Looking to take an OHSIM class? There’s one September 12th and 13th and now couldn’t be a better time to enroll!!

INNOVATIONS is offering to pay 100% of the class for 2 RNs that are committed to working full-time and 50% for 2 RNs interested in part-time. Decisions are based on the nurse’s seniority, prior work experience and work history. For all others interested in attending, the class is offered at a cost of $600.

The financial outlook of the Social Security program appears to be more positive then previously reported, but reforms are still urgently needed to maintain the program, according to the 2002 annual report of the Social Security Board of Trustees. The report notes that the Social Security (old age, survivors, and disability, or OASDI) trust fund is projected to remain solvent until 2041, which is three years longer then had been forecast in 2001. However, the trustees added that the trust fund continues “to fail our test of financial balance by a wide margin.”

The Social Security trust funds for old age and survivors insurance and for disability insurance are projected to provide benefits through 2043 and 2028, respectively. However, the retirement of the baby boom generation beginning in 2010, combined with the decline in the number of workers, will strain the trust funds through increased expenses and lower tax revenues. The trustees suggested that the Social Security trust funds could be balanced by either a permanent 13% reduction in benefits, or a 15% increase in payroll taxes, or a combination of the two.

As of the end of 2001, 39 million individuals were receiving old age and survivors benefits and 6.9 million were receiving disability income benefits. Trust fund assets as of the end of 2001 were more then $1.21 trillion for the OASDI program.

Bank One is running a promotion form August 1st to September 22nd that you can take advantage of. You can receive Target Store Gift Cards valued up to $200.00 when additional accounts are opened with Bank One. The more products you sign up for, the more you can get with Target Gift Cards. For more information contact:

Curt Harder
Bank One at Work
Office: 248-738-6155
Fax: 248-738-6109
Curtis_o_harder@bankone.com

Mike Roth
Bank One at Work
Office: 248-738-6156
Fax: 248-734-6109
mike_roth@bankone.com

No matter how long you have smoked, three years, or 40 years, you can still benefit from quitting. In fact, within 20 minutes of stopping smoking, your blood pressure and heart rate normalize, and within eight hours of quitting, the levels of oxygen and carbon monoxide in your blood return to normal.

Do not be discouraged by previous unsuccessful attempts to quit. Most people try at least four times before they quit for good. Each attempt is one step closer to success.

Care Choices HMO provides a free Stop Smoking Program to all of their members that can help you on your road to a smoke free life. By enrolling in the Stop Smoking Program, you can choose from telephone counseling, a group class or a self directed program. Just call toll free at 1-800-424-5252 to find out more or to enroll.

The IRS is encouraging employers to help inform employees saving for retirement through qualified retirement plans to be sure they get the credit they deserve—the tax credit, that is. The IRS recently issued model language for employers to use to tell workers about the government’s temporary Income Tax Saver’s Credit.

The Economic Growth & Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 instituted the savers credit. To be eligible, married employees filing jointly can earn no more than $50,000 in adjusted gross income. The limit for heads of households is $37,500 and for single taxpayers and married taxpayers filing separately, $25,0000. In addition, an employee must be at least 18 years old and neither a full-time student nor claimed as a dependent on another filer’s tax return.

The saver’s credit provides a temporary, nonrefundable income tax credit of up to $2,000 a year beginning in 2002, reducing the income tax that eligible employees pay dollar-for-dollar by their contributions to qualified retirement plans. The credit boosts their savings on already tax-advantaged employer provided retirement opportunities.

For more information, contact your financial advisor or personal accountant.

In an effort to pump up the volume at Riverside Osteopathic Hospital in Trenton and McLaren / Hurley Hospitals in Flint, INNOVATIONS held an incentive program. Specifically, between 3/1 and 7/1, for every 40 hours worked at Riverside or Mclaren / Hurley your name was entered into a drawing to win a week's vacation in Cancun, Mexico. The drawing was held in our Brighton Office and the lucky winners of the "South of the Border Getaway" are:

Maria Vaughn - McLaren/Flint Incentive--one luxury week in Cancun
Cheryl Bureau - Riverside--one luxury week in Cancun

A tremendous thank you goes out to all of the INNOVATIONS nurses who work at Riverside, McLaren and Hurley Hospitals. We appreciate your caring spirit, dedication and continued commitment to excellence in the nursing profession. Stay tuned to The INNOVATIONS Communicator for upcoming incentive programs to win more great prizes and trips.

• You believe not all patients are annoying...some are unconscious.
• You can tell the pharmacist more about the medicines he is dispensing than he can.
• You notice that you use more four-letter words now than before you became a nurse.
• You can intubate your friends at parties.
• Eating microwave popcorn out of a clean bedpan is perfectly natural.
• You’ve sworn you’re going to have “NO CODE” tattooed on your chest.
• You find yourself checking out other customer’s arm veins in grocery waiting lines.
• Every time someone asks you for a pen, you can find at least three of them on you.
• You don’t get excited about blood loss...unless it’s your own.
• You know the phone numbers of every late night food delivery place in town by heart.
• You can only tell time with a 24-hour clock.