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CA NEWS
National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day
Saturday, Oct. 22, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., LHPP
Submitted by Chick Gladwin
Start cleaning out your medicine cabinet
in preparation for National Prescription
Drug Take-Back Day, when you can
dispose of unwanted and expired
medications at the Legacy Hills Park
Pavilion. There is no need to get out of
your vehicle. Just hand your items to a
LifeSteps volunteer in the parking lot. It
is not necessary to keep your medications
in their original containers. A plastic zip
bag for pills is acceptable and appreciated.
The following items WILL be accepted
(for you, a family member or pet): expired
or unwanted prescription medications,
unneeded over-the-counter medicines,
unknown tablets and capsules and
Will your phone work during a power outage?
Submitted by Hal Miles, Emergency Management Committee member
In the event of a
power outage,
it’s important to
understand your options
for communication. Do
you know if your phone will work?
Landline: An “old fashioned” corded
phone, sometimes jokingly referred to
as a POTS (plain old telephone service)
uses older technology and is very reliable
during a power outage. The power to the
phone is provided by the phone line and is
independent of the power company.
Cordless home phone: While the
handset operates on batteries, the base
uses regular power and normally will not
work without electricity. Some cordless
phones have battery backup for their base
so they will work during a power outage.
Cell phone: For a localized power outage
your cell phone service will likely continue overwhelm the network (think of it as
to work. If too many people try to place
calls, however, you may receive a “Service
Unavailable” notice. Continue trying
to place the call until service becomes
available. To ensure continued use of your
cell phone, keep a fully-charged portable
power bank in an easy to remember
location. This device will recharge your
cell phone battery when conventional
10 | SUNRAYS OCTOBER 2016
controlled medications such as narcotics
or stimulants. Examples of medications
include items that manage diabetes
or blood pressure and cholesterol
medications.
The following items WILL NOT be
accepted: Sharps/needles, thermometers,
IV bags, personal care products and
medical equipment.
This is your opportunity to dispose of
prescription drugs in a safe manner
that does not harm the local water supply
or environment in any way. For more
information call 1-800-882-9539 or visit
www.dea.gov.
electric outlets are not working.
VoIP: Phone service provided by a cable
or Internet company is also referred to
as Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP.
Power is required for the interface
equipment between the cable and the
phone, so this service will not work during of a cooperative effort with Fire-
an outage. If you wish to have this work,
you can install an uninterruptable power
supply (UPS) to power the equipment for
a few hours.
What happens if there is a disaster
such as a tornado in addition to the
power outage?
Your landline phone will continue to
function as long as there is no damage
to your phone line or to the infrastructure For information, contact Barbara
of the telephone company. Even if there
is no damage to the cellular service
infrastructure, the heavy demand will
travelling through Austin at 5 p.m.),
resulting in a “Service Unavailable”
notice. Instead, try sending a text
message. Text messages require low
resources compared to a voice call and
the message can be queued to be sent at
a later time, increasing the probability
that your message will get through the
network.
Firewise
Town Hall
Tuesday, Oct. 4, 9:30 a.m., SCB
Submitted by the Firewise Group
Join the Sun City Texas Firewise
Group as they present a town hall
on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 9:30 a.m. in
the ballroom. In attendance will
be representatives from Firewise
USA, as well as USAA Director of
Property Underwriting Rob Gal-
braith to discuss the importance
of having an evacuation plan for
you and your family in case of a
wildfire.
Additional speakers will include
Nick Harrison of the Texas A&M
Forest Service and Georgetown
Fire Chief John Sullivan.
The Sun City Texas Firewise
Group will wrap up this informa-
tive session with a brief recap of
recent activities.
Come early and enjoy coffee, donuts
and conversations with our visitors.
This meeting will air live on Chan-
nel 18 and will be available on the
website following the meeting.
Recently, representatives from
USAA Insurance visited Sun City
Texas to research wildfire loss out-
comes within communities prac-
ticing Firewise concepts as part
wise USA to define reductions in
homeowner insurance premiums.
USAA’s research has shown Fire-
wise practices to measurably re-
duce the risk of loss due to a wild-
fire event.
CPR/FIRST AID/AED
CLASSES
CPR/First Aid/AED classes are
taught frequently in Sun City.
Akers at [email protected].
ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG