DON’T HAVE YOUR COVID-19 VACCINE CARD?
HERE’S HOW TO REQUEST YOUR VACCINE INFORMATION
Attached Info
HERE’S HOW TO REQUEST YOUR VACCINE INFORMATION
Attached Info
 Retiree Health Care Fund Meeting
The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Fire and Police Retiree Health Care Fund will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 31, 2021, at the Office of Martin & Drought located at 112 E. Pecan Street, Suite 1616, San Antonio, Texas 78205. If you have any questions, please contact (210) 494-6500.  Former SAPOA President Harold Flammia submitted a hard hitting open letter explaining his reasoning for his decision to quit the SA Fire and Police Health Care Fund). PDF Letter Is Attached. 
www.thefundsa.org Attached is "A Change of Address Form for Retiree's Health Fund" Please fill it out and update your info. and mail it to address if there has been a change.   TO MEMBERS OF THE
FIRE AND POLICE HEALTH FUND May 1, 2021 I have come to the conclusion that if you don’t stay busy at home during this Covid-19 pandemic, you will become a raving lunatic by the time this is all over. I Have read many articles that refer to the many ailments that have sprouted up amongst elderly people that are confined to their homes. You can only walk from room to room, over eat, watch T.V., dream of what was and what it is now. Physical and mental willingness ebbs from a person’s body. You become lethargic and lazy; you wait for this pandemic to be over. Someday it will be over; will you be in shape to continue to do what you used to do? You have to energize yourselves. You have to do what you did before the pandemic; will you be ready? We as a people have to conquer this pestilence; we have to overcome this scourge. You must make up your mind to fight this menace. I think you may be getting an idea where this pep talk is going. Exercise can counteract the negative effects of isolation and confinement stress on the immune function. It is also known that exercise improves the immune responses to infections. I want everybody to receive the absence of Covid-19 with a clear mind and a good working physique. You know that I have written many exercise and health issues in the past. I have written these reports ad nauseum. I intend to continue writing these reports because I want you to be healthy. I’ve told you many times that the first 5-minutes are the hardest. Once you go through the first 5-minute start you will be limber and your mind will coax you to continue. I don’t want you to say that you’re tired, you just finished eating, your knees hurt or that you have a head ache. I’ll give you a personal example of hurt. Both my knees are bone to bone; even walking, the pain is excruciating. My right shoulder had major damage when I dislocated it and the first 5 minutes are very hard for me to start. In spite of all my problems and my aches and pains, I still work out 7 days a week. I work out with weights for and hour and fifteen minutes. After that I walk one mile and sometimes two miles every day. I’m at my computer 6 or 7 hours every day. I just finished writing a 300-page biography of my life. This book is my legacy to my children. I just started writing another book titled; “people that greatly influenced my life.” I am looking forward to a knee replacement on my left leg in the next few months. My greatest fear is that I will have to stop exercising for 1 or 2 weeks. I have sacrificed a lot in my life time; I want you to sacrifice a little of your time so that you can do your daily exercise. Don’t spend your time lamenting what you can’t do. Its just a state of mind; you are the owner of your body. Take care of it, nurture it, don’t let it stay dormant; since your body is a gift from God, you should use it as God intended. COURAGE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL VIRTUES, BECAUSE WITHOUT COURAGE, YOU CANNOT PRACTICE ANY OF THE OTHER VIRTUES CONSISTENTLY. Moral of the story: Courage and gratitude are two of the most important virtues available to man. Courage defines the true character of a man. Courage is what motivates man to forge forward and continue the development and advancement of mankind. It takes a daring man to dream and to persevere. Gratitude is the other virtue that goes hand in hand with the virtue of courage. The virtue of Gratitude is to give recognition and thanks to the individuals that helped you to dare; to dream and to act.  HEALTH by DESIGN
Vaccine appointments are now available for eligible members of the Fund.
 The Health Benefit Fund , 11603 W, Coker Loop #130
Helping with your transition from active duty to retiree, to helping with health care questions, our office is here to make sure San Antonio’s retired Fire and Police Department members take full advantage of their funded benefits. Two important forms attached. All Fund clinics and wellness centers are staffed by Health by Design. Health by Design is a revolutionary health care service who helps define true Well+Being™ as a healthy body, sound mind, and hope-filled spirit that inspires patients to live more productive and rewarding lives. https://www.prefundedsa.org/#faq https://www.prefundedsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/TheFund_Change_Address.pdf Health Report From Henry Trevino
Henry is the Firefighters Health Rep for the Health Benefit Fund and contributes articles to the the Fire Union magazine the "Grapevine". The attachment is info and opinions gathered by Henry.
