Senior Expo open to all ages

Columbia Basin Herald puts on event at ATEC Saturday

MOSES LAKE - The 2007 Senior Expo is open to those people who are seniors now, or will be seniors in the future.

So says Columbia Basin Herald Assistant Advertising Director Jaye Newberg.

"I consider myself a senior at this point, simply because I need to be thinking about the things as they're coming up," she explained. "The things you can avoid when you're 20, you can't avoid any more when you're 50."

In other words, everyone is welcome to the fifth annual Senior Expo, hosted by the Columbia Basin Herald Saturday from 9 a.m to 2 p.m. in Big Bend Community College's ATEC Building.

The event is held "to make sure the seniors in our area know what our area has to offer, as far as vendors for health, for fitness, for wellness, for entertainment, for education and the different things that are around that are available," Jaye Newberg explained.

There are more than 20 exhibitors and eight to 10 seminars planned during the free event, with a seminar offered every half hour. Seminars include such topics as how to deal with diabetes, dieting, senior law, spinal health and services offered to seniors with hearing loss.

In previous years, events took people out of the main room of the expo, but Newberg said this year everything will take place in one room, so nobody will miss any seminar.

"They don't have to sign up for them, they can just go sit and listen to them," Newberg said. "They'll be all going on during the whole thing. They can get up and look around at booths while (the seminars) are going on, they don't have to miss anything."

Newberg believes the event has lasted five years because of changes within the area, as well as new people coming in all the time to learn what is available to them.

"Even if you come home from any seminar or group with one gem you've found, you've accomplished something," she said. "I am sure there will be something somebody didn't know before that will help them appreciate their lives more, or make things easier or more comfortable for them."

The event includes a roving bingo game which doesn't require anybody to sit down.

"We don't particularly expect every senior to be able to stand for five hours, but we want to keep things lively, moving, active and interesting," Newberg said.

Such beverages as coffee and tea are provided. Newberg recommends booth people come prepared, and advises people consider the information provided during the expo.

"I think it's important people don't see the word 'senior,' and think, 'That doesn't involve me,'" she said. "Even if you aren't a senior, most people are dealing with seniors in their lives."

Even if someone isn't dealing with something senior-related, a parent could be, she added, and better education can help prepare people to handle it.

"It's nice to expose everybody to things that can make their lives better," she said. "You don't know, day to day, when this is going to become your problem, whether it be your own health, through a parent's or a relative's health. We're all seniors, one way or another."