Social activities, workshops and information sessions enable seniors to take a safe step out of pandemic-induced isolation towards better health and well-being
SOPHIE KUIJPER DICKSON
Bristol September 15, 2022
“It’s going to sound like a room filled with Rice Krispies,” laughed Peggy Hodgins-Macgregor, guiding a group of about 45 seniors through chair yoga on a sunny fall day in Norway Bay.
Her joke, exaggerating the sound of stiff bodies stretching and cracking, was appreciated by the crowd.
Chair yoga was just one activity in a full morning of workshops and . . .
information sessions being offered by local community organizations promoting seniors’ health and well-being.
Valerie Twolan-Graham, councillor for Bristol municipality, has been working with a committee of six seniors since March to organize the event.
“I know about the limitations we sometimes have as a more remote community, and I’m really aware of that as I age,” Twolan-Graham said. “I see people who don’t even know that the resources exist here for us.”
She hoped this workshop series will change that.
The goal, Twolan-Graham said, is to offer opportunities for seniors to reconnect with each other after the forced isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to share information about the various local health and social well-being resources available to them.
Pat Vail is one of the six committee members who made the event happen. She said when she first moved to Norway Bay 23 years ago, she played euchre every night in different towns across the region.
She also spent a lot of time volunteering throughout her community in various capacities.
But that all stopped when the pandemic demanded social isolation, and Vail said she is not sure whether she will be able to rebuild the network she once had.
“Because I’m old, I can’t get it back,” she said. “I don’t want to be where there’s a chance of infection. I try to be more careful.”
While she is weary of her vulnerability to the virus, she said she cares deeply for her community and is committed to rebuilding the network the pandemic eroded.
“I’m seeing people here today I haven’t seen in over two years,” said Jim Ritchie, who lives in Kanata but spends most of the year in Norway Bay, where his family has had a cottage for over 100 years.
He attended Thursday’s event because he wanted to learn more about using computers. But more than that, he wanted to see his friends.
“We miss one another,” he said.
Other events will include another full morning of workshops on October 13, as well as two excursions to see a play at the Ottawa Little Theatre later this fall.
The $21,000 federal grant Twolan-Graham received for developing these workshops has also supported the purchasing of 20 new laptops.
Training sessions will be offered throughout the fall for those interested in learning how to use them, and laptops will be available on loan to Bristol seniors through the local library.
left), Betty Chamberlain, councillor Valerie Twolan-Graham, Pat Vail, Bonnie Beveridge, and Sue Page. Ken Workman and Connie Twolan, also organizers, were unable to attend the event.
