2 Broadcaster Press July 12, 2016 www.broadcasteronline.com Dave Says It’s For Everyone Dear Dave, My husband and I have seven kids. What parts of your program work best for large families? Karen Dear Karen, My entire plan works for a large family. Larger families just have more expenses. What does change — and you already knew this — is that it can be a larger financial burden. This isn’t criticism; it’s just a mathematical fact. When you kick things into overdrive like you folks have done, two things have happened. One, you’ve extended the time that you’re going to be supporting the kids financially. Two, you’ve got a lot of baby birds to feed and clothe. Unless you have an astronomical income, it slows down the process of hitting financial goals like getting out of debt, because you’ve got a drain on the math side of things. It’s a wonderful drain; it’s a glorious drain; but mathematically speaking where the money is concerned, it’s still a drain. You really don’t have any choice but to do a budget. Having seven kids doesn’t give you an excuse to live out of control or mean that living out of control without a plan is the definition of success. You’ve got to set more emergency catego- ries aside in your budget. Yo u ’ v e got to budget heavier for food, medical, transportation and t h i n g s Dave like that, because you’ve got more things pulling at you — and your money! —Dave RAMSEY Commonsense calculation Dear Dave, I make $80,000 a year, and I was wondering if there’s an easy way to determine how much money a person would need to live comfortably after retirement. John Dear John, A commonsense rule of thumb, if you’ve got your money invested in good growth stock mutual funds, is to pull from those funds at a rate that is lower than which they are growing. Otherwise, you’ll destroy them, right? I tell folks if they want to pull off six percent to eight percent — I’m comfortable doing eight percent — then you’ve got to decide exactly how much you want to live on and what that means for your nest egg. If you want to live on $80,000 a year, it means you have to have a $1 million nest egg. If you want to live on $40,000 a year, then you need a half-million dollar nest egg for what we’re talking about here. To get into that a little bit further, I would advise going to Chris Hogan’s website. He’s got a tool on there that takes just a few minutes, and it will give you exact numbers on what you need to do. It’s ChrisHogan360.com, and the David Lias/For The Plain Talk tool is called the R:IQ — your Members of the Vermillion Fire/EMS Department and the Rural Firefighters Association fill Retire Inspired Quotient. You can walk through it, plates as they served a meal to visitors to the family celebration the firefighters hosted in and in just a few minutes you’ll Barstow Park on July 4. know exactly what’s going on and what needs to happen! —Dave * Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business, and CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored seven best-selling books. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 11 million listeners each week on more than 550 radio stations and digital outlets. Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com. What to Do if You See a Pet in a Hot Car (SPM Wire) It happens every summer. Pets left in vehicles with no owner in sight. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for this circumstance to be dangerous or even deadly. Even on a B oad caster effect 2x1 temperate day, the rgreenhouse onlineof rolled-up windows can heat up a car to 116 degrees F .co within an hour, according to the Humane m Society. If you see a pet in a hot car, act quickly to try to locate the owner. He or she is likely in a nearby establishment. Talk to the proprietors of nearby stores and ask them to make an announcement to customers. Then, call the non-emergency number of your local police department or animal control. Stay on site until help arrives. Broad the steronlin many are unaware3x1 the danger of While most pet owners have cabest intentions, e.com of leaving a pet in a hot car. You can help spread the word. Free online resources, available at HumaneSociety.org, offer tips, advice and important information on keeping pets safe. This summer, be a hero to a pet in need. Broadcasteronline.c om 4x1 VERMILLION DENTAL HEALTH VERMILLIONDENTALHEALTH.COM NEW OWNER! ZACHARY KOPF D.D.S. . D.S D. SER ARE PF Y P . KO EW GAR DR ING N & EPT TS! ACC ATIEN P S RO 605-624-8695 11 COURT ST. VERMILLION VERMILLIONDH@GMAIL.COM Government Hospitals Are Failing Native Americans By U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and John Thune Needless patient suffering, fatal delays in medical treatment and retaliation against whistle blowers. These are among the well-publicized failures investigators found at hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Yet they are also the shameful