The 2026 Senior Information Fair is Thursday, September 17th from 9 to 2 at Turnstone Plassman Fieldhouse.

Featuring speakers on fraud and downsizing, experts in aging related services, health screenings and a vaccine clinic.

Onsite is parking available Overflow parking at Glenbrook Mall With shuttles to and from Turnstone Details at SeniorFair.info .

Hello and thank you so much for watching the LIFE Ahead here on PBS for it.

Weinheimer Evans, your host and very interesting show again tonight.

We always try to have those interesting shows for you on these Wednesday nights but we're going to talk about the annual information fair that is actually coming up and a little more than three weeks it'll be on September 17th.

It's on a Thursday.

We're going to talk more about the details the Times, the vendors, the organizations all being involved, the purpose of it and the fact that it's been around for several years and it has quite a history.

So I want to introduce you to my guests tonight.

Joshua, who is the current president of the Senior Information Fair.

And we have Betty Foster, past president and current volunteer and you do so much we talked about that in the green room before the program.

So thank you to both of you for being here.

>> Well, thank you for having us.

Absolutely.

And Josh, you're actually attorney and elder attorney so you kind of get it when it comes to senior citizens and so forth.

And Betty, you've worked in the auctioneering business and that's relatively new.

>> I spent 15 years here in the community in the senior related business.

OK, so no wonder both of you are so much involved in the senior information fair.

>> So while I was before I do get started, I want to let people know our viewers that we actually have several ways to contact us with your questions and concerns.

>> So feel free at any time during the program you can call us at two six zero (969) to seven to zero and that is four if you'd like to be on the air asking your question live a lot of people like that and then if you don't want to be on the air live we can transpose your question or transcribe your question and then we'll be more than happy to answer that for you.

>> The other way is to text your question that's fairly new here at PBS Fort Wayne and just dial that number you see on the screen.

Ask a question and please give us your name and the town from where you're texting.

We like to do a good old all-American Fort Wayne shout out to you so thank you in advance for that.

>> So let's go and get started.

You know, before I received information about the fair about from you to I did some research to find out what the needs are as far as seniors are needing and according to information I found for preparing for the show, seniors today face a complex mix of health financial, social and accessibility challenges that impact their quality of life and for instance, health challenges.

And I think that rose to the top on this list financial and economic concerns, social isolation and communication, housing and aging in place, elder care and policy changes, safety and abuse and maintaining independence and well-being.

>> Another big one there on the list.

So what I can tell from that list of vendors and organizations that you have and the special guest speakers will talk about in a few minutes that will carry most if not all of those concerns.

>> So good job and doing that and relating to those issues.

So Josh, let's get started with you.

Why is so important to have events like this the senior information figure on an annual basis?

>> Well, it's the name it's information we're trying to make sure that seniors who are facing these types of challenges can have access to attorneys, to realtors, to people who have information about aging in place all in one location and then that is the place to go to in order to be able to talk with people that are in those professions and get that information that you might need.

>> Yeah, and I know that your logo SRF enables empowers and promotes seniors to live healthy and safe lives.

>> That's right.

And you just hit it on the nails had with your explanation.

Let's talk about the history of the senior information fair.

>> How did it begin?

Where have we been and where are we now?

>> Betty, it began in nineteen ninety nine .

Is that under the Health Care Administration or was it was an advisory committee that was developed under Paul Paul Helmke and it functioned that way for the first year and then the city back to way and as far as the mayor or office and such and does that then we went to functioning under the league's nonprofit status and did that up until twenty fifteen and we moved locations a couple of times that originally started at the community center was held there for several years and outgrew and from what I can find in the minutes and notes it was probably about two thousand eight that they moved to the main library downtown.

Yes.

For more space and at that time if I'm not mistaken, Lisa Bordier who was with the L.A.

County Public Library audio reading took over as President and she functioned through twenty fourteen is the president of the group I said and then we've had different ones through the years and we had success at the library for many, many years.

Yes.

And the number of vendors but then in twenty nineteen after our affair then they were doing the Abraham Lincoln bill now oh and we were losing some space we wouldn't be able to have a number of vendors in the Great Hall like we oh I see.

>> So we started looking around and Turnstone with there being a big gymnasium seemed to be the best source for us and still be in the main flow of traffic.

So in well in twenty twenty of course we didn't hold the event right but then twenty twenty one we ended up canceling it too and so twenty twenty two we held our first fair at Turnstone and we've that's been our venue since then and I bet that's turned out to be a great location.

>> It is they have expanded tremendously as far as their parking space and we could fill that whole gymnasium if we want if we needed to be vendors.

