Dental & optical benefits for the self-employed
Good news. From 28 October 2017 the Treatment Benefit Scheme, run by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP), has been extended to cover self-employed people who pay class S PRSI.
Class S relates to self-employed people, such as farmers, certain company directors, sole traders and certain people with income from investments, rents and maintenance, where the income is €5,000 or more a year from all sources.
Free glasses and subsidised teeth-cleaning are now available if you are one of the self-employed people able to claim.
Dependent spouses or partners are also covered. You get a free eyesight test, once every second calendar year. (Sight tests for driving licences are not covered.)
You can get a payment every second calendar year towards either one pair each of reading and distance spectacles, or one pair of bifocal or varifocals.
You may have to pay anything over €42 if you choose a more expensive frame, but basic frames are free. From talking to my own optician, it seems that there are basic, plastic frames in a choice of three colours (similar to what’s available to medical card holders). If you get standard lenses (no special coatings, etc) and the basic frames, the glasses are free.
The dental payment of €42 can go to periodontal treatment (treating inflamed gums and bone), or to a scale and polish.
You can also avail of a grant towards hearing aids to the tune of €500 per hearing aid once every four years with €100 towards repairs over that time too.
Ask your accountant if you are not sure what class social insurance contributions you have paid and how many weeks contributions you have made and see www.welfare.ie for all the information and lists of dentists and opticians/optomotrists in your area that are on the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection’s panels.
FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT OF IRELAND’S ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS
Professor Mary Horgan has now been elected president of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. She is the first woman in its 350-year history to become president.
She will serve a three-year term and intends to focus on medical training and education over the course of her presidency.
Professor Horgan is a consultant physician in infectious disease and internal medicine at Cork University Hospital.
Five TOP TIPS FOR A HEALTHY
MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEM
The National Dairy Council (NDC) and Cappagh Hospital have launched a new booklet entitled Bone, Muscle and Joint Health.
The booklet covers the role of nutrition in bone, muscle and joint health, and also gives tips for preparation for and recovery after orthopaedic surgery.
As well as mentioning how osteoporosis can be avoided, it offers these five tips for a healthy musculoskeletal system.
• Staying strong: Weight-bearing, resistance-style exercises are particularly important for bone and muscle health. Examples include skipping, running, tennis, dancing, brisk hill walking or simply climbing stairs.• Stretching: Exercises such as stretching, pilates or yoga can be particularly beneficial for posture and supple joints. Stronger core muscles (abdominals and back) improve balance, helping to prevent falls.• A healthy body weight: Being either underweight or overweight can have a very negative impact on musculoskeletal health. • Smoking and alcohol: Give up smoking and drink alcohol in moderation.• Nutrition: a balanced diet which provides adequate nutrients and vitamins is essential.SHINGLES JAB ADVICE
People aged 70-78 are being reminded by the Public Health Agency in NI that they are eligible to receive the shingles vaccine.
Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox and around 1,000 people in their 70s will get shingles every year.
The chickenpox virus remains in your system, but can be reactivated – as shingles – if your immune system is weakened. Around 25% of adults will get shingles at some point in their lives.
Note: You only need to get the shingles vaccine once.
FACULTY OF PAEDIATRICS IN FAVOUR OF HPV VACCINATION
Cervical cancer can and does occur as a direct consequence of HPV infection, says Dr Raymond Barry, dean of the faculty of paediatrics, and he advises parents to take the opportunity to protect their daughters by availing of the HPV vaccine in schools.
“Given the very strong research evidence of the safety and effectiveness of the HPV vaccine, the faculty strongly recommends parents to consent to having their daughters vaccinated.
“The proven efficacy of the vaccine is such that studies in Scotland, Sweden and Australia have shown that the risk of vaccinated girls developing cervical cancer has fallen by up to 90% compared with those who have not been vaccinated,” he said.
At present, 6,000 Irish women need treatment every year because of the HPV virus.
“Up to 300 will get cervical cancer and 90 will die,” he said.
See www.hpv.ie for more information.
NEW WALK-IN MyMEDICAL CLINIC IN CHERRYWOOD, DUBLIN
A new urgent care walk-in service is now available at MyMedical in Cherrywood Business Park, Dublin 18 (southside, near Loughlinstown Hospital), Monday to Friday.
Common complaints like high temperatures, animal bites and allergies are treated, along with minor sporting injuries, infections and rashes.
It costs €55 and patients will be seen in under an hour.
Other last-minute services, such as smear checks, travel vaccinations and STI testing, are also available.
Dental services are also offered, at competitive prices.
