By Steven Burdick
Senior VP, UnitedHealthcare

Committing to a healthier lifestyle is something that all of us struggle with everyday. We all think about it, but it’s doing something about it that’s the challenge most of us face.

The goal of UnitedHealthcare wellness programs is to provide support to railroad employees and their dependents to meet these challenges by offering a full range of benefit options to achieve and maintain a healthier lifestyle.

Unhealthy lifestyles are the primary contributors to the leading causes of death in the United States. They account for more than 70 percent of all deaths.

Factors that affect health are principally behavioral and are often preventable. We are all aware that smoking and excess weight alone are two substantial health risks that take a personal toll on our lives.

By offering UTU members and their dependents the assistance and various tools available through the wellness programs, they can begin to tackle changing some behaviors that pose serious health risks.

Railroad employees, regardless of which medical vendor administers their benefits, have unlimited access to wellness programs, all delivered by a railroad-dedicated team (see phone numbers, below).

Programs in healthy weight and tobacco cessation offer personal health coaches to help members progress towards their specific health goals and achieve a healthier lifestyle.

UTU members can also complete a health assessment to identify potential suggestions for a healthier lifestyle. Most important, participation in the wellness programs may help prevent more serious diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

The success of the UnitedHealthcare wellness programs for railroad employees and their dependents speaks for itself. More than 5,500 individuals have been coached over the past 21 months.

As a result of their resolve to make a change to a healthier lifestyle, they have achieved tremendous success. Railroad members who participated in the Healthy Weight Program lost an average of almost 10 pounds per individual — almost 9,000 pounds in total.

Just as notable, participants in the QuitPower Program cut back on their cigarette consumption, on average, by more than 300 packs per person per year, which is more than 158,000 packs per year for all participants.

A healthy new direction is within reach for all of us. The UnitedHealthcare wellness programs are focused on educating, engaging and encouraging all railroad members to take the initiative to live a healthier life.

Health care coverage isn’t just about providing coverage to members when an illness occurs. It’s also about providing members with the right programs that support and inspire them to stay healthy. Helping members become aware of their modifiable health risks and engaged in their own personal health can be a great way to affect life-long change.

UnitedHealthcare members may obtain more information or join a wellness program by calling 877-201-4840; Aetna members may call 800-842-4044; and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield members may call 866-267-3320.

To comply with federal law, those enrolled in the Railroad Employees National Health and Welfare Plan and the National Railway Carriers and United Transportation Union Health and Welfare Plan must provide Social Security numbers of dependents.

Failure to comply can result in loss of health care benefits for dependents.

Federal law now requires the reporting of Social Security numbers (SSNs) of covered dependents to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

In addition, if a covered dependent is eligible for Medicare, then the Medicare Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) is also required to be reported.

In order to comply with these reporting requirements, Railroad Enrollment Services has mailed a final notice to those members identified with missing dependent SSNs and/or HICNs.

If you have received a notice from Railroad Enrollment Services, please provide the SSN and/or HICN for any dependent who is listed as missing this information.

Please be sure to sign, date and return the Social Security reporting form by the requested return date to the address provided.

According to the plans, the following will occur if the requested SSNs are NOT provided:

  • For any dependent who was newly added to the plan between Jan. 1, 2009, and May 31, 2010: If we do not receive the Social Security number for any newly added 2009/2010 dependent whose SSN is missing by July 31, 2010, the dependent(s) will be disenrolled from the plan effective July 31, 2010.
  • For any dependent who was added to the plan before Jan. 1, 2009: If we do not receive the Social Security number for any dependent whose SSN is missing by Jan. 31, 2011, the dependent(s) will be disenrolled from the plan effective Jan. 31, 2011.

NOTE: If you do not receive a notice requesting missing dependent SSNs and/or HICNs, then you do not need to take any action.

When Railroad Enrollment Services transmits the SSNs and/or HICNs to CMS, they will maintain all physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard your personal information.

For additional information regarding the new CMS federal law pertaining to this requirement, visit http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MandatoryInsRep/

By Steven Burdick, senior vice president, UnitedHealthcare

Committing to a healthier lifestyle is something that all of us struggle with everyday. We all think about it, but it’s doing something about it that’s the challenge most of us face.

