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Beware of Fake Emergencies

by

Carol Kando-Pineda

Attorney, Division of Consumer and Business Education

“I lost my wallet and ID. I’m stranded — please wire money.”

“Your grandson is being held in jail. He needs bail money right away.”
Scammers try to trick you into thinking a loved one is in trouble. They call, text, email, or send messages on social media about a supposed emergency with a family member or friend. They ask you to send money immediately. To make their story seem real, they may claim to be an authority figure, like a lawyer or police officer; they may have or guess at facts about your loved one. These imposters may insist that you keep quiet about their demand for money to keep you from checking out their story and identifying them as imposters. But no matter how real or urgent this seems — it’s a scam.
If you get a call or message like this, what to do?

• Check it out before you act. Look up that friend or family’s phone number yourself. Call them or another family member to see what’s happening. Even if the person who contacted you told you not to.
• Don’t pay. Don’t wire money, send a check, overnight a money order, or pay with a gift card or cash reload card. Anyone who demands payment in these ways is always, always, always a scammer. These payment methods are like giving cash — and nearly untraceable, unless you act almost immediately.
• If you sent money to a family emergency scammer, contact the company you used to send the money (wire transfer service, bank, gift card company, or cash reload card company) and tell them it was a fraudulent transaction. Ask to have the transaction reversed, if possible.
• Report the message or call at FTC.gov/complaint. 

For the complete article and a link to a video click here scammers-create-fake-emergencies-get-your-money?

Does Your Family have a Communication Plan for Diasters?

Storm season can bring on a variety of Natural Disasters.  Is your family ready?  In our area, we could have flooding, tornados, and wildfires!  We are often without electricity.  How can you get word to family members if you are caught in a disaster?

Today we have more ways to speak with one another than ever before. We are used to staying in touch with cell phones, internet, and email, but disasters can change things. These devices may not be available. Cell phone towers quickly become overloaded with people trying to reach friends and family. If the power is out at your home, cordless phones, internet, and email will not work either.

Phones with cordless handsets won’t work in a disaster because they need more electricity than they can get from the phone jack. Old fashioned phones with a cord connecting the handset to the base will work even in a power outage. Make sure you have at least one phone with a cord in your home in case of a power outage.

Keep a car charger for your cell phone in your vehicle. If the power is out in your home, you can still charge your cell phone in your car.

If you don’t have a landline and you use a cell phone as your home phone, remember that cell phone towers may be tied up with calls in an emergency. However, a text message from your cell phone may get through when a phone call doesn’t. Make sure everyone in your family knows how to send and receive text messages.

Develop a plan so you can stay in touch with your family in a disaster. Include phone numbers for all family members and those who can give you extra help, such as caregivers. Also include all work, school, and daycare phone numbers, if applicable. A wallet-size form you can use to write down this information can be found at www.ready.gov. Be sure each family member has a copy of your communication plan. Post the communication plan by a phone in your home, and include it in your go bag as well.

Local phone calls and long distance calls work on different circuits. When local circuits are overloaded, you may still be able to make long distance calls. Choose someone outside of the local calling area to be your “outside the area” contact. Make sure all family members carry this phone number with them. If something happens when your family is not together and you are not able to reach each other, each family member can call the “outside the area” contact and leave a message for the others.

If you are hurt and can’t talk, first responders and hospital staff may not know how to contact your family right away. If you have a cell phone, you can provide the phone numbers for your emergency contacts to first responders and hospital staff.
1. Create a new contact in your cell phone’s phone book.
2. Name the contact ICE.
3. Enter all phone numbers for the person you would like to have notified in a medical emergency.


Information from the Do One Thing monthly newsletter

Sheet Pan Alaska Halibut with Zucchini Mushrooms and Tomato

Sheet Pan Alaska Halibut with Zucchini, Mushrooms and Tomato

Light, tasty and healthy, Alaska Halibut is perfect for any summer meal. It only takes a few minutes to cook and packs protein, B vitamins and minerals like potassium and selenium. Plus, fish is a staple of several dietary patterns also linked to lower cancer risk, such as the Mediterranean diet. This one-pan recipe features Alaska Halibut, fresh zucchini and flavorful tomatoes for a delicious, quick and healthy meal.
 
