Volunteers Needed For Medicare Training

The Upper Cumberland State Health Insurance Assistance Program is partnering with the Senior Medicare Patrol to provide medicare training Monday and Tuesday.

The training program is for those interested in becoming volunteers with the program. Tennessee Regional SHIP Coordinator Sara Martin said the training is needed as the organization serves 14 counties using a majority of volunteers.

“We’re going to kind of dive into all aspects of Medicare,” Martin said. “That’s what we council on, so we want to make sure those volunteers have a well-rounded knowledge of Medicare, benefits, and how it works.”

The training is a free program for anyone that wants to come that is 18 years or older. Volunteer Coordinator Trish Cook said it is important to keep people up to date with training as the medical field is always changing.

“New laws that may be going into effect cause we know it changes every so often and they put new stuff in there,” Cook said. “We just want to make sure everybody is up to date and has a clear understanding, you would actually be surprised how many people don’t know about all of it.”

Cook said she would love to have medical professionals come to the training program.

“Any practitioners, doctors, nurses, physical therapists, anybody,” Cook said. “They are more than welcome to come to this training, we would love to have that aspect of everybody here too.”

Martin said there are different levels of volunteering for SHIP ranging from counseling to educational events. Martin encourages anybody in the Upper Cumberland to attend the training.

“We cover all 14 counties in the Upper Cumberland, so we are looking not just for people here in Putnam but for all 14 counties in the Upper Cumberland to come together and be a volunteer.”

The training is a two-day program. If interested in signing up for the training reach out to the Upper Cumberland Development District.