The goal of UnitedHealthcare wellness programs is to provide support to railroad employees and their dependants to meet these challenges by offering a full range of benefit options to achieve and maintain a healthier lifestyle.

Unhealthy lifestyles are the primary contributors to the leading causes of death in the United States. They account for more than 70 percent of all deaths.

Factors that affect health are principally behavioral and are often preventable. We are all aware that smoking and excess weight alone are two substantial health risks that take a personal toll on our lives.

By offering UTU members and their dependants the assistance and various tools available through the wellness programs, they can begin to tackle changing some behaviors that pose serious health risks.

Railroad employees, regardless of which medical vendor administers their benefits, have unlimited access to the UnitedHealthcare wellness programs, all delivered by a railroad-dedicated team.

Programs in healthy weight and tobacco cessation offer personal health coaches to help members progress towards their specific health goals and achieve a healthier lifestyle.

UTU members can also complete a health assessment to identify potential suggestions for a healthier lifestyle. Most important, participation in the wellness programs may help prevent more serious diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

The success of the UnitedHealthcare wellness programs for railroad employees and their dependants speaks for itself. More than 5,500 individuals have been coached over the past 21 months.

As a result of their resolve to make a change to a healthier lifestyle, they have achieved tremendous success. Railroad members who participated in the Healthy Weight Program lost an average of almost 10 pounds per individual — almost 9,000 pounds in total!

Just as notable, participants in the QuitPower Program cut back on their cigarette consumption, on average, by more than 300 packs per person per year, which is more than 158,000 packs per year for all participants! A healthy new direction is within reach for all of us. The UnitedHealthcare wellness programs are focused on educating, engaging and encouraging all railroad members to take the initiative to live a healthier life.

Health care coverage isn’t just about providing coverage to members when an illness occurs. It’s also about providing members with the right programs that support and inspire them to stay healthy. Helping members become aware of their modifiable health risks and engaged in their own personal health can be a great way to affect life-long change.

UnitedHealthcare members may obtain more information or join a wellness program by calling (877) 201-4840; Aetna members may call (800) 842-4044; and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield members may call (866) 267-3320.

By Dr. Norman K. Brown
UTU medical consultant
Hold the ketchup. Did you know that ketchup contains fructose, a processed sugar? I’ll get back to this shortly.
Many of our common diseases are aggravated by — or even caused by — the way we live, especially how we eat, how much we exercise, and if we use tobacco.
Michelle Obama repeated what her daughters’ pediatrician said: “Your girls are carrying more body fat than is truly good for them.” She is now urging an improved diet for all Americans, and good for her.
A recent medical study determined that people who eat better quality diets (less meat, and more fruits, vegetables and whole grain bread), have a lower body mass index (a measure of the waist compared to height), exercise regularly and do not smoke have a significantly lower incidence of heart disease, strokes and cancer, and live a longer life.
Medical studies document that table sugar and high-fructose sweeteners, such as are found in many processed foods, including ketchup and soft drinks, appear to play a role in triggering weight gain and the onset of diabetes as they create a continuing craving for more calories. My theory is that this is because the molecules in table sugar, and its chemical cousin, fructose, race right from your intestine to your blood stream.
Of course, we all receive a pleasant jolt of energy and optimism after eating sugar. If we burn it up in a workout quickly, then fine — our bodies won’t have so much work processing it, or turning the leftovers into fat. But the truth is most of us don’t burn up table sugar and high fructose sweeteners quickly in a workout.
Medical studies also document that if we reduce daily salt intake by one-half a teaspoon, we can reduce the incidence of strokes and heart attacks as much as restricting the intake of cholesterol (from meats) and tobacco products.
A lot of our salt, which can raise blood pressure, comes not only from the salt shaker, but also from processed foods, soft drinks including diet drinks, and restaurant meals. High blood pressure contributes to many body problems over time, as we all know.
We are surrounded by so much good tasting food, along with advertising to remind us, that we have to work very hard every day to improve the quality of our diet. It’s drudgery to improve our diets, but the result on improved health and a longer life span is good reason to eat what we need to stay healthy rather than what is fun to eat.
Yes, I hear you saying, “Okay, okay, if I do everything you are telling me, I will live to be 100, but I will be miserable.” Excellent. Now I have your attention.
Let’s make a deal: meet me half way. You become one-half perfect on this program of improving the quality of your diet, but also include some foods that are fun to eat. Strive for a life span of 85 years rather than 100. In doing so, I promise you will feel better in your mind and body on the way there. It’s not easy. I struggle every day to meet my own goals halfway.
Improving our life styles is hard work, but we can do it, and be happier for it over the long haul. I want UTU members to be in the front of this newly forming American parade, not bringing up the rear.
Please think about it. The life you save will be your own. And your loved ones will be grateful for your effort.