Ingredients:

• 4 Alaska halibut filets (about 4 - 6 oz. each)
• 6 oz. cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 medium zucchini (about 8 oz.), sliced
• 8 oz. cremini mushrooms, quartered
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp. minced garlic (around 4 cloves)
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 3/4 tsp. kosher salt, or to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving: 320 calories, 15 g total fat (2.5 g saturated fat), 10 g carbohydrate, 38 g protein, 1 g fiber, 580 mg sodium.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Arrange the halibut and vegetables on a large baking sheet.
3. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Brush over the halibut and drizzle the rest over the vegetables. Toss the vegetables so they are evenly coated, then arrange in as flat a layer as possible on the sheet around the halibut.
4. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the halibut is opaque, flakes easily, and is just cooked through. Serve the halibut with the vegetables

Convert this recipe to the grill by wrapping all of the ingredients in a pouch made of heavy duty aluminum foil and grilling for 15 minutes.

Halibut Recipe

Have Your Coffee and Sleep Too

Timing and moderation allow you to enjoy coffee, tea and other caffeinated beverages without disturbing your slumber.  Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive drug in the world. An estimated 85% of Americans drink one or more caffeinated beverages per day, with coffee as the main choice, followed by tea, sodas, and off-the-shelf energy drinks. Americans consume an average of 180 milligrams of caffeine daily—roughly the amount in two 8-ounce cups of coffee.

Coffee and other caffeinated drinks can provide some important benefits. Caffeine is a potent wake-up call in the morning and a pick-me-up later in the day. In some people, it enhances concentration and short-term memory. A recent review in Prehospital Emergency Care of caffeine’s effects on emergency medical personnel found that caffeine boosted alertness, agility, reaction time and coordination. And, of course, coffee and tea are centerpieces of social interactions in many cultures.

The benefits can come at a cost. Too much caffeine late in the day tends to disturb sleep. But even in people who go to sleep clinics for frequent insomnia, a surprising number of them don’t fully appreciate the effect of caffeine, even when it’s consumed fairly early in the day. What’s more, some research suggests that older adults may be more prone to the effects of daytime caffeine on sleep than younger people.  “You would think most people would be aware nowadays, but I would say a quarter to a third of patients we see with insomnia do not realize that their caffeine intake habits are affecting their sleep,” says Khalid Ismail, MD, a pulmonologist and director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Tufts Medical Center.

Lingering Effects: Caffeine’s effect on sleep depends not only on how much you ingest, but when you do so. Caffeine persists for a surprisingly long time in the body. According to one study, participants had brainwave patterns characteristic of shallower sleep up to 16 hours after ingesting the amount of caffeine in a double espresso—even though the level of caffeine detectable in their saliva had fallen to zero by the time they went to bed.  The implication of that study is clear for those struggling with insomnia.

For people who say they have trouble sleeping, the recommendation is no caffeine at all after lunch time.  But for people without obvious sleep problems, it’s harder to make a general recommendation on what time of day to curtail caffeine. It peaks in the blood about 2 hours after ingestion on average. But the time it takes for the body to break down just half of that caffeine ranges from 3 to 7 hours.
The bottom line: It may be fine for some people to have an after-dinner caffeinated beverage—as long as they can still sleep restfully.

Sleep Quality Counts: Difficulty falling asleep is just one effect of caffeine. Controlled sleep studies, which carefully monitor the brain and body through the night, show that caffeine can trigger repeated nighttime “arousals,” in which a person briefly wakes up briefly without necessarily being fully conscious of having done so. Arousals fragment sleep, which means a person spends proportionately less time in the deeper, most restful stages of the natural sleep cycle. So even though total sleep time remains steady, the quality of that sleep may suffer. The results include grogginess, reduced mental sharpness and slower reaction times.

What Should You Do? Occasional insomnia is not necessarily a cause for concern, especially during stressful life periods like moving, starting a new job or illness in the family. But if you are having sleep problems more than once or twice a week, and it’s persisted for months, talk to your doctor, who may refer you to a sleep specialist, rather than immediately opting for over-the-counter sleep aids or prescription sleeping pills.

Help avoid insomnia by adjusting the amount and timing of caffeine in your diet.  Switch your afternoon and evening options to decaffeinated beverages and water, and see if you notice a difference.


But you don’t necessarily need to ban caffeine entirely. “If consumed in moderate amounts, caffeine can be very useful,” he says. “But don’t depend on it just to function, because that can lead to problems.”

Caffeine Without Sleeplessness