After the coronavirus pandemic moved the event to a virtual format the past two years, the annual Senior Lifestyle Expo, presented by AgeGuide, returned Tuesday and Wednesday Aug. 23-24 to Drury Lane in Oakbrook Terrace.
For the past 27 years, AgeGuide has focused on offering older adults an annual opportunity at the expo to learn, interact, and enjoy all the services that are available to them in the senior marketplace. The Senior Lifestyle Expo offered a variety of exhibitors, products and services for older adults, a health and wellness pavilion, free health screenings, a technology showcase, free seminars and demonstrations.
“That’s what this is all about, and we’re so glad to be returning to Drury Lane this year,” said Angela Bentsen, director of development and strategic planning for AgeGuide. “This is our biggest outreach, and it’s a great way to show seniors services, programs and equipment that can help them to remain in their homes, age in place and be safe.”
The expo included about 90 vendors that offer services and products for seniors.
Beverly Scott of Oak Forest and Ruth March of Crest Hill both said they were prompted to attend their first Senior Lifestyle Expo because it offered a good reason to get out of the house. But both women said they were impressed with what they saw and were glad they came.
“I wanted to see what kind of programs they have for seniors, and I found it very informative,” Scott said, adding the she signed up for reduced fair Metra rides while at the expo.
“I was glad to get out, but this was very good,” she said. “I’d come back again.”
March said she was able to find information on some good resources for friends who were unable to attend the expo. “They do have a variety of information available,” she said. “It’s a good place to find something useful.”
James Thomas of Lyons was supposed to attend the expo with a friend and opted to check it out, even after his friend had to cancel at the last minute.
“I’m glad I came,” he said. “It’s really nice to have so much information available in once place. I doubt there’s anyone interested in everything, but there sure seems to be something here for everyone.”
AgeGuide is a nonprofit organization that works closely with the Administration on Community Living, Illinois Department on Aging and many other agencies to address both the immediate and long range needs of older adults, according to information from AgeGuide, which has a local office in Lombard.
The agency stated that it’s dedicated to advocating for increased services, benefits and programs for older adults so they can, as Bentsen said, age in place.
One of AgeGuide’s primary functions is to award funding to local agencies in each county to provide vital Older Americans Act services, according to the agency. AgeGuide then monitors these services throughout the region to ensure they are of high quality and the funds are spent appropriately.
AgeGuide Northeastern Illinois is one of 622 Area Agencies on Aging throughout the United States and one of 13 in Illinois, according to AgeGuide. Created by Congress to implement the Older Americans Act, Area Agencies on Aging coordinate a wide variety of services for persons age 60 and older. In 1974, the Illinois Department on Aging designated AgeGuide Northeastern Illinois as the Area Agency on Aging for DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties. More than 700,000 older adults live in the agency’s eight-county service area.
AgeGuide says it serves the Northeastern Illinois region in the following ways:
• Planning ahead and assessing the needs of older adults and their caregivers to establish services and funding priorities;
• Developing new or expanded programs to meet the needs of its service area;
• Coordinating a comprehensive and integrated service delivery system through the establishment of working relationships with other funding agencies and service providers;
• Delivering a wide range of long term services and supports to older adults & their families.
More information about AgeGuide is available online at www.ageguide.org.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