The Federal Railroad Administration, following disciplinary action by Los Angeles Metrolink against two operating employees who disabled an inward facing camera in the locomotive cab, said that while the agency does not now regulate cab-installed inward facing cameras, it “does not condone the disabling of any devices.”

Moreover, said the FRA, “In instances where a camera has been tampered with, railroads retain the authority to discipline employees for violating railroad rules regardless of whether the rules have any parallel federal requirement.”

In May, one Metrolink locomotive engineer was removed from service and another placed under investigation for allegedly trying to block views of Metrolink-installed inward facing cameras intended to record crew activities.

The cameras were installed to monitor train and engine crews after the National Transportation Safety Board found that an engineer’s actions in texting and use of a cell phone contributed to the deadly 2008 Chatsworth, Calif., disaster.

The FRA’s assistant chief counsel for safety, Mark H. Tessler, said in a letter to Metrolink that such cameras are not “safety devices” as defined by FRA regulations. FRA regulations “prohibit the disabling of safety devices located in the cabs of locomotives,” Tessler said. Such FRA defined safety devices include alerters, dead man controls and various cab signal systems, he said.

“Although equipment to record data is mentioned,” said Tessler, inward facing cameras that record video of locomotive operation are not covered by FRA safety regulations.

Specifically excluded from the definition are, “locomotive performance monitoring devices, unless they record data such as train speed and air brake operations,” Tessler said.

“Inward facing locomotive video camera recorders,” he said, “fall into this category, as they are monitoring devices that do not provide the type of data listed. Further, video recorders are not safety critical devices that have an immediate impact on the safe operation of trains, such as the alerters and cab signal systems … whose functions are to ensure railroad employees appropriately respond to more restrictive signal indications, are not incapacitated and are alert to changing operating conditions.”

However, Tessler said that “cameras can be a valuable tool in conducting post-accident investigations. As such, FRA has instituted a regulation found at 49 CFR Section 229.135(e), which by its terms would apply to in-cab video cameras. That section addresses procedures for the preservation of accident data captured on event records and ‘any other locomotive-mounted recording device or devices designed to record information concerning the functioning of a locomotive or train,'” he said.

Click here to read the FRA letter to Metrolink.

By International President Mike Futhey

We all know that when one wants the truth from the iron horse’s mouth, we ask the rank-and-file membership.

That is especially so when it comes to safety. I commend our Rail Safety Task Force for going directly to the membership with a survey whose results are reported in the centerfold of the May issue of UTU News, which is mailed to all active members and retirees who are members of the UTU Alumni Association.

Task force members Greg Hynes, Steve Evans, Jerry Gibson and Scott Olson (now retired) put seven questions to members regarding on-duty safety concerns, and received some 1,300 responses.

Many members responded with detailed accounts of their safety concerns, and we will post those responses in their entirety on the UTU Web site within the next few weeks.

What the survey revealed overwhelmingly is that fatigue, harassment and intimidation are affecting how our members do their jobs. All too often, fatigue, harassment and intimidation are distracting members from situational awareness and placing them in harm’s way.

I find it most disturbing that repeated operational testing, harassment and working conditions are cited by almost 75 percent of those responding as creating on-duty distractions.

One member said it best: “We have an increased burden thinking of what will happen to our home and family because of harassment and constant operational testing. It affects everyone when a few easy targets are harassed.”

It is also troubling that almost 95 percent of those responding said they do not feel rested on the job — “sometimes,” “most of the time,” or “always.”

Among train and engine employees, problems are cited with the new 10-hour call rule. It is becoming all too apparent that some carriers are bending the intent of the rule, creating situations where members are unable to have 10 hours of uninterrupted rest immediately prior to being called.

I intend to have direct discussions with carrier CEOs in an effort to ensure every train and engine employee be assured of 10 hours uninterrupted rest immediately prior to being called back to duty.

