Innovative programs helping seniors at Half Century Centre

By Mark Ribble

LEAMINGTON — While all age groups are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, no group has been hit harder than our seniors.

The Leamington and District Half-Century Centre has been at the forefront of helping area seniors for many years, and although things are being done a little differently right now, they want you to know that they still provide services for the older generation.

According to the centre’s Executive Director, Christine Lehn, the past year has been a challenge.

“We’ve had to be creative to come up with things for people to do,” she said. “We’re hoping that we will get to orange soon.”

Being under the Red: Control status, the centre has been unable to host their usual card games, band practices, dart games and other services, but they are doing things and having fun doing them.

Among the new programs is Senior Centre Without Walls and Lehn says that the members are having a lot of fun with it.

“We do it twice a week and everyone seems to enjoy it,” she said.

These three colourful ladies were busy helping get meals to customers at the Half Century Centre’s St. Patrick’s Day meal. From left are Lily Steinhoff, Macie Antunes and Centre Director Christine Lehn.

Sun photo

Through the program, Lehn has been able to put together conference calls among several members at once, where they can play trivia games or listen to guest speakers. Currently, she’s running weekly games of Name That Tune and Family Feud.

“You can hear them singing along to the tunes,” she said. “It’s great to hear the joy in their voices.”

Currently, about a dozen members take part in the program, but she has room for up to 50 without any issues.

“We have a former member who moved away and she plays every week,” added Lehn. “It’s nice for her to re-connect with the people she misses here.”

In addition to the new program, Lehn has been able to secure Trillium grants to pay for a number of tablets, which will enable people to come in and play cards with each other at the centre.

“Right now, we’re not allowed to use actual cards,” she said. “So we set them up on a tablet in an electronic card game, so they can play with each other without touching cards.”

The first customer to arrive was Mame Nicholson, who was celebrating her 97th birthday on March 17. She was brought to the centre by her nephew, Michael Dube.

The centre’s card tables are set up with plexiglas dividers, so that members can sit at the same table while they play. The only difference is, they are playing the game on their tablets instead of placing the cards on the table.

With that, there comes the challenge of teaching the seniors to use the devices.

“We’ve got a couple of students who are working with them to get them set up,” said Lehn. “It’s nice to see the young people helping the older ones.”

On that note, the centre held its St. Patrick’s Day dinner — take out style — on March 17.

They had a handful of members in the kitchen, cooking up corned beef, potatoes, cabbage and cake, and three young volunteers helping get the takeout meals to waiting vehicles outside. About 85 meals were served.

They also got a donation of brownies from Chartwell Leamington to add to the mix, for which customers purchased tickets in advance.

Their weekly Tuesday lunch program is also still in effect, but for takeout.

In addition to these celebratory programs, the centre is also doing income tax for low income seniors, who can drop off their taxes and return at a later date to pick them up. It’s an annual service provided by the centre.

They are also offering help to seniors needing to register for a COVID vaccine.

“We know how hard it is to do over the phone, so they can come here and we will help them register,” said Lehn.

If you’d like to become a member, or are interested in the programs offered by the centre, call Chris.