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Vanessa Leggard

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Sag Harbor 6th Annual HarborFrost 2016 …. Get Your Freeze On!
The Sag Harbor chamber of Commerce is hosting The 6th Annual HARBORFROST February 27TH 2016in Sag Harbor, New York. Who’s ready to get your freeze on for the Frosty Plunge? A benefit for the Sag Harbor Ambulance Corp. PBK_4941
Registration at the Windmill Beach at noon on Saturday, February 27, 100% of the $20 entrance fee will benefit the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps. 12523015_547900358701414_4429142334991787772_n

HarborFrost is an Ice Sculpting and Fireworks Spectacular staged in beautiful Sag Harbor over one magical weekend in February. The annual event has become a favorite with locals and visitors alike—a fun “Winter Break” with activities for the whole family.
February 27th 2016
Eskimo Ice sculptures on display throughout the village shopping district
FREE Tatoos at the Wharf Shop
Live Music throughout the village
1pm: The Frosty Plunge at Windmill Beach
Registration begins at noon in the Windmill.
$20 entry fee per person
ALL proceeds to benefit the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance.
2pm: Live Ice Carving demonstration at Long Wharf
2:30: Sag Harbor Variety Store: Anna and Elsa from Disney’s Frozen Meet and Greet
2pm -6pm On Long Wharf
– Baron’s Cove
– Our Sons and Daughters School
– Pierson Robotics Team 28’ (bake sale)
– The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Network
– Wellness Foundation
3pm and 4pm: The Amazing Fire Juggler Keith Leaf; performances at Windmill/Long Wharf
2 to 5pm: Children’s activities at Dodds and Eder: look for blue balloons!
Warm up with your children between out door events-
Games, play, arts and crafts sponsored by Barefoot Kids Camp, Bay Burger, Dodds and Eder, Goat on a Boat, Our Sons and Daughter’s School, The Rainbow School,The Sag Harbor Youth Committee, Stella and Ruby and The Wharf Shop
Music by retired Elementary teacher Nancy Remkus, singing from her new album and playing morning program favorites
545pm: Fire Dancers on Long Wharf
6-615pm: Fireworks over the Harbor

Anna and Elsa will be returning for HarborFrost 2016! Please come to meet them at the Sag Harbor Variety Store at 2:30 on February 27.

photo credit: Sag Harbor Variety
photo credit: Sag Harbor Variety

Minerva Perez is named Executive Director of OLA of Eastern Long Island

OLA (Organización Latino-Americana) was founded in 2002 as a nonprofit agency committed to promoting social, economic, cultural, and educational development within Long Island’s East End Latino and Hispanic communities.
Through its own programming initiatives and ongoing local collaborations, OLA strives to empower, inform and celebrate our varied Latino and Hispanic communities while building bridges within the larger East End community that help to foster understanding and harmony.
Programs and events have included:
• The Annual OLA Film Festival, in partnership with the Parrish Museum, now in its 13th year • English as a Second Language and Computer Classes for Spanish Speakers
• Arts Education for children
• Leadership workshops for adults
• Educational Forums focused on safety, health, fiscal and legal interests

January is National Thyroid month
UPDATE: JANUARY 7TH 2016: It has been 4 years since I was diagnosed with Graves Disease and I am feeling great. For many months I was not feeling great, but thanks to my brainiac 16 year old who told me I needed to stop using sea salt and use regular salt with iodine, it made a huge difference in how I felt. My eyes would hurt, my skin felt rough and I was extremely exhausted. I have limited my intake of Broccoli, cabbage, kale and Brussel sprouts.. Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cabbage, can interfere with the production of thyroid hormone, particularly people who have an iodine deficiency. Digesting these vegetables can block the thyroid’s ability to absorb iodine, which is essential for normal thyroid function. People with hypothyroidism may want to limit their intake of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, turnips, and bok choy. Cooking the vegetables can reduce the effect that cruciferous vegetables have on the thyroid gland.
I also increased my daily water intake, decreased my sugar and started exercising.
Click on the following links: 9 Foods to Avoid With Hypothyroidism

thyroidGreetings Hamptons MouthPiece Readers.…January is National Thyroid Disease awareness month…Something that I was completely unaware of until it was brought to my attention. I decided to share my story with many of you. Three years ago I started going to the doctor complaining of various symptoms, hair breakage, hot flashes, chest pains, odd sleeping patterns, weight gain. Each time I had test they all came back negative and over the years, everyone was tired of me complaining about not feeling well and I thought they thought I was seeking attention. Last year  I was finally diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism and an uptake scan determined I had Graves disease. Initially I was scared because I was unsure what that meant then I felt an odd sense of relief because this had been going on for over 3 years with no diagnosis and therefore I thought I was loosing my mind and stopped complaining to my doctor that I was not feeling well.

