Foundation Health Partners hosts summit highlighting senior life

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - As with any community, living in Fairbanks can pose challenges for aging members of the population.

In response, Foundation Health Partners is holding a summit at the Pioneer Park Civic Center to inform the community about how to support its older citizens.

The two-day event, put on by the Community Health Improvement Group, is called “Fairbanks at 50 Plus: The Art and Science of Aging.”

This is the first year for the free summit which is being held on Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8.

More than 40 booths and displays offering health information for seniors, guides to resources, and even free massages are available.

Keynote speakers highlight issues local seniors face, as well as ways to live healthy.

Carol Anthony, Community Partnerships Manager with Foundation Health Partners, said, “We believe that most people who live here would like to continue to live here as we age, so what this event is hopefully going to inspire people to do is to start forward thinking about ‘How am I going to do that? What do I need to do to prepare to do that well, legal, fitness, health-wise, my home, transportation, and then to think bigger, what does this community need to do to improve, to make this a better place to age in.’ ”

Day 2 of the summit focuses on issues and opportunities facing older members of the community.

The free event has organizations from around the Interior gathering to provide information about living comfortably in Fairbanks for those over 50.

Saturday’s schedule includes a meet-and-greet with state legislators from the Interior.

Speakers discuss how to prevent fraud and information about the Alaska International Senior Games.

“How do we make a community walkable, easy to get from one place to another, whether or not you’re using public transportation or your own, and then the next would be housing. Where am I going to live? Am I going to modify my own home in some way, or is there someplace else I can transition to, and how do I go about doing that? Maybe if I start planning sooner, it eases that process of making those decisions,” Anthony explained.