Seniors learn about local opportunities at health and wellness fair

By Brian Lockhart

An event hosted by the Orangeville & District Seniors Centre educated seniors about services in the community and shared tips to help them stay safe from things like elder abuse and targeted scams. 

The Seniors Health & Wellness Fair was held at the Seniors Centre on Wednesday, March 22, and was sold out.

Several speakers from various organizations provided information on topics such as aging well, audiobooks, book delivery, and paramedic services.

Representatives from the OPP talked about ways to avoid being scammed and prevent elder abuse in society.

Orangeville Mayor Lisa Post addressed the audience regarding programs for seniors as well as other town issues that may affect a senior's lifestyle

“One thing I promised during the campaign was that I was going to try to engage more people to the issues of the town,” Post told the audience. “We're working on setting up the town hall, which will be kind of like a Council meeting but not so formal. We want it to be really open where everybody can feel free to contribute. We're planning the first one in May. It's going to be an open forum. We're going to talk about a lot of different topics. I'm also working on planning one for fall which will be completely geared to seniors. We're going to invite seniors to come and talk about seniors' issues.”

A Seniors' Committee will also be organized through Orangeville Town Hall to address senior issues.

“It's a way for seniors to communicate with council,” Orangeville Councillor Andy Macintosh explained. “We're hoping to take suggestions and ideas, and kind of run with them if we can. Obviously there's some we can't accommodate. What I find is that sometimes people don't understand why we can't do something, this way it can be explained to them and why we do some things. This way it can be explained and nine times out of ten they're very happy with the answer. The Senior's Committee is hoping to bridge the gap between the seniors and the politicians. The first meeting is April 18. That will be an introductory meeting. After that we'll set up a regular schedule.”

As the population ages, the number of seniors in society is increasing and will be a leading demographic across the country.