 Henry Trevino is a Retiree's Health Fund Rep. and is a contributor
to the SA Prof Fire Fighters Union Newsletter. His article attached. COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE The following commentary is my personal opinion. It is not connected to any other organization, including: The Fire and Police Retiree Health Fund, The Fire and Police Pension Fund, the Police Department, the Fire Department, or any other organization. About the Coronavirus, I think about it every day. I have several friends and some of my children and grandchildren who are of the opinion that if they have had the Coronavirus infection in the past, it’s a certainty that they are immune to being infected again by the Coronavirus. I pray that you don’t believe that nonsense. I read an article in the San Antonio Express News about a lady that thought she could not get reinfected. This lady, I will not mention her name, was at a CVS pharmacy and while waiting she decided to take her blood pressure. Her blood pressure was very high. She was admitted to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The hospital insisted on testing her for COVID19. The lady laughed at the hospital team doing the exam. She insisted that she did not have COVID-19 because she had already been infected by COVID-19. The hospital staff kept insisting on taking the test for COVID-19. After being tested, she found out that she was positive for COVID-19. Armed with new antibodies, patients might think they no longer have to take precautions or worry about reinfections. Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada Public Health Laboratory, said that that is not the case. Pandori was part of a team researching the case of a 25-year-old man from Reno Nevada who tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-April and recovered, but got sick again in late May with more severe symptoms. Personally, I am not so scared of being infected by the COVID-19. If you get infected by COVID-19, you either get well or you will die. What I am really scared of is the after effects of the COVID-19 infection. The after effects of the COVID-19 infection may include damage to: liver, kidneys, heart, brain, possibility of strokes, seizures, temporary paralysis, a high risk of developing Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, damage to the lungs, and especially long-term breathing problems. While doing research on the after effects of COVID-19, I ran across important additional information. Guillain-Barre syndrome. This disorder often follows a viral infection. This is a condition in which the immune system attacks the nerves. The condition may be triggered by an acute bacterial or viral infection. Symptoms start as weakness and tingling in the feet and legs that spread to the upper body. Paralysis can occur. Special blood treatments (plasma exchange and immunoglobulin therapy) can relieve symptoms. Physical therapy is needed. The sources for this information are: Mayo Clinic and others. I’ll leave you with this thought. BY ELIZABETH HANES, BSN, NOVEMBER 12, 2020 Let me jump right to business: Everyone needs to wear a face mask in public (and at home if you’re sick) -- even if you’ve already had COVID19. That’s because, while we had hoped that recovering from COVID would provide lifetime immunity -- that it would be a “one and done” type of virus, like measles -- that does not seem to be the case. While we do think there’s immunity for some amount of time for most people after infection with SARS-CoV-2, we still don’t know for sure how immunity works for this particular virus or how long it lasts. Some evidence suggests that a recovered patient’s immunity may fade within weeks or months after infection. We also know there is a possibility you can get infected more than once with the coronavirus. If that happened, you could be reinfected and not know it -- and if you’re not wearing a mask, you run the risk of spreading the virus to others. Bottom line: Even if you’ve been infected with the coronavirus, you still should wear a mask in public (when it becomes safe for you to be around other people again). And remember that masking is only one of the public health practices you should adopt to reduce the spread of this virus. When you’re out, stay at least 6 feet away from other people. Wash your hands frequently or use hand sanitizer regularly. By doing these three simple things, we can prevent more people from becoming sick (maybe more than once) with COVID-19. Henry Trevino
 TO MEMBERS OF THE FIRE AND POLICE HEALTH FUND
FEBRUARY 1, 2021 I have called the vaccination hot line 752 times and never got an answer. My advice; keep trying, now is not the time to give up. The Fire and Police Health Clinics have not received any vaccine supplies to this date. My advice is to keep trying. Anyway, the people that are qualified to get the first shots like me, have nothing else to do than to stay at home and wait for someone to answer the phone. I would like to suggest that all our members get the free vaccine where ever they can find it. I think that it may be quite a while before the Fire and Police Fund clinics get a shipment of vaccine. Keep trying to get an appointment for the vaccine inoculation anywhere you can. When you’re at home with nothing to do but wait, especially when you’re alone, even the lack of sound is deafening. You can go room to room, sit at the dining room table and eat, you can watch television all day, you can talk on the telephone for hours and then wake up the next day and do it all over again. In my humble opinion I suggest that you not create routines; vary your actions, routines and your habits. Try to do something different every day. You can always walk around the block, sit outside in the yard, play with your dog and get some sunshine. Call your neighbors and see what they are doing to pass the day. I buy the San Antonio Express paper every day, not to read the mundane news, but to solve the crossword puzzles. That alone takes me two or three hours to finish. I usually get up a 4 a.m. and do some weight lifting and leg exercise for one hour. I walk one to three miles every day just to buy the newspaper. The next thing I do is to open my computer and check all my emails. I work on the health reports that have to be finished every month. Sometimes I redo the reports all over again just to keep busy. I read a lot of commentary from people that really don’t know what is right or wrong; they should be outside cutting the yard. About a year ago I decided to write a biography about my life; something to leave my family. I figured that three or four pages would be enough to cover my unexciting life. This is one thing that has kept me alive; I’m now going on 350 pages. My family tells me that they know all about my life. When I pass away, they will find out how little they really knew about me. I have two friends that wrote a legacy story about their life. It was intended for their families, but I was fortunate enough to receive a copy. It was so interesting that I finished the book in two days. Those books were a real treasure that the families received. Remember, I have always said that the first paragraph is the hardest one to write. Once you get through the first paragraph the rest of the story will easily evolve. I know you can do it; it’s fun and you may find something that even you didn’t know about yourself. I have been writing adages for several years. Those are some of the short sayings that I usually put at the end of my writings. Right now, I have 239 pages of adages; each page has at least five adages. If it’s too cold outside I walk in my house. I sometimes walk up to 2000 paces. One 1000 paces equates to one mile for me. There’s a lot of turning and going in circles around the inside my house. In order not to maintain my daily routine, I reverse my walk and go the opposite way. This is one good way to pass the time. I pray that all our members do some type of exercise every day; stay flexible and be healthy so that you can function when this pandemic passes into history, and it will, but we must be patient. _____________________________________________________________________ THE BITTEREST TEARS SHED OVER GRAVES ARE FOR WORDS LEFT UNSAID AND DEEDS LEFT UNDONE. (Harriet Beecher Stowe) Moral of the story: Never let words of love or praise stagnate in your mind. Use them lavishly and frequently. Don’t wait for tomorrow, don’t wait for next week, make use of those words. What would have happened if the painter had kept the Mona Lisa unpainted in his mind. Words of love, wisdom and art should never be kept in one’s mind. Use them; do them and that way you will never have to regret of something left undone. Henry Trevino |
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