Senior Expo Brooklyn NY Offers Resources and Services Galore
By HAROLE EGELN, JR.
A wealth of helpful, healthy and valuable resources and services, powered by expert advice, was offered at the 2014 Senior and Financial Fitness Expo in southwest Brooklyn on April 25, attracting a huge crowd at the free public event on the grounds of a famous Brooklyn golf course, thanks to newspapers serving the community for over 80 years.
P.E.S.I.D. had a booth, with Annette Fisher, Certified Senior Advisor, loan officer and realtor, and a book cover of “Seniors, Get Your Ducks in a Row – Protect Your Nest, Based on True Stories” by her and six other professionals from P.E.S.I.D. on the eve of its publication. Fisher, founder of Golden Maturity, Inc., informed and updated visitors, at the booth and as one of seven panel speakers, on the important new rules for reverse mortgages, and aging in place with some other possibilities, which the book relates with real life stories from a variety of resource professionals
With over two dozen exhibitors, the expo. hosted by the Dyker Golf Course in its Grand Ballroom, was sponsored by the Home Reporter and The Brooklyn Spectator newspapers, along with Bayada Home Health Care, Aetna and Ronald Fatoullah & Associates. Home Reporter/Brooklyn Spectator Publisher/Owner Victoria Schneps-Yunis gave the welcoming remarks, as the newspapers’ staff signed in visitors at this free expo and an exciting raffle prizes that thrilled the happy winners.
“We are glad to take part in this important and valuable expo that offers so much,” said Vicki Ellner, Founder and President/Chair of SUN-B (Senior Umbrella Network of Brooklyn), with over 10 years serving as a strong voice for the growing aging population.
Agreeing was Shore Hill Senior Housing Director Frances Picone, RSM, at Lutheran Family Health Centers Service for Older Adults and one of “Seniors, Get Your Ducks in a Row” book contributer. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to give people helpful information about such services as our Seniors In Touch program, which offers people ways to express their creativity, along with other resources Lutheran Health Care offers seniors.”
Among the many exhibitors were Senior Helpers represented by President Kathryn Livingston, WellCare Health Plans of New York with Community Relations Specialist Alanna Astacio, Canarsie Adult Living, Carelink, the New York Department of Aging, City Choice Home Care Service, The Esplanade: Independent Senior Living and Ramps/Lifts for Better Living.
Two AARP chapters had tables, the Bay Ridge and Ovington chapters, as well as the Bay Ridge Consumer Federation, and Advanced Cardiovascular Diagnostics, providing panel speaker Dr. Perry Frankel, a cardiologist/lipidologist. To begin the expo, here was ample morning food, coffee and juice, wetting attendees’ appetites for so much information all under one roof.