Free Senior Fair
When: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24
Where: Sequim Community Church, 950 N. Fifth Ave.
Event includes: pulse diagnostics, balance screenings, blood pressure checks, more
Scheduled speakers/topics:
10:15 a.m. — Sequim Police Department, “Project Lifesaver”
10:45 a.m. — Brian Jackson, “Elder Fraud, Protecting Seniors from Scams”
11:15 a.m. — Mitzi Hazard, Jefferson Healthcare, “Aging Mastery & Managing Chronic Diseases”
11:45 a.m. — Richard Tizzano, “Estate Planning: Why is it important?”
12:15 p.m. — Judy Tordini, Jefferson Healthcare, “Preventing Heart Problems”
1:15 p.m. — Brenda Francis, “What is Hospice? What is Palliative Care?”
1:45 p.m. — Stephen Sklar, “Managing Income in Retirement”
More information: mcoupland@agingoptions.com, sherrardlaw.com
The way Mary Coupland sees it, this event is a kind of one-stop-shopping for seniors who’ve for one reason or another been putting off addressing what she calls the “second chapter of their lives.”
Designed for community members 45 and older, the Sept. 24 Senior Fair brings to Sequim a host of professionals, volunteer groups and other civic organizations with information about a variety of topics such as general health and wellness, Medicare basics, elder fraud prevention, finances, independent living, power of attorney issues, wealth transfers, hospice and palliative care, and more.
The event also features free services such as balance, vision, hearing and skin cancer screenings, blood pressure checks and pulse diagnostics. Set for 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at Sequim Community Church, 950 N. Fifth Ave., the event came about when Coupland and Richard Tizzano — who put together the Aging Options magazine and multimedia program — decided to expand on the idea of doing a themed seminar.
Tizzano is an elder law and estate planning attorney, and principal at Sherrard Mc Gonagle Tizzano Lind P.S.
“I help a lot of elderly folks with Medicaid eligibility and long-term planning,” Tizzano said. Clients would come to him in crisis, such as moving a loved into nursing home who had no will or plan for that particular stage of life.
“It was a kind of a depressing way to practice law,” he said. “I had to figure out a way to get people in the door sooner.”
About three years ago, the Poulsbo-based attorney started seminars, getting people to come to a neutral place to talk about what their later stages of life may look like and what they should be talking about.
“It really has changed my practice,” Tizzano said. “A lot of clients are planning ahead and it’s really helped.”
That led him to produce “Aging Options: A Resource Guide,” an annual publication that makes those connections for seniors in five major areas — financial, health, housing, legal and leisure — he already was addressing in seminars.
“I thought it would be great to expand … so people would be aware of the different kinds of services and products that can make their life better,” Tizzano said.
Coupland, a Bainbridge Island resident, handles Aging Options events and services from Gig Harbor to Port Angeles.
“Every time I come back I’m greeted with a smile; people tell me, ‘We love your magazine,'” she said, noting Aging Options is in its third edition, distributing in early September. “It was time to move to this next step.”
She said the organization hosts social events a couple of times per year, but that a single Senior Fair might be a great way to put all of these services under one roof.
“The whole idea put together an event that was that was going to be focused on the audience, (on) things they’ve been putting off. They’re going to receive it in a way that’s fun and understandable.”
The fair features a number of speakers (see box) who each give a 10-minute talk, then open the floor to questions.
“It’s about making sure that folks … can get educated and get answers to questions that have been on their mind but didn’t know who to ask,” Tizzano said.
“This audience that we’re trying to help educate is very vulnerable,” Coupland said. “I needed to make sure that the professionals I was connecting with were quality professionals … (but also) very compassionate about what they do, that they were not in it for the almighty dollar.”
Local businesses and community groups already signed up to have information and/or presentations include: Acupuncture & Wellness Center, ADM Architecture, Assured Hospice of Clallam County, Clallam County Fire District 3, Clear Water Bidets, Edward Jones-Stephen Sklar, First Federal, Home Instead Senior Care, Jefferson Healthcare, KSQM FM 91.5, Olympic Area Agency on Aging, Olympic Medical Center, Olympic Peninsula YMCA, Over the Hill Hikers, attorney Richard Tizzano, Sequim Police Department, Sequim Senior Softball, Shipley Senior Center, Smooth Transitions and The Lodge at Sherwood Village.
Though the event is five hours long, Coupland said participants can look at the Senior Fair schedule (see box) and come for the portion they are interested in.
Tizzano speaks at 11:45 a.m. that day on “Estate Planning: Why is it important?”
“Most people want to have some input on how they live the rest of their lives and what happens with what they have when they die,” Tizzano said. “Proper estate planning does both of those things.”
Beyond the professional aspect of his business, however, Tizzano said he also looks to do more than give legal advice. He read a letter from a woman he helped; with her husband dealing with dementia and moving into a nursing home, she also was handing hip replacement surgery and a recent diagnosis of breast cancer.
“When it rains, it pours (and) people need all kinds of support,” Tizzano said. “We help them address all those kinds of practical legal issues, but we also try to inspire and give them hope.”
Most options he gives, Tizzano said, are “lousy options” because the people in his clients’ lives are dying.
“Most of the time there’s not a best option,” he said. “It’s just a bad set of situations. You make the best choice. Don’t be frozen by fear because you’re missing something. If you pick one of these options, it’s going to be OK.
“I get a lot of gratification helping people.”
On Sept. 17, Coupland and Tizzano host a Senior Fair at Poulsbo’s Gateway Fellowship and week later they’re in Sequim.
