By Vicky Falcón
NAVAIR Public Affairs

Grace Sherwood likes to plan ahead.

In her job as office manager in the security department at NAVAIR Pt. Mugu, Sherwood is organized and efficient. In her role as a mom and military spouse, she is competent and resourceful. She doesn't like to be unprepared.

But her family was caught off-guard with the expense of caring for her 82-year-old grandmother.

"My mom is taking care of my grandmother," Sherwood said. "She stays with her at night and pays for someone to be with her during the day."

"We didn't plan on that expense," she added, "it's been a shocker!"

The Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) is a new benefit available to Sherwood that could help her better prepare for her - and her family's - future.

The FLTCIP provides insurance to help pay for chronic, long-term care (such as help getting out of bed or help eating or dressing) that may develop due to an illness, accident or the normal aging process. It provides reimbursement for the cost of nursing home care, care in an assisted living facility, in-home care, adult day care, hospice care, Alzheimer's facilities and more.

Martin Guyotte and Nancy Gould have been married for 11 years. They both work for NAVAIR as operations research analysts within 4.10 at Patuxent River, Md. They, too, are worried about the health of their aging parents.

"We both have elderly parents we don't get to see very often," said Gould, "this new benefit could be a wonderful opportunity for us."

Guyotte sees the insurance as a way to help provide for the needs of his 77-year-old widowed mom. "Right now she couldn't afford nursing home care," he said, "but maybe with this plan we could."

Gould sees the plan as a way to protect the savings her family already has. "When my grandfather was in a coma - after all the expenses of his illness - it seemed like everything he had saved went to pay his care," she said.

FLTCIP will begin taking applications later this year, and is open to federal and postal employees and retirees; members and retired members of the uniformed services; and qualified family members.

Qualified family members include current spouses of employees and annuitants, adult children (at least 18 years old, including adopted children and stepchildren) of living employees and annuitants, and parents, parents-in-law and stepparents of employees, and members of the uniformed services (but not of annuitants).

There will be an Early Enrollment Period for the program starting March 25, 2002 and ending May 15, 2002. The early enrollment period was specifically designed for individuals who already know about long-term care insurance. In most cases, early enrollees may change their coverage during the Standard Open Season Enrollment period, which will start July 1, 2002 and run through December 31, 2002.

Like many other federal employees, Sherwood, Gould and Guyotte have plenty of questions about the new insurance. But they also want to be prepared for whatever the future holds - for them and their families.

"My mom is going through so much for my grandmother," said Sherwood. "I see what she's going through and I want to be able to do more for my parents without spending my entire savings taking care of them."

Extensive, detailed information is now available at www.ltcfeds.com and on the OPM Web site at www.opm.gov/insure/ltc. New information will be posted as it becomes available. For further information on eligibility requirements, call 1-800-LTC-FEDS (1-800-582-3337).

OPM has scheduled two more satellite broadcasts (May 15 and July 17) to help federal employees make smart decisions about FLTCIP. The first broadcast was run early this month and several NAVAIR sites are rerunning the broadcast, so consult your facility's television schedule for more information.

Photo 1 by Adolph Mitchell, NAVAIR Pt. Mugu Public Affairs Office

Photo 1 Caption: As a federal employee, Grace Sherwood, an office manager at NAVAIR Pt. Mugu, sees the new long-term health care benefit as one option for her family.

Photo 2 by Vicky Falcón, NAVAIR Public Affairs

Photo 2 Caption: Martin Guyotte and Nancy Gould, operations research analysts at NAVAIR Patuxent River, check-in with Nancy's parents during a lunch break.