Yeah.

So you know, it's huge on the inside there's plenty of room for everyone to move around.

It's on one level we don't have to have speakers down or up.

>> Right.

So and it gets bigger and better every year.

It does.

Yeah.

And I know working on various boards myself for organizations throughout my career and also history here in Fort Wayne that's what you always strive for .

>> Let's make it bigger and better next year.

Give something the people to look forward to so Josh what age group are we actually catering to who all is invited and how much does it cost?

>> So we we are targeting seniors and those who are around seniors a lot.

So a lot of the people that are trying to cater to and get information out there for are the people who are seniors and in that that retiree stage as well as their caregivers, family members who are concerned about the seniors in their life , it is free to attend and so we encourage as much attendance as possible to to come through and see what all the information is for free.

>> Yeah, and it sounds like a great figure this year and I'm hoping to attend myself and the senior information fair of course we were talking about the board and so forth is is organized by a board and Josh give us some insight about the board and its members and what they strive for .

>> Yes, we have 12 members in various professions all dealing mostly with seniors.

So we have attorneys we have people who are in real estate.

We have social workers.

We have representatives of various entities that are that cater to seniors like AARP.

We have people who are in all sorts of different professions and with all sorts of experience who really come together to provide a really great event.

>> Yeah, sounds like a great group of people and how much work I mean these people have full time jobs.

They're professionals but how much work and how many meetings would you say does it take to make an event like this successful?

>> So we meet year round it is a year round event.

We are a working board so we are hitting the pavement.

We are trying to make sure that we get as much information out there as possible for people and so we do meet at least once a month in order to make sure that this works as well as we need to.

>> That's good.

And you don't just meet but you walk away with various assignments.

I'm sure we do and things to follow up on or to report for the next meeting.

Right.

So I understand that.

So with that said after this fair is over on September 17th at 2:00 p.m.

when do you start planning for the next one to one p.m.

on September 17th?

>> More realistically we really saw in November I say we take a month off because it is a it's a big to do that we're putting on it's a few days of diligent work right leading up to the event and so we take a month off.

>> We celebrate a great event and we get right back to it the next month.

Wow.

That's just amazing and I love that dedication.

>> Betty, since you've been around and you also know what's going to happen this year, what can attendees expect this year and how many vendors and types of services will they represent?

>> Well, at this point in time we have about a hundred and twelve hundred and fifteen vendors.

The service is just about anything you would want or have a question related to aging related to seniors staying healthy and in their homes for as long as they can or those who are looking to go to assisted living or independent living or just need legal questions answered.

It's all available there and if there isn't a vendor that can answer those questions the vendors that are there have referral services that will have knowledge to to you know, they would refer to whomever whatever business professional it would be.

Yeah.

And so we look forward to it every year we keep expanding and growing a little bit but we want to make sure we don't get so large that we can't handle right in and make it flow smoothly behind the scenes and for the vendors and attendees the door every every year there are people waiting outside the door before we ever open at 9:00 a.m.

and so they get in there, they get their lunch ticket, they get go around to the vendors and and those that want to go to the first session the speaker go back out into the lobby to the conference room and listen to the speaker and then come back in and go through the vendors.

>> Yeah, One hundred ten vendors and organizations involved that's quite a few and that would take you a little time to stop by and visit each one of them.

Right.

And of course we're going to have handouts and information tchotchkes and things like that you can give away.

>> Yeah that's that's great.

You know one of the main categories as I mentioned at the top of the show of senior concerns is the the health challenges.

>> What will this year's senior information fair offer for those?

Yeah, so we we do a wide variety of screenings for people so we have different vendors who are providing those screenings.

We have one that is providing hearing screenings and other that is providing diabetes and glucose screenings.

Another for a stroke assessment.

We also have Francine's friends who are doing the mobile mammography.

Oh yeah.

As well yeah.

So there there are a lot of screenings that you can sign up for .

You don't typically need to sign up in advance for any of those.

So that's something that you just come in you say yes I need to do this and they'll make it happen.

That's great.

And immunizations too.

Yes.

We are also offering immunizations for a variety of things flu covid in the like one stop shopping to get you all fixed up and ready for winter and get some neat things to put in your bag and and information that you can take with you and be very vital.

>> And I know, Betty, that there are two information sessions scheduled and who are the speakers?

>> What are the topics and Emily Gorman from AARP will be in the first session and she is going to speak on the scams and fraud that target seniors.

So that'll be like a forty five minute an hour session.

>> I believe we had her on the show not too long ago and she was talking about scams and I was just I was overwhelmed with the number of scams and the types and she was very good and very informative about that.