See www.mymedical.ie
DID YOU KNOW THAT
Smoking figures in the North of Ireland have dropped by 2%. Now only 20% of the population there smoke – the lowest figure since 1983. For info on how to stop, see www.want2stop.info or www.quit.ie
Winter tip
Washing your hands frequently is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of infection like colds and flu.
MENINGITIS B REMINDER
Last Christmas, we featured the story of Mary Jo O’Dea from Athenry in Co Galway who had lost her daughter, Denise, to Meningococcal B septicaemia in 1995, at the age of 24.
Denise was just about to graduate as a chemical engineer at Cork Institute of Technology, when she became very ill with this bacterial infection and died within a short time. Meeting Mary Jo at this year’s Women and Agriculture Conference, she reminded me of the importance of awareness of Men-B and that a vaccine against it is available privately now.
“It is the most prevalent strain of meningitis in Ireland now,” she says, “and one in 10 of those who get it die with it. People think they are covered because they have the Men-C vaccine, but they’re not.”
Preparing for her conferring and living in a new part of the city where she hadn’t yet found a GP, Denise initially believed she had the flu and was extremely ill by the time she got to hospital.
Still coming to terms with the shock of her daughter’s sudden death, Mary Jo O’Dea believes that older children and young adults should have the meningitis B vaccine. Babies are now vaccinated against Men-C and Men-B as part of the Primary Childhood Immunisation Scheme in Ireland since 2013, but anyone older than that isn’t covered for Men-B.
Mary Jo felt so strongly about this that she paid €680 to have her three grandchildren vaccinated against it.
“Meningitis B can kill – that’s the message I want to reiterate. If it could happen to Denise, it could happen to anyone. Denise didn’t have any rash – not everyone gets one.”
Intravenous antibiotics are the main treatment for Men-B and Men-B is a medical emergency.
Symptoms of meningitis develop suddenly (in any order) and include:
• Fever.• Nausea.• Headache.• A blotchy rash that won’t fade when a glass is rolled over it (not everyone with Men-B gets this).• A stiff neck.• Dislike of bright lights.• Drowsiness or unresponsiveness.• Seizures. Mary Jo is lobbying for the vaccination to be given to older children and young adults for free, and is asking students particularly to watch out for these symptoms among their friends and not assume that they just have flu. Seek medical advice.
GIVEBLOOD.IE SCHOOLS PACK LAUNCHED
Secondary school teacher Therese Glennon and her students at Pobalscoil Neasáin in Baldoyle helped launch the new Giveblood.ie schools education pack recently.
The pack is designed for senior cycle teachers to deliver a fun, informative and interactive class aimed at raising awareness for students of the need for blood donation, educate them about its benefits for all patients, from young babies to older people, and discuss the dos and don’ts of blood donation.
Therese started giving blood when she turned 18 and encourages her own students to do likewise – when they are old enough.
“I think the schools pack is an amazing idea. By introducing young people to the topic of blood donation at an early age, we want them to realise it’s not just something older people do, but that they too from the age of 18 can regularly save lives,” she said.
Therese and her class helped make two short videos to publicise the education initiative and these can be viewed at www.giveblood.ie, where teachers and students can download the schools pack itself.
In addition, a hard copy of the pack has been sent to over 700 secondary schools nationwide, and a social media campaign #EveryOneCounts has taken place.
Paul McKinney, IBTS operations director, believes that it is vital that more new and younger donors are gained to maintain blood supplies in hospitals.
“If we can get younger people to start donating early, by the time they reach their mid-20s they will understand the importance of giving blood, and it is then something they make part of their normal routine. But if we don’t reach them at an early age, it can be something that just doesn’t register as an important thing to do. We are confident senior cycle teachers will see this as something of interest and worthwhile for their students.”
PROSTATE CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
Approximately 3,300 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. This means that one in seven men will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime.
Movember is the only global charity focused on men’s health. In Ireland, Movember is the primary contributor to the Irish Cancer Society’s prostate cancer initiatives. Funds raised help provide information, support and care to those affected by prostate cancer, as well as funding vital cancer research.
Getting involved is easy. Simply sign up at Movember.com and fundraise by:
• Growing a moustache.• Taking the Move Challenge and getting active.• Hosting an event.• Making a donation.For more information on cancer information and support, visit www.cancer.ie. The health Manual For Men is available from www.cancer.ie/menshealth, Irish Cancer Society Daffodil Centres, Boots Stores, or call the Cancer Nurseline on freephone 1800-200700 to receive a free copy. CL
Dental & optical benefits for the self-employed
Good news. From 28 October 2017 the Treatment Benefit Scheme, run by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP), has been extended to cover self-employed people who pay class S PRSI.
