Eugene Education Association

2815 Coburg Road • Eugene, OR 97408 • Phone 541-345-0338

TAKE THE 23-1/2 HOUR PLEDGE!

Join the team of 4J employees who are making a commitment to take care of their health and the quality of their lives by taking the 23-1/2 hour pledge.  You can get started in just four simple steps:

• Sign and submit a 23-1/2 hour pledge sheet.
• Watch the short video:  23 and ½ hours:  What is the single best thing we can do for our health?” online.
• Each month, set a daily activity goal and track the number of days you meet your goal.  You don’t have to share your goal with anyone unless you choose to.
• Share your success with others, including the 4J Wellness Committee.

Links to the forms you need and to the video can be found on the 4J benefits webpage: http://www.4j.lane.edu/hr/benefits.  Return your pledge form to Julie Wenzl, Diana McElhinney, or Janis Brew in the Ed Center and receive a pedometer to help track your success!

4J WELLNESS CLINIC

The 4J Wellness Clinic has reopened and our healthcare team is ready to see you!  Cascade Health Solutions (CHS) is our new care provider at the clinic but the phone number is unchanged (541-686-1427).  If you have not yet had a chance to do so, you should complete an Authorization to Disclose Patient Information Form, which is available on the 4J website: http://www.4j.lane.edu/hr/4jwellnessclinic.

4J FLU SHOT CLINICS

Each year, experts from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other institutions study virus samples collected from around the world.  They identify the influenza viruses that are the most likely to cause illness during the upcoming flu season so that people can be protected against them through vaccination.  Based on those findings, the 2012-2013 seasonal influenza vaccine will be made from the following three vaccine viruses:  an H1N1 virus, an H3N2 virus, and an influenza B virus.

While the H1N1 virus used to make the 2012-2013 flu vaccine is the same virus that was included in the 2011-2012 vaccine, the recommended influenza H3N2 and B vaccine viruses are different from those in the 2011-2012 influenza vaccine for the Northern Hemisphere.

The CDC recommends that all people 6 months of age and older should get a flu vaccine.  However, our particular vaccine is not approved for children under 10, so if you have small children you would like to get vaccinated, you will need to contact your pediatrician.  Two flu shot clinics will be held in 4J for you to get this year’s vaccination.

Flu shot eligibility extends to:

• all active employees (even those who are not insurance eligible due to less than half-time status)
• all insurance eligible dependents of active employees, including those who have waived coverage
• all retirees and their dependents who are currently covered on the 4J insurance
• student teachers and substitutes (licensed and classified)

Flu shot eligibility does not extend to:

• retirees who are no longer on the 4J insurance
• retiree’s dependents who are not on the 4J coverage (even when the retiree is still covered)

In this case, “dependents” refers to spouses and domestic partners, as well as insurance eligible children age 10 or over.  All children 10-16 years of age must have a parent or guardian with them to be vaccinated.

Flu shot clinics will be held in the Ed Center Auditorium, from 3 PM – 5:30 PM:

• Thursday, October 18
• Tuesday, October 23           

E-mail reminders and flu shot consent forms will be sent prior to each clinic.

The 4J Wellness Clinic will not be giving routine flu shots.  They will have a limited supply of the vaccine for high-risk patients only.

RATES AND DEDUCTIBLES

Medical, vision, pharmacy and dental plans are administered on a plan-year basis.  The new plan year begins October 1, 2012 and goes through September 30, 2013.  The deductible and accruals toward maximum out-of-pocket reset October 1 regardless of whether they were met the previous plan year.  However, if you did not meet your deductible during the previous plan year, any expenses applied to your deductible during the last 3 months of the previous plan year will be carried over and applied to the deductible for the new plan year.

While the new insurance rates take effect October 1, we pay our monthly insurance premiums at the end of the month, not the beginning.  Thus, active employees and retirees still receiving a paycheck will see the rate change reflected in the October 31st paychecks.  Retirees who have arranged for payment from a bank account will see the change in rates in the November 5th ACH payment.

Please check your paycheck or bank statement to verify that you have been charged the correct amount for your insurance elections.

CHOLESTEROL SCREENINGS

The first drop-in cholesterol screening for the 2012-13 school year will occur Wednesday, October 3, 2012.  These quarterly drop-in cholesterol screenings at the 4J Wellness Clinic are done on a first come, first-served basis from 7:00 – 8:00 a.m. and are a fasting cholesterol finger stick, with the results available in about 5 minutes.

Fasting (nothing to eat or drink but plain water for at least 10 – 12 hours) before a blood lipid test is essential to getting an accurate reading.  On a daily basis, the normal range for lipids changes hour to hour depending on recent ingestion of food and drink – the amount of LDL (bad) cholesterol level and triglycerides can be affected by what you’ve recently consumed.  If you aren’t fasting when the blood sample is drawn, only the values for total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol will be usable.

If you have questions about whether it is time to have your cholesterol screened, please consult your health care provider.

For the rest of the 2012 – 2013 school year, the 7:00 a.m. drop-in cholesterol screenings will be available on:

• Wednesday, January 2, 2013
• Wednesday, April 3, 2013
• Wednesday, July 3, 2013

RETIRING THIS YEAR?

If you are considering retirement sometime during or at the end of the school year, there are three simple steps you’ll need to take:  contact PERS to begin your Service Retirement process, contact me (Julie Wenzl) to learn about your 4J retirement benefits, and contact 4J Human Resources to give your official written notice of intent to retire and retirement date.

To get advice regarding your PERS retirement, you’ll need to work with your financial planner or directly with PERS.  4J does not give PERS advice.  The phone number for PERS is 888-320-7377 and the website is http://oregon.gov/PERS/.  You can find a great deal of information on the PERS website, and can download forms and sign up for education sessions as well.

Article 4.10 of our contract specifies that you must give the District at least 60 days notice of your intention to retire:

The District will provide two supplemental retirement plans for eligible unit members. A unit member hired and employed as a bargaining unit member prior to July 1, 1998 and continuously a bargaining unit member until the date of retirement from District employment, is eligible for Supplemental Retirement Plan A.  A bargaining unit member hired and employed on or after July 1, 1998, is eligible for Supplemental Retirement Plan B.  A unit member who elects supplemental retirement must provide the District with at least sixty (60) days advance notice of retirement.  Notice may be revoked or waived with District consent.

Article 4.10.1.b of our contract outlines an additional timeline requirement for plan A retirees:

By April 1st, unit members must give the District Human Resource Department a written commitment which specifies a retirement date if they intend to retire during the period from April 1st through November 15th.  If unit members provide this commitment by April 1st, they shall be advanced two payments of the monthly supplemental retirement stipend in the first month following termination from the District.  If unit members do not provide this commitment by April 1st and retire during the period from April 1st through November 15th, the unit members shall not be paid the monthly supplemental retirement stipend or the District insurance contribution during the first two months following retirement.