We also recognize that yard-service employees are affected differently than train and engine service employees — that there is no evidence of fatigue problems when they are provided regular start times and eight hours between shifts, which would allow swing shifts so long as eight hours rest is permitted between those shifts.

As for passenger service, where trains are operated on fixed schedules, we want carriers to work directly with general chairpersons — on property — to solve issues of potential or actual fatigue.

We now have hard evidence to inform carriers that conditions exist that they must deal with and take appropriate action. If this does not bear fruit, we will do what is necessary to protect the safety of our members.

To view the May centerfold, click here.

The Federal Railroad Administration is moving to make permanent an October 2008 emergency order restricting the use by on-duty train crews of cell phones and other electronic devices.

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published Tuesday, May 18, in the Federal Register, indicating a final rule, supplanting FRA Emergency Order No. 26, is to go into effect not prior to a 30-day public comment period. The comments will be used by the FRA to make adjustments to the proposed final rule.

Until a final rule is in effect, the FRA’s Emergency Order No. 26 will remain in force.

The UTU and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen intend to file joint comments to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

The proposed rule would prohibit the use of an electronic device — whether personal or railroad-supplied — if it interferes with that employee’s or another employee’s performance of safety-related duties. 

Railroad operating employees would be permitted to use cell phones or similar electronic devices under highly limited circumstances. In fact, the UTU and BLET, in joint comments filed with the FRA following issuance of the October 2008 emergency order, sought that exemption.

The proposed rule also provides certain exceptions for watches, calculator use, medical devices, railroad radios, cameras used to document bona fide safety hazards or violations of rail safety laws and various emergency situations – other exemptions the UTU and the BLET suggested following issuance of the October 2008 emergency order. 

Also proposed for a final rule is a requirement that each railroad turn over to the FRA, for its review, the carrier’s training program on the use of electronic devices; and each railroad would be required to retain records documenting employees receiving recurrent training at specified intervals. 

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking specifically asks for comment on whether violation of the final rule should be used as a basis for revoking a locomotive engineer’s certification – or, for that matter, a conductor’s certification once those standards are established pursuant to the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

To view the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, click here

Railroads are campaigning hard to get federal funding for all or part of the cost of developing and deploying a positive train control (PTC) system, writes Larry Kaufman in Rail Business newsletter.

There are two elements to the PTC issue. Most aggravating, the railroads are on the hook to invest anywhere from $5 billion to as much as $15 billion, depending on which source one believes, to satisfy the Congressional mandate that PTC be deployed by the end of 2015 on all tracks that handle passenger trains and/or toxic inhalation hazard (TIH) shipments.

There also is the issue of business benefits. PTC might allow more trains to be dispatched over a segment of track than under present block signaling technology. That could allow expensive investment in additional track construction to be deferred.

Congress mandated PTC in the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, passed in only three weeks and in near-panic following the head-on collision of a Los Angeles Metrolink passenger train and a Union Pacific freight train at Chatsworth, Calif., in September 2008. The passenger train had blown through a stop signal, presumably while the engineer was distracted by texting.

Congress provided no funding, just a mandate. That makes PTC deployment an unfunded federal mandate, something that infuriates railroads.

In filing its implementation plan with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), BNSF said “financing this unprecedented PTC expense may have the effect of forcing BNSF to divert scarce capital resources from the baseline maintenance of the railroad as well as potentially jeopardize other investments that could have significantly more benefit for society including capital expansion projects that could attract more freight to move by rail.” Senior executives of other Class Is say much the same.

The anger is justified. FRA did a cost/benefit assessment of PTC. It came up with a ratio of $1 in safety benefits for every $22 the railroads would invest in PTC.

U.S. railroads are safe. Trains rarely collide. No one in his right mind would justify spending $22 to get $1 back, and railroads adamantly say they shouldn’t be forced to do so either.

The real issue is business benefits. Industry officials say there are no business benefits that justify investing in current PTC technology. They want Congress to give them an investment tax credit (ITC) for capital spending that increases capacity. If they acknowledge that PTC might produce significant benefits, they make it easier for Congress simply to ignore industry lobbying.

The ITC proposal has been around for several years and hasn’t had a serious hearing on Capitol Hill.

