Health insurance event set Saturday

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma will hold an open enrollment event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the YMCA Rockwell Plaza, 8300 Glade. BCBS is the only company selling individual health plans through the health insurance marketplace, or exchange, in Oklahoma. Customer service representatives will answer questions about the health insurance market and help calculate if families qualify for assistance.

Open enrollment runs through Dec. 15. People who don’t buy coverage by then are locked out of the marketplace until next year unless they experience a qualifying event, like losing a job or having a child.

Smokeout day includes pet adoptions

This year’s Great American Smokeout is focusing

on the harm tobacco smoke does to people and their pets. Organizers will host a Partners for Life Pet Adoption Event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 18 at the Oklahoma City-County Health Department, 2600 NE 63.

The smokeout is sponsored by the American Cancer Society every year on the third Thursday of November to encourage smokers to quit. The event challenges people to stop using tobacco and teaches them about the many tools they can use to help them quit.

For 2017, the Wellness Now Tobacco Use Prevention Workgroup has partnered with the Oklahoma Humane Society in Oklahoma County to include the effects of secondhand and thirdhand smoke to pets. Secondhand smoke comes off a cigarette, while thirdhand smoke is the residue left on clothing, hair or objects. Veterinarians and others will provide information about protecting pets.