Seniors from across the County of St. Paul and the towns of St. Paul and Elk Point gathered in Heinsburg on Friday for the long-awaited Seniors’ Festival, hosted by the County of St. Paul/Town of Elk Point FCSS Department, with the assistance of St. Paul FCSS, the Town of Elk Point and Xtreme Oilfield.
This event was originally scheduled for 51 weeks earlier, on Friday, Nov 28, 2014, but was cancelled by an untimely blizzard that prevented travel.
The Festival was well worth waiting for, with good food, good music and good information for the 165 seniors in attendance, with six agencies providing literature and answering questions on everything from the supports available to seniors to creating a personal directive and the benefits of wearing an emergency call bracelet.
Elk Point Town Coun. Lorne Young brought greetings from the joint County/Town FCSS Board and CAO Sheila Kitz from the County of St. Paul before Rob Duffy, Regional Director of Emergency Management gave his keynote message on being prepared in case an emergency situation should arise. Four municipalities have spent “a great deal of time” on a plan to support not only their residents, but also those who respond to an emergency, and do what Duffy called “the work inside the yellow tape.”
With planning in place, it’s time to “take the next step, and be proactive,” Duffy said, urging the seniors to be proactive and put together a 72-hour kit of essentials needed “to sustain you and your family. Every individual can prepare (the kit) to fit individual needs.” He also suggested creating a network of friends, family and neighbours to help in an emergency, showing others how to operate essential equipment, and keeping a supply of special needs items, from oxygen and medication to food for service dogs.
“We have taken the first step as a region, looking at risks and threats,” Duffy said, and after supplying information to the public on preparedness, they are moving on to developing response procedures to be carried out during and immediately after an emergency, and discussions of the most effective way to “make sure basic needs are covered” during the recovery period that would follow.
Local dangers include fire, wind, tornadoes, power loss and home hazards, he said, urging everyone to “make a plan. Only you know your needs and capability. Set up a buddy system and designate a backup person. Taking these steps really will help us.
“The region is prepared to take care of our public, we need you to prepare to help yourselves.”
Everyone enjoyed a bountiful dinner of turkey and all the trimmings, topped off with an endless supply of freshly baked pies, before everyone sat back to enjoy some very special entertainment.
Heinsburg is known far and wide for its jamborees, and four of those performers, Grace Meger, Jeff Reiter, Terry Merriam and Bob Brown, performed a set of country-style classics, followed by four delightful numbers from the Kindergarten and Grade 1 students of Heinsburg Community School, who sang of fluttering snowflakes and three ships sailing in, welcomed Santa and his reindeer, and wished everyone a Merry Christmas with their action song, before personally delivering cookies to all the visitors.
A number of door prize draws wound up the afternoon of a festive and enjoyable day, just for seniors.