The railroads are fighting an uphill battle. The unfunded federal mandate is patently wrong. Congress, in the 4R Act of 1976, said that if rail service must be provided in the public interest, the public should pay. By this logic the public should pay for PTC.

Railroads may not have as strong a case on business benefits. Depending on which study one chooses to believe, business benefits of PTC range from a claimed loss of capacity all the way to full recovery of costs in less than a year.

FRA did not consider business benefits in its assessment of PTC costs and benefits because Congress justified the federal mandate as improving rail safety. Business benefits were not even a gleam in the eye of anyone in Congress.

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) commissioned a study by consulting firm Oliver Wyman. It concludes that there might be benefits when the next generation PTC technology is ready to be deployed, but that current technology not only wouldn’t provide business benefits, it might result in a loss of rail capacity.

That flies in the face of a 2005 study published by the Transportation Research Forum.

It determined PTC internal rates of return ranging from a low of 44 percent in a high cost, low benefit scenario, all the way to 160 percent in a low-cost, high-benefit scenario.

The peer-reviewed study, which was done for FRA, quantifies the benefits that might accrue to railroads and shippers.

Line capacity would be increased, they say, because locomotive on-board computers would continuously calculate a minimum safe stopping distance, which would enable the system to determine a minimum safe distance between on-coming and following trains. Precise knowledge of the required distance between trains also would allow trains to operate at higher speeds.

The concept of PTC, which has been under research and development for about 25 years, is quite simple. The global positioning satellite system can provide extremely precise information on the location of an equipped locomotive, precise enough to know the difference between two locomotives passing on parallel tracks. Train data — speed, location, minimum stopping distance based on actual train, locomotive, and route characteristics — is transmitted from the locomotive on-board computers to the dispatch computer system.

Any time a locomotive is about to exceed its track authority, either speed or location, the system can take control and stop the train.

This issue isn’t so much whether the railroads can afford to deploy PTC. It’s whether they can afford not to.

(The preceding opinion column by journalist and former railroad executive Larry Kaufman was published by Rail Business newsletter.)

Living in the Nashville area, affected by the floods, and in need of your prescription drugs from Medco?

Medco advises that the U.S. Post Office has established temporary mail facilities at two locations in the City of Nashville:

  • The Melrose Station, located at 798 Berry Road, was damaged by flood waters, but a mobile postal van is available in the parking lot of the facility to meet the needs of customers. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday only, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT. Post Office box customers at Melrose may also pick up their mail from the mobile van during normal hours with proper identification.
  • The homes of many customers served by Nashville’s Bellevue Station are still inaccessible for mail delivery. Mail is being held at the post office located at 7619 Highway 70, and may be picked up during normal business hours (Monday through Friday, 8 am. – 6 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. CT). Customers must present proper identification.

These special services will be available at both locations until further notice.

Earlier, Medco advised that flooding in the Nashville area was affecting timely delivery of Medco shipments.

Medco said Accredo’s Hemophilia Health Services (HHS) location in Nashville is inaccessible due to flooding.

HHS Clearance Management employees were working from home to clear priority shipments and local operations management and on-call staff are available via cell phone and are moving to a backup site. HHS is shipping immediate-need orders to patients through its other pharmacies to maintain continuity of care.

The Medco Pharmacy has placed shipping restrictions on temperature-sensitive and narcotic orders to specific ZIP codes in the Nashville area.

UnitedHealth Group and its family of companies, including UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, AmeriChoice, OptumHealth and Prescription Solutions, are assisting thos affected by the flooding in parts of Tennessee.

This includes relief to health plan customers who may need to refill prescription medications that may have been misplaced as a result of the storms; opening a free counseling help line; and a $50,000 donation toward the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which will help support people affected by the storms in Tennessee and other southeastern states.

Early prescription refills: Those displaced or without access to their medications, and who use UnitedHealthcare Pharmacy, who call and identify that they have been affected by the storms and flooding, will be able to have prescription medications filled if they have refills remaining on file at a participating retail or mail-order pharmacy. 

This includes plan participants enrolled in all fully insured commercial products, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement or Medicare Part D offerings, and AARP MedicareRx plans. For mail-order delivery service to affected areas or any other questions related to prescriptions, call the pharmacy number on the back of your ID card, or speak directly to a pharmacist about their situation.

