The third annual seniors’ conference brought together seniors from all over the county for a day of education and entertainment.
The day-long event at the Westlock Memorial Hall Oct. 6 featured presentations from the Westlock Prescription Centre on knowing your pharmacy and what it can do for you, as well as information on vaccines and pre-packaged medications.
The conference also included presentations from Maureen Hollands of Wise Owl, an anti-fraud education group for seniors, Staff Sgt. Dwayne Rawson of the Westlock RCMP and town councillor John Shoemaker.
Closing out the event was a performance from ventriloquist Val Hilliker.
“We always like the seniors to learn something, have lunch, and entertainment,” said Maureen Schiller, organizer with the Westlock and District Family and Community Support Services. “Westlock has a lot of seniors in the area and it’s a nice day out for them. It’s always good to get our information out to them.”
Schiller said about 85 guests came out, a number slightly down from previous years due to timing with the harvest season.
Larry Lang, a senior who has attended the conference for the last three years, said he came to keep up to date on the latest issues facing seniors.
“I have been dealing with seniors’ organizations for a long time, so it’s good to know what the current subjects are that are of interest, because I’m now becoming an octogenarian in a couple of months,” he said.
“Today’s types of presentations were more technical than program oriented. It’s always good to hear the technical stuff too.”
Lang noted that he would like to hear more about the widening gap between retirement income and the cost of living at retirement.
“What we aim for is to be able to live independently at home or in a residence, somewhere where you are able to provide for yourself, rather than public housing,” he said. “I think there has to be more attention paid to the income needs of those people that age at home so that they can stay in their homes.”
Charlotte Schrader, an attendee for the last two years, said she found last year’s conference quite interesting and wanted to see what was happening this year, in addition to making a trip into town for a change of pace.
“It was very well done,” she said of the Westlock Prescription Centre presentation. “It didn’t really apply to me because I’m not on any prescribed medications, but I kind of knew that. But she did a good job and I think (it was) very informative for people who did need the information.”
However, she was interested in hearing about the fraud presentation, although she said she was very good at hanging up the phone.
“My father lived in Victoria and he got conned a lot,” she said. “He made donations to everything, so I know that they target seniors for sure.”