Class S relates to self-employed people, such as farmers, certain company directors, sole traders and certain people with income from investments, rents and maintenance, where the income is €5,000 or more a year from all sources.
Free glasses and subsidised teeth-cleaning are now available if you are one of the self-employed people able to claim.
Dependent spouses or partners are also covered. You get a free eyesight test, once every second calendar year. (Sight tests for driving licences are not covered.)
You can get a payment every second calendar year towards either one pair each of reading and distance spectacles, or one pair of bifocal or varifocals.
You may have to pay anything over €42 if you choose a more expensive frame, but basic frames are free. From talking to my own optician, it seems that there are basic, plastic frames in a choice of three colours (similar to what’s available to medical card holders). If you get standard lenses (no special coatings, etc) and the basic frames, the glasses are free.
The dental payment of €42 can go to periodontal treatment (treating inflamed gums and bone), or to a scale and polish.
You can also avail of a grant towards hearing aids to the tune of €500 per hearing aid once every four years with €100 towards repairs over that time too.
Ask your accountant if you are not sure what class social insurance contributions you have paid and how many weeks contributions you have made and see www.welfare.ie for all the information and lists of dentists and opticians/optomotrists in your area that are on the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection’s panels.
FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT OF IRELAND’S ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS
Professor Mary Horgan has now been elected president of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. She is the first woman in its 350-year history to become president.
She will serve a three-year term and intends to focus on medical training and education over the course of her presidency.
Professor Horgan is a consultant physician in infectious disease and internal medicine at Cork University Hospital.
Five TOP TIPS FOR A HEALTHY
MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEM
The National Dairy Council (NDC) and Cappagh Hospital have launched a new booklet entitled Bone, Muscle and Joint Health.
The booklet covers the role of nutrition in bone, muscle and joint health, and also gives tips for preparation for and recovery after orthopaedic surgery.
As well as mentioning how osteoporosis can be avoided, it offers these five tips for a healthy musculoskeletal system.
• Staying strong: Weight-bearing, resistance-style exercises are particularly important for bone and muscle health. Examples include skipping, running, tennis, dancing, brisk hill walking or simply climbing stairs.• Stretching: Exercises such as stretching, pilates or yoga can be particularly beneficial for posture and supple joints. Stronger core muscles (abdominals and back) improve balance, helping to prevent falls.• A healthy body weight: Being either underweight or overweight can have a very negative impact on musculoskeletal health. • Smoking and alcohol: Give up smoking and drink alcohol in moderation.• Nutrition: a balanced diet which provides adequate nutrients and vitamins is essential.SHINGLES JAB ADVICE
People aged 70-78 are being reminded by the Public Health Agency in NI that they are eligible to receive the shingles vaccine.
Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox and around 1,000 people in their 70s will get shingles every year.
The chickenpox virus remains in your system, but can be reactivated – as shingles – if your immune system is weakened. Around 25% of adults will get shingles at some point in their lives.
Note: You only need to get the shingles vaccine once.
FACULTY OF PAEDIATRICS IN FAVOUR OF HPV VACCINATION
Cervical cancer can and does occur as a direct consequence of HPV infection, says Dr Raymond Barry, dean of the faculty of paediatrics, and he advises parents to take the opportunity to protect their daughters by availing of the HPV vaccine in schools.
“Given the very strong research evidence of the safety and effectiveness of the HPV vaccine, the faculty strongly recommends parents to consent to having their daughters vaccinated.
“The proven efficacy of the vaccine is such that studies in Scotland, Sweden and Australia have shown that the risk of vaccinated girls developing cervical cancer has fallen by up to 90% compared with those who have not been vaccinated,” he said.
At present, 6,000 Irish women need treatment every year because of the HPV virus.
“Up to 300 will get cervical cancer and 90 will die,” he said.
See www.hpv.ie for more information.
NEW WALK-IN MyMEDICAL CLINIC IN CHERRYWOOD, DUBLIN
A new urgent care walk-in service is now available at MyMedical in Cherrywood Business Park, Dublin 18 (southside, near Loughlinstown Hospital), Monday to Friday.
Common complaints like high temperatures, animal bites and allergies are treated, along with minor sporting injuries, infections and rashes.
It costs €55 and patients will be seen in under an hour.
Other last-minute services, such as smear checks, travel vaccinations and STI testing, are also available.
Dental services are also offered, at competitive prices.
See www.mymedical.ie
DID YOU KNOW THAT
Smoking figures in the North of Ireland have dropped by 2%. Now only 20% of the population there smoke – the lowest figure since 1983. For info on how to stop, see www.want2stop.info or www.quit.ie
Winter tip
Washing your hands frequently is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of infection like colds and flu.
MENINGITIS B REMINDER
Last Christmas, we featured the story of Mary Jo O’Dea from Athenry in Co Galway who had lost her daughter, Denise, to Meningococcal B septicaemia in 1995, at the age of 24.
Denise was just about to graduate as a chemical engineer at Cork Institute of Technology, when she became very ill with this bacterial infection and died within a short time. Meeting Mary Jo at this year’s Women and Agriculture Conference, she reminded me of the importance of awareness of Men-B and that a vaccine against it is available privately now.
“It is the most prevalent strain of meningitis in Ireland now,” she says, “and one in 10 of those who get it die with it. People think they are covered because they have the Men-C vaccine, but they’re not.”
Preparing for her conferring and living in a new part of the city where she hadn’t yet found a GP, Denise initially believed she had the flu and was extremely ill by the time she got to hospital.
Still coming to terms with the shock of her daughter’s sudden death, Mary Jo O’Dea believes that older children and young adults should have the meningitis B vaccine. Babies are now vaccinated against Men-C and Men-B as part of the Primary Childhood Immunisation Scheme in Ireland since 2013, but anyone older than that isn’t covered for Men-B.
Mary Jo felt so strongly about this that she paid €680 to have her three grandchildren vaccinated against it.
“Meningitis B can kill – that’s the message I want to reiterate. If it could happen to Denise, it could happen to anyone. Denise didn’t have any rash – not everyone gets one.”
Intravenous antibiotics are the main treatment for Men-B and Men-B is a medical emergency.
Symptoms of meningitis develop suddenly (in any order) and include:
• Fever.• Nausea.• Headache.• A blotchy rash that won’t fade when a glass is rolled over it (not everyone with Men-B gets this).• A stiff neck.• Dislike of bright lights.• Drowsiness or unresponsiveness.• Seizures. Mary Jo is lobbying for the vaccination to be given to older children and young adults for free, and is asking students particularly to watch out for these symptoms among their friends and not assume that they just have flu. Seek medical advice.
GIVEBLOOD.IE SCHOOLS PACK LAUNCHED
Secondary school teacher Therese Glennon and her students at Pobalscoil Neasáin in Baldoyle helped launch the new Giveblood.ie schools education pack recently.
The pack is designed for senior cycle teachers to deliver a fun, informative and interactive class aimed at raising awareness for students of the need for blood donation, educate them about its benefits for all patients, from young babies to older people, and discuss the dos and don’ts of blood donation.
Therese started giving blood when she turned 18 and encourages her own students to do likewise – when they are old enough.
“I think the schools pack is an amazing idea. By introducing young people to the topic of blood donation at an early age, we want them to realise it’s not just something older people do, but that they too from the age of 18 can regularly save lives,” she said.
Therese and her class helped make two short videos to publicise the education initiative and these can be viewed at www.giveblood.ie, where teachers and students can download the schools pack itself.
In addition, a hard copy of the pack has been sent to over 700 secondary schools nationwide, and a social media campaign #EveryOneCounts has taken place.
Paul McKinney, IBTS operations director, believes that it is vital that more new and younger donors are gained to maintain blood supplies in hospitals.
“If we can get younger people to start donating early, by the time they reach their mid-20s they will understand the importance of giving blood, and it is then something they make part of their normal routine. But if we don’t reach them at an early age, it can be something that just doesn’t register as an important thing to do. We are confident senior cycle teachers will see this as something of interest and worthwhile for their students.”
PROSTATE CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
Approximately 3,300 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. This means that one in seven men will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime.
Movember is the only global charity focused on men’s health. In Ireland, Movember is the primary contributor to the Irish Cancer Society’s prostate cancer initiatives. Funds raised help provide information, support and care to those affected by prostate cancer, as well as funding vital cancer research.
Getting involved is easy. Simply sign up at Movember.com and fundraise by:
• Growing a moustache.• Taking the Move Challenge and getting active.• Hosting an event.• Making a donation.For more information on cancer information and support, visit www.cancer.ie. The health Manual For Men is available from www.cancer.ie/menshealth, Irish Cancer Society Daffodil Centres, Boots Stores, or call the Cancer Nurseline on freephone 1800-200700 to receive a free copy. CL
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