Focus on Guard
POST FALLS — School supplies and health care for families of North Idaho National Guard soldiers called to active duty are the topics of two meetings coming up Wednesday and Thursday.
Health care has been a hot topic in North Idaho. Doctors and dentists willing to enroll new patients under the military’s TRICARE plan were hard to find here, family members of deployed Guard members said.
Lt. Col. Tim Marsano, public affairs officer for the Idaho National Guard, said in a press release that some of the wrinkles may be ironed out. The details of the TRICARE program, administered in North Idaho by Tri-West, a health care firm on contract with the Department of Defense, will be discussed Thursday at the National Guard Armory in Post Falls, 5555 Seltice Way. The session begins at 7 p.m.
In the press release, Marsano said Tri-West has convinced a greater number of doctors and dentists to join the TRICARE network by citing improved paperwork and faster repayment times. Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, Marsano said, has led the effort to get more providers to join the program.
The meeting, with TRICARE and TriWest officials, will be a town-hall style question and answer session.
On Wednesday, back-to-school backpacks stocked with supplies will be presented to children of National Guard families at 6 p.m. at the Post Falls armory.
A two-week drive sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club of Kootenai County and the Coeur d’Alene Staples store resulted in the donation of more than 70 backpacks and the school supplies, Abby Brennan, public relations chairwoman for the Boys and Girls Club, said Friday.
A survey by the Boys and Girls Club shows about 80 school-age children in Kootenai County have a parent deployed on active duty in the National Guard. The Idaho Guard’s 116th Brigade Combat Team has been training the last two months at Fort Bliss, Texas, in preparation for a year’s service in Iraq.
“We were able to sponsor every child” in need of a backpack, Brennan said.
About 60 will be distributed Wednesday evening at the Post Falls Armory. On Monday, Brennan will drive to the National Guard Armory in Bonners Ferry to distribute about a dozen backpacks.
“Originally, the Army said it would transport them up there, but I thought that wasn’t enough. The kids need to know the community cares,” Brennan said.
Brennan said community support was overwhelming and added that the Boys and Girls Club is planning other projects to aid the families of Guard members headed for Iraq.
The Idaho Guard is planning an airlift later in September so employers will get a sense of what their workers are doing while on active duty deployment. Employers are legally required to hold jobs open for National Guard soldiers called to active duty, though the length of deployments — the Iraq mission may total two years, counting training — creates a strain on workers and employers alike.
To help employers get some insight, the Guard has planned Operation Bosslift Sept. 13-14 to visit the soldiers in training at Fort Bliss. Marsano, the Idaho Guard public affairs officer, said interest is running high enough that the military may use two cargo planes to transport all the visitors.