Contributed
“Let’s try this again,” said Les Anderson, president of the Rossland and District Seniors Association Society.
The COVID-19 virus has devastated seniors and seniors groups around the world and Rossland’s seniors suffered no less.
The group has tried three times to restart programs, however, just as the board of directors get ready to reopen the doors of the seniors building, they were shut down again by the provincial health authority.
This time with the easing of a number of critical restrictions, federal and provincial, the board is confident that it can finally open its doors to members and the general public.
The seniors will be starting with their very popular and ongoing senior’s stretching program, strictly for seniors’ muscle and joint movement; not a cardiovascular program. After one hour of stretching exercises, participants gather to chat and socialize.
The seniors society will also restart programs such as bridge, quilting, AA meetings, games day and social hours. Hopefully, the morning coffee time and once per month noon meals can be restarted depending on volunteers, in addition to CPR and defibrillator instruction.
“The CPR sessions are not a course to teach heart surgery,” said Anderson. “They are merely to teach the public how to apply the hands on resuscitation and the use of the electronic defibrillator. It will also be a great opportunity to refresh one’s memory of those who have taken the full course on CPR.”
Focus will be on proper rhythm on CPR instruction manikins. These refreshers will be free or by voluntary donations, members are always free.
A walking to Regina program will also start in July.
Participants walk around Rossland and place their pin on a chart that reflects their progress toward Regina.
The seniors association also acquired extensive electronic equipment to move the seniors of Rossland and surrounding district into the electronic world. The seniors building has a 70-inch TV to watch football, hockey, soccer, and baseball as well as a bank of webinars, movies, etc. There are also headphones available for individual needs.
There are three training laptops for anyone who wishes to learn how to access Internet sites. The seniors have purchased a video camera and editing program so they can shoot webinars to promote seniors’ activities. The seniors have a bank of webinars that will be shown at the seniors hall on 1916-1st Ave.
Anderson is quick to point out that the video equipment is not stored at the seniors building.
The seniors will be holding a drop-in day with free coffee and light snacks on July 1 to give the public a chance to see what Rossland’s seniors have done to bring the 122 year old building back to life.
There will also be a potluck lunch and general meeting on June 29.
For more information or to rent the building contact Anderson at 250-362-5532 or 250-231-4573 or email rosslandseniorssca@gmail.com.