Safe, sound & secure seminar a strikes a chord with senior citizens

A mini-conference on practical security and safety issues affecting senior citizens was conducted at the Presque Isle County Council on Aging in Monday. According to the coordinator, Barb Nagi, 72 people registered for the event, filling the room and taking part in the discussions ranging from scams to legal rights and from computers to homeland security. The first speaker was Undersheriff Bob Paschke who gave a presentation titled Scams, Schemes and Swindles.

PASCHKE NOTED that con artists who specialize in insurance, investment, and home maintenance scams prey on the unsuspecting, especially the elderly. He warned that no matter how pleasant a caller offering such opportunities may sound, “You need to be very skeptical and suspicious of any proposal that sounds too good to be true, has to be kept secret, or requires immediate payment. He provided some handouts developed by an organization known as Triad. This is an affiliation of the American Association of Retired Persons, International Association of Chiefs of Police and National Sheriff’s Association.

One of the topics Paschke covered was called “Identity theft: What’s it to me?” In this part of his presentation he described the nature of identity theft, how thieves gain access to personal information, how to protect oneself and what to do if you are a victim of identity theft. Paschke discussed the three G’s that allow swindles to work: Goodness, blind trust; Gullibility, not checking into a questionable incident; and Greed, trying to get something for nothing. These are followed by the two C’s of prevention: Care, to be leery of unusual situations; and Common sense, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Chris Martin of the U.S. Postal Service talked about postal scams and Art Ross, of The Design Team gave a presentation on computers and what seniors need to know about them.

AFTE

R LUNCH, Dave Bisgrove of Legal Services of Northern Michigan spoke on the Legal Rights of Senior Adults and John Keller of the Family Independence Agency talked about Elder Abuse. The regional office manager of U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow delivered a speech on Homeland Security to round out the program. Coordinator Barb Nagi said that the organizers were very pleased with the turnout and the level of participation by area seniors who came from Presque Isle County, Alpena and Hillman. She also noted that the discussion included the idea of establishing a Triad group for the area and was well received by attendees.

“Some people came right up and volunteered to help set it up and to be involved in things like community watch and seniors helping seniors,” she said. Nagi encouraged other interested seniors and non-seniors alike to contact the Senior Center for more information about the Triad initiative. The center’s phone number in Posen is 766-8191.