A Free Health & Aging Resource Fair Comes to Columbia This Month

If you’re 55 or older — or you’re helping a parent or neighbor who is — mark down September 18. Services for Independent Living is hosting its Active & Aging Health Resource Fair that day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the MU Health Care Pavilion, 1701 W. Ash St. in Columbia. It’s free to walk in, and nothing about it requires you to sign up ahead of time.

The idea behind the fair is simple: get the local organizations and businesses that help people stay healthy and independent as they age into one room, so you can talk to several of them in a single morning instead of a week of phone calls. Expect tables from health providers, aging-services agencies, and community groups, there to answer questions and hand over information rather than sell anything.

You don’t have to be a senior yourself to get something out of it, either. Organizers describe the fair as “great for anyone who wants information to prepare for the future” — so adult children planning ahead for aging parents, caregivers, or anyone just starting to think about it are just as welcome as the people the event is built around.

Admission is free and no registration was mentioned in the announcement, so the plan appears to be simply showing up during the four-hour window. Businesses interested in sponsoring a table can find a sponsorship form through the organizer’s site. More detail on what will be there is available at silcolumbia.org/activeandaging/.

For readers out in Rocheport and the surrounding counties, it’s a short drive into Columbia for a morning that could save a lot of runaround later — one stop to meet the people who handle transportation help, in-home services, health screenings, and more, all under the same roof, on September 18 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the MU Health Care Pavilion.