Submitted by: Connie Beaudry
Community Resource Coordinator, Services to Seniors Swan River

Coffee and A Chat, sessions were at the Northern Neighbors Birch River Drop In Center, and the Swan River Senior Citizen Center. They were held August 27,29th, 2024, and all started at 10 am. This month’s topics were How to write your memoirs/history/stories with Linda Carpentier. Youth slang language with Kamden Keith our summer student and Matt Linnick from the SR Fire Department talked about fire safety in your home.
Services to Seniors, Coffee and a Chat provided notebooks and pens to help start your writing journey.

Linda has a few tips on writing
• Schedule your writing time, if you say “when I have time”, it may never happen, but if you schedule your time to write you will have success, it is amazing what you can do with 15 min per day
• Choose your most comfortable means and place, maybe a computer and desk, maybe an easy chair with pen and paper, make it your own
• Don’t try to get it perfect the first time, if you are not writing for publication, don’t be too concerned with spelling or grammar, just write what you want to say
• At the beginning, don’t be concerned with long-range plans, this might make the task look too formidable
• Before printing for someone else, check it thoroughly to make sure you are comfortable with what you have written
All in all, just have fun with friends and family and write what comes to mind. After a gathering you might have reminisced about something you forgot happened. Write it down, create a lasting memory.

We had a coffee break with nice snacks and coffee.

Matt Linnick instructor with the Swan River Fire Department talked about the 8 steps for fire prevention and showed us how to use a fire extinguisher using the PASS method, Pull pin, Aim at base of fire, Squeeze trigger and Sweep across the base of the fire. Make sure to aim first as small fire extinguishers have only up to 15 seconds of use in each cannister.
1. If you smoke, smoke outside
2. Give space heaters space
3. Stay in the kitchen when cooking on the stove top
4. If your clothes catch fire:stop, drop and roll. Don’t run.
5. Install smoke alarms on every level of your home and inside each bedroom and outside each sleeping area.
6. Plan and practice your escape from fire and smoke and hazardous vapours
7. Know your local emergency number or 911
8. Plan your escape for your abilities, keep your glasses, phone and flashlight near your bed and walker, cane wheelchair etc.

Kamden led us with a game, do you know the meaning of these words? Youth sure do have a different language, in retrospect, we have a language of slang that they are unaware of as well. We had a good time and a few laughs with this game. Kamden is planning on having game days at Westside Lodge and Heritage Manor. Call the office at 204-734-5707 for her schedule of events.

Thank you, presenters, for the information and the laughs.

We are looking forward to the next sessions on September 24th in Birch River, 25th in Benito and 26th in Swan River. We will have Katie Kroeker cook us a healthy light meal, Mitch Beaudry RMT present on How Mobility Matters in Swan River, Dr. Monica Cole DC. Benefits of Walking and Low Resistance Exercises in Birch River and Benito.

Thank you to everyone who participated, and we look forward to seeing you again next month.