This policy is effective immediately and will remain active until at least May 17.

Help line for community residents: OptumHealth, UnitedHealth Group’s health and wellness business, is providing a free help line for people coping with the emotional consequences of the flooding. Staffed by experienced behavioral health specialists, the help line offers assistance to callers seeking help in dealing with stress, anxiety and the grieving process. Callers may also receive referrals to community resources to help them with specific concerns, such as financial and legal issues.

The toll-free help line number, (866) 342-6892, is available 24/7 for as long as necessary. This service is free of charge to all Tennesseans even if they are not UnitedHealthcare customers. Resources and information are also available online at www.liveandworkwell.com.

Support for the American Red Cross: UnitedHealthcare and UnitedHealthcare by AmeriChoice, which serve thousands of health plan customers in Tennessee, has given a $50,000 donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. UnitedHealth Group participates in the Annual Disaster Giving Program of the American Red Cross, a group of leading companies who have pledged donations to the Red Cross during major disasters to ensure an immediate response will meet the needs of people who are affected by disasters of all sizes, at no cost and regardless of income.

The donation will enable the Red Cross to provide support for shelters, meals, and clean-up and comfort kits, as well as mental health support for families and individuals in the affected community. On those rare occasions when donations exceed Red Cross expenses for a specific disaster, contributions are used to prepare for and serve victims of other disasters.

People interested in providing additional assistance can contact the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to help provide food, shelter and counseling for people affected by disasters like the recent flooding by logging onto RedCross.org or by calling (800) RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or (800) 257-7575 (Spanish) to make a donation. Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may also be sent to a local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.

Below are additional resources for relief from the flooding in Tennessee:

Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, 3041 Sidco Drive, Nashville, TN 37204; (615) 741-0001; http://www.tnema.org.

Situation reports regarding the flooding are being published on the Web site above. Please note that Governor Phil Bredesen has declared a state of emergency.

Nashville Area Red Cross, 2201 Charlotte Ave., Nashville, TN 37203; (615) 250-4300; http://www.nashvilleredcross.org.

Note that there are currently 17 emergency shelters open throughout middle and west Tennessee. See a list of shelters below or call to locate the shelter nearest you and to discuss possible available assistance. Note that this office is available from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and the national office is available at (800) 733-2767 from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Additionally please visit http://www.redcross.org/nss-app to view a list of available shelters.

Lipscomb University, 1 University Park Dr., Nashville, TN 37204

Gordon Jewish Community Center, 801 Percy Warner Blvd., Nashville, TN 37205

Fairview Recreation Center, 2714 Fairview Blvd., Fairview, TN 37062

Hazelwood Elementary School, 2623 Tiny Town Rd., Clarksville, TN 37042

Al Menah Shrine Center, 1354 Brick Church Pike, Nashville, TN 37207

First Assembly of God, 270 Arlington St., Erin, TN 37061

First United Methodist Church, 8029 Wilkinsville Rd., Millington, TN 38053

First Baptist Church, 220 Church St., Dover, TN 37058

Smyrna Town Center, 100 Sam Ridley Pkwy., East, Smyrna, TN 37167

Centerville Church of Christ, 138 North Central Ave., Centerville, TN 37033

College Hills Church of Christ, 1401 Leeville Pike, Lebanon, TN 37090

Haywood Junior High School, 1201 Haralson St., Brownsville, TN 38012

Waverly Church of Christ, 438 W. Main St., Waverly, TN 37185

Civic Center, 400 S. Highland Ave., Jackson, TN 38301

Baker Community Center, 8077 Wilkinsville Rd., Millington, TN 38053

People’s Church, 828 Murfreesboro Rd., Franklin, TN 37064

Ed Rice Community Center, 2907 North Watkins St., Memphis, TN 38127

Tennessee Department of Transportation, 505 Deaderick St., Suite 700, Nashville, TN 37243; (615) 741-2848; http://www.tdot.state.tn.us.

The Web site provides information on road closures, incidents, and conditions that may result from an emergency or disaster. According to the Web site, “Flooding continues throughout West and Middle Tennessee, however all interstates are currently opened to traffic.” Please visit http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/tdotsmartway/default.htm to view road closure information or call 5-1-1.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 500 C Street S.W., Washington, DC 20472; (800) 621-FEMA; http://www.fema.gov.