Ms. Kripa Upadhyay is a former member of the Board of
Directors and is a current active member of Nepal
Seattle Society (NSS). She is an attorney in Seattle
practicing all areas of Immigration Law and
Criminal Defense and can be contacted via the
following information:
Kripa Upadhyay
Carney & Marchi, P.S
108 S. Washington Street., Ste 406
Seattle, WA 98104
About the
Washington Breast and Cervical Health Program
The Breast and Cervical Health Program (BCHP),
funded by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and
Washington State, provides free breast and cervical cancer
screening for low-income women. The goals of the program are
to:
increase
early detection of breast and cervical cancer through
regular mammogram and Pap test screening
increase
preventive health knowledge and behaviors
facilitate access to health care and insurance
In Washington State, women who meet the following criteria are
eligible:
Age 40
to 64 years and age 65+ if ineligible for Medicare
Household income at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty
level
Uninsured or have insurance that doesn't cover the full cost
of health check-ups or services like mammogram or Pap test
The program in King County targets women with the lower
screening rates. Community outreach and education are provided
by 19 community-based organizations who tailor messages to
specific ethnic communities. Screening services are provided
by 25 clinics, 16 radiology facilities and 3 laboratories.
Between July 1994 and December 2004, 16,272 women were
enrolled at one of the BCHP sites in King County. During the
period, 151 women were diagnosed for breast cancer (57
invasive) and 62 women were diagnosed for cervical cancer (17
invasive.) In addition to the initial screening after
enrollment, the program has also provided 11,034
re-screenings.
King County BCHP has leveraged additional resources to
increase the impact of the CDC funding. Over 150 community
partners support the program through joint projects, funding,
shared technical expertise, and in-kind donations. In 2001,
BCHP secured funding providing a treatment option for women
enrolled in BCHP. Using State and donated funds, women who are
diagnosed with cancer through the program can qualify for the
Medicaid Treatment fund.
For
information about clinic services, please call (206)
284-5291 or
1-800-756-5437.
For
program information, please call Ellen Phillips-Angeles at
(206) 205-5679.
What Should I Do If I Have Become A Victim Of Identity Theft?
What Should I Do If I've
Become A Victim Of Identity Theft? If you think you've
become a victim of identity theft or fraud, act immediately
to minimize the damage to your personal funds and financial
accounts, as well as your reputation. Here's a list -- based
in part on a checklist prepared by the California Public
Interest Research Group (CalPIRG) and the Privacy Rights
Clearinghouse -- of some actions that you should take right
away:
Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report the
situation, whether
--
Online,
By telephone toll-free at 1-877-ID THEFT (877-438-4338) or
TDD at
202-326-2502, or
By mail to Consumer Response Center, FTC, 600 Pennsylvania
Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, DC 20580.
Under the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act , the
Federal Trade Commission is responsible for receiving and
processing complaints from people who believe they may be
victims of identity theft, providing informational materials
to those people, and referring those complaints to
appropriate entities, including the major credit reporting
agencies and law enforcement agencies. For further
information, please check the FTC's identity theft Web pages
. You can also call your local office of the FBI or the U.S.
Secret Service to report crimes relating to identity theft
and fraud.
You may also need to contact other agencies for other types
of identity
theft:
Your local office of the Postal Inspection Service if you
suspect that an identity thief has submitted a
change-of-address form with the Post Office to redirect your
mail, or has used the mail to commit frauds involving your
identity;
The Social Security Administration if you suspect that your
Social Security number is being fraudulently used (call
800-269-0271 to report the fraud);
The Internal Revenue ServiceIf you suspect the improper use
of identification information in connection with tax
violations (call 1-800-829-0433 to report the violations).
Call the fraud units of the three principal credit reporting
companies:
Equifax > To report fraud, call (800) 525-6285 or write to
P.O. Box 740250, Atlanta, GA 30374-0250.
> To order a copy of your credit report ($8 in most states),
write to P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241, or call
(800) 685-1111.
> To dispute information in your report, call the phone
number provided on your credit report.
> To opt out of pre-approved offers of credit, call (888)
567-8688 or write to Equifax Options, P.O. Box 740123,
Atlanta GA 30374-0123.
Experian (formerly TRW) > To report fraud, call (888) EXPERIAN or (888)
397-3742, fax to (800) 301-7196, or write to P.O. Box 1017,
Allen, TX 75013.
> To order a copy of your credit report ($8 in most states):
P.O. Box 2104, Allen TX 75013, or call (888) EXPERIAN.
> To dispute information in your report, call the phone
number provided on your credit report.
> To opt out of pre-approved offers of credit and marketing
lists, call (800) 353-0809 or (888) 5OPTOUT or write to P.O.
Box 919, Allen, TX 75013.
Trans Union > To report fraud, call (800) 680-7289 or write to
P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92634.
> To order a copy of your credit report ($8 in most states),
write to P.O. Box 390, Springfield, PA 19064 or call: (800)
888-4213.
> To dispute information in your report, call the phone
number provided on your credit report.
> To opt out of pre-approved offers of credit and marketing
lists, call (800) 680-7293 or (888) 5OPTOUT or write to P.O
Box 97328, Jackson, MS 39238.
Contact all creditors with whom your name or identifying
data have been fraudulently used. For example, you may need
to contact your long-distance telephone company if your
long-distance calling card has been stolen or you find
fraudulent charges on your bill.
Contact all financial institutions where you have accounts
that an identity thief has taken over or that have been
created in your name but without your knowledge. You may
need to cancel those accounts, place stop-payment orders on
any outstanding checks that may not have cleared, and change
your Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card, account, and
Personal Identification Number (PIN).
Contact the major check verification companies (listed in
the CalPIRG-Privacy Rights Clearinghouse checklist) if you
have had checks stolen or bank accounts set up by an
identity thief. In particular, if you know that a particular
merchant has received a check stolen from you, contact the
verification company that the merchant uses:
