Transcona Council for Seniors to hold health fair on Oct. 9

Transcona

The Transcona Council for Seniors is once again preparing to provide older adults from northeast Winnipeg, and beyond, with pathways to help embrace aging.

The council’s annual free health fair, dubbed Reimagine Aging, will be held at Kildonan Place (1555 Regent Ave. W) on Thursday, Oct. 9 between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The event will showcase around 40 booths, organizers say, and there will also be a creative corner. Booths will be located in the Cineplex Junxion hallway.

“The fair is especially important for the Transcona community, but it also has a citywide and provincewide reach,” said Eleanor Stelmach, a volunteer committee member for the planning of the health fair, noting everyone is welcome to attend.

Stelmach said exhibitors will include lots of traditional health-related organizations, and the creative corner component will be new this year.

The corner will include exhibitions such as Friendship Force Manitoba, Men’s Sheds Manitoba, Les Gens de Bois Carving Club, and Silver Brushes Art Community.

Other exhibitors will include Active Aging in Manitoba, Canada Revenue Agency, Service Canada, Transcona Public Library, Victoria Lifeline, and Good Neighbours Active Living Centre.

Lorri Dahl, the council’s senior resource associate, said part of the motivation of the health fair is to celebrate the aging process and help provide resources to folks who need to remain active, engaged, and socialized.

She also said there’s been a generational shift in how people now age, and are encouraged to age, and the perception that surrounds it.

“It’s about embracing aging,” Dahl said. “Our grandparents aged in a way they thought they were supposed to age.”

“Your life isn’t over as you grow older — it’s full of purpose, full of wisdom. You don’t have to feel lonely, or isolated. You don’t have to feel life is over — it’s about changing your perspective on how to age. There’s a lot more fun in you,” she added.

Karen Janzen, who is also a volunteer committee member for the planning of the health fair, said the council has been involved with putting on a fair, in various forms, for the last 20 years — and at the heart of all that has been the council’s longtime resource co-ordinator Colleen Tackaberry.

“Aging now is not just about sitting back on a chair in your yard. There’s a lot more involved,” Janzen said.

The upcoming health fair will also include interactive demonstrations such as line dancing, and tai chi.

While the target audience for the fair is folks aged 55 and older, it’s also a chance for family members to have their questions answered, as well as an opportunity for local agencies and organizations to connect.

The council is grateful for the support of everyone involved in putting on the event, including Kildonan Place, Save-On-Foods on Regent, Bond Printing, and Goodfellow Realty for sponsorship support or in-kind-donations.

Go online at www.transconaseniors.ca for more information.