>> So that's definitely one we want to see.

Yeah.

And anybody that comes in it sends her session.

It's going to get helpful tips and information I'm sure to avoid being taken advantage of and I know my phone rings on a daily basis with the potential and I never used to answer those calls but now I pick it up and let them start in and then I just say Oh I'm sorry.

>> No, I contact my attorney.

>> That's a good way and I just wonder if you get any more of those calls.

I say report spam.

Yeah.

they've gone downhill quite a bit so that's good.

>> Yeah that should be a great one and then curtness from Niasse Brothers, Realtors and auctioneers will along with his team will be talking on downsizing, selling your home, buying another home, that type of thing.

>> Now they can give you tips on doing it OK?

And that is something that seems to be big.

I see commercials on television for the companies that help you downsize.

They'll go in and give you hints on how to downsize and they even put your house up for sale and help you with that.

And I think that's a big thing because so many seniors nowadays just don't need all this room in these big homes.

>> They've raised all their kids and it's just nice to downsize to something that they can actually handle it better.

>> And it's not just about the property.

It's also about having your financial needs and your estate in the proper place and we help guide those we work closely with Elbegdorj attorneys representatives plays in that kind of NFL well good sound like very informative sessions and that's nine thirty on that Thursday nine a.m.

nine fifteen to nine starts at nine fifteen to nine thirty and then right after Emily is done with hers we'll have Curt and that's in his team OK ten thirty or thereabouts OK now excuse me I know I've been to Turnstone several times in fact I was there at their big ribbon cutting ceremony years ago and I don't live too far from there to be honest with you but it's a very impressive and I don't know it just offers a lot to people in our community.

>> I was just wondering are there going to be tours available?

Yes, that's part of stones there vendor there till the day of being our host and such and they're going to have some activities that they'll be doing for fun.

But there are tours available and if you've never heard the facility you really need to take the time to do because they have all types of things available not only for people with disabilities but you know, we as individuals can join the community, use the workout, use the pool.

Yeah.

So it's fantastic the work that they do there and the events that they hold there and it's a great location to right there on North Clinton so almost anybody would have access to that.

>> So Josh, not only will it be lots of information and these sessions to to attend and handout handouts rather and but I understand there's also a free catered lunch.

>> There is where the lunch is the keyword there.

>> Tell me all about that.

Right.

So I like lunch as people come in they're going to be able to get a ticket while supplies last and as long as they have that ticket they have a lunch and so most everyone who gets to attend if they come in before lunch time they'll have a good chance of having a lunch.

>> So they just have to make sure they get their ticket when they walk it.

Well, that's that's convenient.

>> That's very good.

And I understand there's also going to be some entertainment during the lunch.

There is some entertainment.

So we do have justice coming in to provide some some music for us as well as a couple of other well we'll say surprise entertainment good Joe.

>> As a matter of fact, isn't he a retired fireman?

>> I believe this well and I knew that many years I've known Joe off and on over the years and I said well you know, you have Joe Justice and that's his real name.

I said Why did you ever become a police officer?

>> And he says, you know, I never thought of that.

I'm sure he did.

He's a great guy and very talented.

It's a good choice.

So I understand someone else might be making an appearance or will be making an appearance.

>> Yes, we do have at one other person who would make an appearance Elvis will be in the building.

>> Oh my God for the event.

All right.

Great.

I know we love Elvis so that'll be a great time as well.

So I have someone who's actually made a phone call into us.

>> She's asking what kind of vendors will be at the fair Betty, if he can go over that once again we'll have elder law there will be senior residential communities, hospice health hospitals OK, there will be oh gosh we even have home improvement.

>> We have like cell phone service there.

There is one joining us this year again and but a lot of it is health related and it is the things that seniors need in the area as they age because let's face it, you know, like somebody like me, I'm I'm not as strong as I used to be and there's things that I need help with or if I'm looking at, you know, selling my home and downsizing, going to an apartment, that type of thing, there's just all kinds there's so many numerous ones in different categories.

>> It's hard to speak about them all.

Well, you know and then at the end of the show and if I don't do it, please remind me we're going to give the website they can go to and can get vendors by names and the types of injuries that will be so information about the Sieff let's talk about parking and how Citilink our public transportation entity will be involved.

>> Absolutely.

So we do have parking on site but it is somewhat limited and then for any overflow we actually have a designated spot over at Glenbrook Mall and we do have seating shuttles driving back and forth so that if you park over at Glenbrook Ball no matter what time you park over there, we will have somebody be able to pick you up, take you to Turnstone and those busses continue to run during the entire event and even a little bit after so that no matter when you decide to arrive, no matter when you decide to leave, somebody will be able to take you back to your vehicle.

