With aging comes certain physical and financial concerns that can be difficult to navigate alone. The Vital Signs program held Friday at the Peterborough Town House offered an opportunity to present all the resources in one place.
Seniors attending Vital Signs gathered information from vendor booths and listened to presentations given by physical therapists, exercise instructors, chefs, and retirement and Medicare specialists.
It was the second annual Vital Signs program, presented by the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Some, like Volkert Volkersz of Peterborough, used the event to scout out their area options for a variety of aging concerns.
Volkersz, who retired in June and moved to Peterborough from Washington state, said he was looking to see what options were available locally for end-of-life care and planning.
“I really came here to get information about possible health care providers,” said Volkersz. “Which I have. But there’s a lot of other things here, too.”
“Seeing the vendors is helpful, because I don’t know what’s out there,” agreed Anita Mendes of Hancock, who said she attended the event looking for information on Alzheimer’s care for some of her loved ones, but also found some of the other information available useful.
Some of the speakers and demonstrations were interactive as well as informative, such as a cooking demonstration by chefs from the Courville Communities assisted living facilities or learning some gentle yoga moves from Anne Goewey of Heywood Healthcare’s LIFE Wellness Center in Gardner, Massachusetts.
Others, Mendes said, “are hard things to talk about,” such as physical therapist Janet Chamberlin’s talk on bladder control.
“People find it too embarrassing to talk about, but you talk to your neighbor and you find they’re having the same issues,” said Mendes. “That’s helpful.”
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.