many will die soon without a donor. More than 17,000 need livers and nearly 4,000 need hearts. The United Network for Organ Sharing says more than 80,000 wait hopefully.

In southeast Texas, more than 1,600 are on transplant waiting lists.

Doctors cannot help unless healthy individuals have donated their organs. When the donor dies, transplants are arranged.

Stacy Soltys of Houston was 17 when she died in 1998. Cheryl Soltys ignored her grief to help others by donating her daughter’s heart, liver, kidneys and lungs. Four people live today because of those gifts.

In Houston, LifeGift and The Living Bank educate and motivate potential donors, issue donor cards, and register information to quickly match available organs with patients. These organizations are federally franchised to find donor organs. They send surgical teams to harvest and transport organs.

Computer networks make the process of matching viable organs and people who need them more efficient. But organ transplants still depend on people giving so someone else can live.

“When someone has liver, kidney or heart failure, it’s easy to see the need for donations,” said Dr. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, Houston City Councilwoman. “The key is recognizing that many people are buried with healthy organs that could save lives. We shouldn’t waste opportunities to share life.”

To donate your organs or for more information, call LifeGift, (800) 633-6562, or visit www.lifegift.org. Or call The Living Bank, (800) 528-2971, or go to www.livingbank.org.

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Employee Health Fair
The annual Employee Health Fair is Thursday, Apr. 24, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the George R. Brown Convention Center. HMO Blue Texas and the Houston Employee Wellness Advisory Council sponsor the fair to educate employees about the HMO Blue Texas provider network and other local healthcare providers. Health screenings and wellness information will be available. For more information, contact your department wellness coordinator.

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Another urgent care center
St. Luke’s Minor Emergency Care Center, 5749 San Felipe, is now open 24 hours for urgent situations that need quick attention but don’t require an emergency room. Urgent care copayments are $40 for HMO, $60 for POS, and 30 percent after the deductible for the Out-of-Area plan. Call (713) 267-7100. Also, you can still use St. Luke’s Minor Emergency Care Center, 2727 W. Holcombe. Call (713) 442-0249.

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The truth, the whole (grain) truth, and nothing but the truth
If you run out of energy by midmorning, eating whole grains for breakfast instead of donuts or sugary cereals can help. They’re rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and dietary fiber.

To get the vital bran and germ of the grains, check the ingredients on commercial bakery or breakfast products. Whole wheat and multigrain on the front label mean nothing unless the ingredients list whole wheat or some other whole grain as the first ingredient. Without that, the main ingredient is usually enriched flour and the food is high in sugar and fat.

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Life insurance
When you marry, divorce, give birth, have a death in your family or other changes in your family status, you should review and update your life-insurance beneficiary.

A divorce voids your ex-spouse as beneficiary. After the divorce, you must redesignate your ex-spouse for him or her to remain your beneficiary.

If you die before changing your beneficiary, your contingent beneficiary will receive the proceeds of your life insurance, even if you have remarried. If you have not designated a contingent beneficiary, the plan document defines which family members will receive payment.

When employees retire, their city-sponsored life insurance is reduced to $5,000, and their dependents are ineligible for group life insurance. Employees may convert the remainder of their coverage and all of their dependents’ life insurance to individual policies.

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Accessories after cancer
The HMO, POS, and out-of-area plans cover the initial breast prostheses and up to two surgical brassieres after a mastectomy for breast cancer. For all cancers, one wig is covered up to $300, if needed because of chemotherapy or radiation treatments. HMO Blue Texas must pre-approve these benefits.

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