>> That's very nice of Citilink to do that and be a part of that.

And I know a lot of seniors use those public transportation services and very important in our town.

>> Is there still time for vendors and organizations to get on board with this?

>> Absolutely.

How are they do that so they can email us senior fair in our SIGNIOR Info fair at Gmail dot com senior now and information and information fair senior information fair Gmail dot com that's fairly easy to remember so they can go in there and ask how they can inquire how they can be involved and I'm sure there's some some stipulations some things that they need to know going into it and also if they want to get on board I would suggest doing it right away sooner rather than later is better.

Absolutely.

>> Absolutely.

And of course all that support is certainly appreciated, I'm sure.

Let's talk about how our viewers can actually get more information regarding the senior information fair of twenty twenty six.

They can go to our website file which under our blog tab there's more information there and it's w w w senior info senior fair dot info.

>> Let's do that one more time if these people are taking notes it's w w w senior fair dot info.

You can also search it through whatever search engine you use and it'll pop up OK that's very good and I miss my time too.

I don't really know how much time we have about three minutes to go.

>> Well let's go and recap some of the things that we will expect in you know Josh, we were talking about the medical entities.

>> We have blood pressure checks and vital signs checks which include heart rate respiration, blood pressure and pulse and otoscope ear screening, hearing screening available diabetes, glucose screening, all that there.

>> Strich I'm sorry stroke risk is this that's something when you say stroke risk assessment a grip strength screen.

>> Yes.

And so various vendors, various medical entities in town will actually be providing those services.

So we'll have professionals doing that.

>> That's correct.

And they just stop by the booth and they do this.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well that's that's amazing.

>> That's that's really that's a great service.

I would imagine you could probably spend quite a bit of time during the fair doing that but I would think that you know because health care costs so much these days and some people don't have adequate health care, this would be very important for them to attend.

>> It would give them an idea of what their status is at the current time and if needed say you know, they did the diabetes check then if the person that they did it with they might refer them to their doctor so they'll be looking out for yeah.

>> And if things look good there's they'll just tell them things are looking good.

I think that's excellent and that is a number one priority for seniors these days is the health care thing also we mentioned Francine's friends mobile mammography.

>> Yes.

So they'll have there I think it's a big RV coach, the coach they'll be there with that and do you have to do any pre sign and or anything for that now you just sign in there the day of and if the schedule gets full they will sign you for another one time if you'd like that.

We also have the vaccine clinic which is a huge one and ah those vaccines free well they need to bring their insurance card with them but they are free there the day of the fair.

I am so glad we brought that.

Bring your insurance card to the senior information fair for immunizations and we're talking flu shingles which happens to be big one pneumonia as well of course there's good old covid RSV and I'm not sure what D DTAP is.

>> It's it's your oh shoot now I can't think of what it is we all had it when we were younger but yeah okay diptheria possibly it could be excuse me so all right.

Oh it's it's tetanus that's what it is yeah.

Roz our floor director happened to write that.

Thank you Roz.

Don't know what we do without you.

We have a minute left here to talk about the senior information fair.

Let's do all the who what wins and where's to make sure people know where it's at and we'll give that website address again for more information that the senior info fair is happening on September 17th at Turnstone on Clinton Street and that is from 9:00 a.m.

to two PM if you want more information please go to senior fair info and if you would like more information about how to be a vendor, how to be a sponsor, we encourage you to reach out via email at senior information Fair at Gmail dot com.

>> All right.

And just for our viewers for them to know if you caught us halfway into the show and didn't catch the first half, we will of course replay this on our website at PBS Fort Wayne so you can check that out.

And we also have it on YouTube and most of all of our episodes of life Head are on those two entities as well.

>> Wow.

Time flew by.

You guys did a great job.

Thank you very much.

>> Thank you for all I do.

Thank you for all you do.

We truly appreciate it.

We just organized it well that's a lot of work there thing and I hope to see you there and we hope to see you there September 17th on a Thursday at Turnstone until next time.

>> Thank you so much for watching LIFE Ahead.

We wish you a wonderful and happy and healthy life of good night and thanks for watching The 2026 Senior Information Fair is Thursday, September 17th from 9 to 2 at Turnstone Plassman Fieldhouse.

Featuring speakers on fraud and downsizing, experts in aging related services, health screenings and a vaccine clinic.

Onsite is parking available Overflow parking at Glenbrook Mall With shuttles to and from Turnstone Details at SeniorFair.info