hallmarks of another federal health-care system: the Indian Health Service. Part of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Indian Health Service is required by treaty to deliver health care to Native Americans around the country, with more than 2 million depending on this federal agency. Unfortunately, it appears to be failing. Tribal members have told the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs about alarming conditions at hospitals run by the IHS. During the committee’s investigation, which began last summer, we have heard accounts of nurses unable to administer basic drugs, broken emergency-resuscitation equipment, unsanitary medical facilities, and seriously ill children being misdiagnosed. The heartbreaking story of 45-year-old Debra Free provides one example. The Winnebago tribal member was a patient at an IHS hospital in Nebraska in 2011. Overmedicated and unsupervised, she became dizzy and fell out of bed. Ms. Free died a few hours later. An incident like this never should have happened, and nothing can make up for the loss, suffering and injustice that her family has endured. Ms. Free’s sister, a nurse at the facility, demanded answers. Rather than help, hospital staff retaliated by reporting her to the state board of nursing, which found the accusations against her baseless. “For years we have trusted the IHS to do its job,” Debra’s niece told our committee at an oversight hearing in February. “Over and over again, the IHS has failed.” The situation has gotten so bad that have issued multiple Statements of Deficiencies over the past few years identifying four IHS hospitals in the Great Plains that are putting patients in “immediate jeopardy.” Our investigators have found evidence that the IHS, like the VA, maintains a culture of cronyism and corruption. Many staff members collect government paychecks without fear of accountability. Tribal leaders have written to the Department of Health and Human Services identifying underperforming supervisors and upper-level management personnel who deserve firing. Our committee’s investigation found no sign that these employees were terminated. Instead, poorly performing employees are transferred to other facilities and, in some cases, even given pay raises and promotions with no record of bad performance ending up in their work file. Quality health care for Native Americans will require a culture change at the agency—from the leadership in Washington down to hospital staff in the field. Simply sending more money to IHS is not a solution, and it ignores the magnitude of the problems. According to HHS, Indian Health Service funding has grown by 43% since 2008. Some IHS hospitals in the Great Plains Area—which includes Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota—actually had money left over at the end of the last fiscal year, and chose not to spend it on patient care. Tribes urgently seek accountability from the IHS. This should include mandatory reporting for patient-safety violations and cases of alleged retaliation against patients and whistle-blowing employees. Partly because the federal hiring process is so cumbersome, it can take a year to fill staff vacancies. Firing a poor performer can take even longer, and requires an enormous amount of paperwork and documentation. Hospitals make do by using temporary and costly doctors and nurses who may leave after only a few weeks. This is unacceptable. Where there are vacancies, hospitals should be required to fill them with permanent, quality providers. And they should be allowed to do so without months of wasteful bureaucratic delays. The IHS employs many good people. They work under difficult conditions to deliver care in some of the poorest and most remote areas of the U.S. Although its employees deserve support and assistance, the agency has lacked competent and accountable leadership for far too long. Because the IHS can no longer be a place where inept, entrenched employees come first and patients come last, we have introduced the IHS Accountability Act of 2016. Our bill improves transparency, makes it easier to fill jobs and reward good workers. It also eliminates barriers to disciplining or firing problem employees. The legislation requires Health and Human Services to increase its oversight of the IHS, including taking more responsibility for investigating patient deaths. It also improves protections for employees who report patient safety concerns. The IHS’s neglect of these Americans is appalling. No one should be treated like Debra Free and her family. They deserved better, and so do all tribal citizens. IMPROVE WORKING CONDITIONS FOR YOUR FEET. FREE SOCKS SALE! Boston 3rd • Yankton • to Boots Shoes 665-9092 312 W. In stock. 6” & 8” styles. Up to 4E wide & size 15 in stock. Available in Safety & Non-Safety Toe. Buy Local! Shop the Classifieds! 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