Published: April 05, 2008 10:43 pm      

Forums aimed at helping seniors

Two free programs are scheduled for older adults later this month at Johnstown Senior Community Center at 550 Main St., downtown.

A Senior Benefits of Life Seminar will be held April 16. Healthy Steps for Older Adults will be held April 17.

The seminar, geared to those 60 and older, will be held from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Ten Tips You Can’t Die Without will be presented at 10 a.m. by Linda Sekely, an attorney with Pennsylvania Elder Estate Advocacy Services and its’ co-executive director along with Gerald M. Zidak.

The hour-long program will be presented in a fun and entertaining way and on a level that is easily understood, according to information from Pennsylvania Elder Estate Advocacy Services’ Nanty Glo office.

Mary Bach of Murrysville, Westmoreland County, will be the seminar’s keynote speaker at noon.

She is an American Association of Retired Persons’ volunteer with expertise in consumer issues.

She will discuss ways people can become savvy shoppers – by being aware of overcharges at cash registers and what to do if consumers believe they are not being treated fairly.

Sharon Hartnett, Johnstown center director, said that a benefits search will be available from 10 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. in the computer laboratory on the second floor. Interested seniors will find help to obtain instant access to more than 1,000 federal- and state-administered benefit and assistance programs, she said.

Healthy Steps for Older Adults will be held from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. The program, for those 50 and older, is designed to teach attendees techniques to prevent falls, which are a leading cause of injuries and hospital-related stays for older Americans, Hartnett said.

Not only is attendance free, those participating will receive $5 providing they complete the program, she said.

“We feel so strongly that the program will help reduce falls that we’re willing to pay people to attend,” Hartnett said.

The Healthy Steps program is being limited to 50 participants at the Johnstown center, Hartnett said.

To register: 535-8634.