It has been almost 1 year since I was diagnosed and most of the time I am doing better than before I was diagnosed but my levels are consistently off and it is important to be in-tuned with your body and when you are not feeling well. When my levels are off, my medication will not function correctly and I will start to administer some weird symptoms like cold flashes, heartburn, sleepless nights, unexplained blotting, and my teeth start to hurt.

My advice to you is pay attention to symptoms that you are experiencing, when you go for physical examinations and your thyroid levels are slightly off and you are having some of the symptoms I mentioned above, pay attention. I would suggest you seek  an endocrinologist, this is their area of specialty, don’t wait because there are solutions and you do not have to wait the 3 long years I did without being properly diagnosed. For more information on Thyroid Disease and Graves Disease click here: 

East End Endocrine Associates – Riverhead, NY, (New York) are fantastic and have taken great care of me.

Hamptons Happenings :Holiday Charity Event
The Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton, NY will generously host a Holiday Charity Event to help families in need this holiday season. The Event will benefit both the New York City No Kid Hungry campaign and the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center.

The Event is December 19th 2015 @ 6pm, Cocktail hour and 4 course dinner in the Barn. Executive Chef: Chef Ryan Murphy and Guest Chef Seth Bixby Daugherty IMG_7444

Cost: $125 per person, make your reservations early, this will surely be a well attended holiday event in the Hamptons. 631-237-1952

Medical billing fraud usually begins with a letter. Today I brought the mail in as usual, but unexpectedly Kurt opened up what was soon discovered to be a bill from a medical provider that we used. Kurt as usual handed the bill over to me and said “what is this, you take care of this.” He does not keep track of these things and as in most families I (the wife) am the record keeper and bill payer. I reviewed the bill and was SURPRISED to see that I was being charged for the entire procedure, even though I was informed that our Health Insurance company would be responsible for the claim. I immediately called the service provider to inquire why I was receiving this bill and I was told by the medical provider that our health insurance company indicated that we had not met our deductible. I told the medical provider that we do not have a deductible and that prior to the procedure being done we were informed by the medical provider that they accepted our insurance and a copay was requested and paid. The medical provider indicated that they were an In-network provider, thus the acceptance of the co-payment.
Kurt and I were outraged by getting a SURPRISE bill because we were told that this was an in-network procedure. Outrage then turned to action. I am fortunate and so are you, my readers, because one of Kurt’s areas of expertise is executive level preparation and training to detect fraudulent medical billing practices. Kurt is trained to implement complaints, appeals and grievance procedures with medical insurance companies, including HMO’s ,MCO’s and other managed long term care plans (MLTC). Luckily there are companies that can help support this for future medical billing issues as well, over at Coronis Health there is software that is protected using industry lead technology for medical centers, etc.shutterstock_306283364
These are 10 steps that have been taken to date to resolve this issue of what we consider to be fraudulent medical billing.
1. Call the Medical Provider and dispute the bill (claim).
2. Call your health insurance provider complaint department:
• Their purpose is to try to resolve any complaints you have with both in-network and out-of-network providers. You as the consumer have a right to make a formal complaint and to request an appeal of any medical bill that you feel misrepresents any procedure that was done, including overbilling or any allegation of fraudulent billing. Kurt recommends that you formally request of the complaint/grievance representative that they document this encounter as a formal complaint/grievance.
3. Ask for the Complaint/Grievance Representative’s employee identification number. You have to be able to document the person, date and time you logged your complaint.
4. Clearly inform the complaint/grievance representative of your allegation of fraud and or problematic billing.
5. Documentation becomes more complete if you include these simple steps:
• Always try to complete documentation requirements by answering the following questions: Who, What, When, Where, How and Why, (the why is often the most difficult and most subjective). If you prepare your documentation to answer those questions you can be confident that 95% of your documentation requirements will be accurate and fulfilled.
6. Get the reference number for your complaint.
7. There are different levels of grievance complaints that you can request from Standard to Emergency Expedited levels. The health insurance carrier is required to respond in a specific time frame based upon the level of complaint that you have made. Anywhere between 45 days to as little as 24 hours of turn around time back to the consumer.
8. The Health Insurance carrier may recommend that you to follow the ‘Information for Members in New York Insurance Plans: Emergency Services and Surprise Bills’
Click on link for steps to follow: Info_ Mem_NY_InsurancePlans_EmergencyServices_SurpriseBills
9. DON’T PAY THE BILL! If you feel you have been fraudulently billed or have been surprised by a bill
10. ACT IMMEDIATELY, DO NOT WAIT!

Our next steps; we are going to follow the Emergency Services and Surprise Bills protocol. We may choose to contact the NYS Attorney General Office to inform them of our allegation of Medical Billing Fraud if we need to take that step. This will be contingent on whether or not this SURPRISE bill is resolved appropriately. Stay tuned!

Special thanks to Kurt H. Leggard, R.N. who helped co-write this article. Kurt is a Registered Nurse, Consultant and a specialist in Long Tem Care, Medicaid Services and Heath Care Grievances, Complaints and Appeals.

New York State Department of Health Medical Fraud Link: www.health.ny.gov