FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com october 8, 2015 • The Courier sun 31 STUDEN T RE ADERS RE WARDED This month, Goldfeder kicks off his visit to nearly 40 participating schools to present certificates of merit to students that completed the assemblyman’s 2015 New York State Assembly Summer Reading Challenge. His challenge asked students to read at least 15 minutes each day on at least 40 days during the days of July and August. Goldfeder will hold his first summer reading certificate presentation at Public School 47 in Broad Channel this week and will hand out about 100 certificates. The reading challenge was started by Goldfeder’s predecessor Audrey Pheffer. Goldfeder also offered the challenge in 2012, when schools were closed for days during Superstorm Sandy. INCREASE YOUR HEALTH BENEFITS, NOT YOUR COSTS The Healthfirst Increased Benefits Plan (HMO) With this Medicare Advantage plan, you could pay as little as $0 for better benefits than Medicare—if you currently receive Extra Help. Call to enroll or set up an in-person meeting! 1-855-725-3341 (TTY 1-888-542-3821) 7 days a week, 8am-8pm. Visit www.YourHFIBP.org Managed Health, Inc., dba Healthfirst Medicare Plan, offers HMO plans that contract with the Federal Government. Enrollment in Healthfirst Medicare Plan depends on contract renewal. The benefit information provided is a brief summary, not a complete description, of benefits. Limitations, copayments, and restrictions may apply. Benefits may change on January 1 of each year. Premiums, copays, coinsurance, and deductibles may vary based on the level of Extra Help you receive. Please contact the plan for further details. This information is available for free in other languages. Please call our Member Services number at 1-888-260-1010, TTY number 1-888-542-3821, 7 days a week, from 8am to 8pm. Esta información está disponible en forma gratuita en otros idiomas. Por favor, comuníquese con nuestro número de Servicios a los Miembros al 1-888-260-1010, o al 1-888-867-4132 para los usuarios de TTY, los 7 días de la semana, de 8:00 a.m. a 8:00 p.m. © 2015 HF Management Services, LLC. NYMED00939 H3359_MKT16_32 Accepted 09202015 Avonte Oquendo’s family to hold March for Safety in Long Island City BY ANGELA MATUA amatua@queenscourier.com @AngelaMatua To mark the second anniversary of the death of Avonte Oquendo, an autistic teenager who disappeared from The Riverview School in Long Island City, family members and friends will hold a March for Safety in his honor. The march will be held on Oct. 10 at Hunters Point South Park in Long Island City from 1 to 3 p.m. Oquendo,14, managed to run through a side door of the Center Boulevard school on Oct. 4, 2013. After an extensive three-month search, his remains were found washed up in College Point. The teen’s disappearance spurred elected officials to pass several bills including Avonte’s Law, which requires the city’s Department of Education to evaluate if schools should install alarms on their doors. More than 21,000 alarms are expected to be installed in schools across the city. State Sen. Charles Schumer introduced a separate bill last January also called Avonte’s Law, which will create and fund a program providing voluntary tracking devices and increase support services for families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or any other developmental conditions in which bolting is common. The program would only include children whose parents choose to use the devices. Oquendo’s family attorney David Perecman said the march will be held to remember the “needless loss of a young life” and to remind the city to “stay the course” and finish installing alarms in each school that needs one. Perecman also said he hopes that the city and Department of Education hold up another requirement of the bill, which mandates that school safety plans and preventative measures are evaluated by the DOE to make sure an incident like this never happens again. Perecman also said the march will “lend support to what is currently Senator Schumer’s effort to get Avonte’s Law passed on a federal level.” Vanessa Fontaine, Oquendo’s mother has filed a wrongful death suit against the city, claiming the city, Department of Education and NYPD were neglectful when they allowed the teenager to leave the school unsupervised.
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