ASCA 2010 Annual Conference Recap

26Jul

The 2010 ASCA Conference was held on July 19-20 at the Radisson Woodlands Hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona. The theme of the conference was “Innovations in Aging.” Over forty members from throughout the state attended the conference. It was a great location and members said it was “nice to get out of the heat, and network.”

Speakers included:

Amy Websdale, Civic Service Institute
Carole Mandino, Senior Companion Program
Brian Francis, AmeriCorps from NAU who spoke on the Effective Use of Volunteers in Senior Centers
Joanne Cherry from the City of Phoenix on Healthy Recipe Demonstration and Cost Saving Ideas Roundtable
Brad Bixler, Mohave County on Dealing with Non-profits and Site Councils
Chuck Fitzgerald, AZ Links Director, AZ Department of Economic Security on AZLinks.gov – Arizona’s Aging & Disability Resource
Kari Sanderfer, Social Security Administration on Understanding Social Security
Norma Franco, Miami Senior Center on Serving Minority Populations
Patty Contreras, City of Phoenix, leading the group in the Special Events Roundtable

Educational and Informative keynote speech

The keynote speaker was Ramona Rusinak, RN, PhD, who spoke on “Healthy Aging Trends and Evidenced Based Health Promotion.” The presentation examined the demographic characteristics, quality of life, chronic diseases trends and health behaviors of the aging population. She also gave an overview of how Arizona is moving forward with a range of health promotion initiatives to promote the ability of older adults to remain active, healthy and living independently in their communities.

Amusing, thought provoking speakers

Randy Pellatz, Toastmaster & Utilities Director, City of Flagstaff also presented on What Do You Want Written on Your Tombstone? He told his story of falsely planning for retirement in a down economy. His theme was how to deal with work, kids, insurance, and all the things you refused to think about before… retirement’s here, so what do you do now? Mr. Pellatz invited a Toastmaster’s friend of his to join him. When you have a chance, ask someone who attended the 2010 conference what they thought of the speech on cryogenics. It was an amusing, confusing, thought-provoking speech. One that we are still talking about!

Members enjoyed an evening social on Sunday night and dinner together out on the town on Monday night. In conference evaluations, members said it was the “Best conference yet!” and “The conference is very educational and the information is of the greatest value.”