The Northumberland PACE Speakers Series is launching its new season in October with a virtual conversation centred around seniors living independently.
Northumberland PACE opens its 2025-26 offerings with a webinar called “Independent Living as We Age,” which begins at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday (October 23). The event features guest speaker Micki McLean, who has 20 years of practical experience working in the retirement industry.
Jennifer Gillard, Northumberland Hills Hospital’s (NHH) vice-president of patient experience, public affairs and strategic partnerships, told kawarthaNOW about the impetus for this particular topic in the speakers’ series delivered by Northumberland PACE, a collaboration between many community health-care providers, including NHH, and local residents.
“Earlier this summer we reviewed the speaker topics recommended by past participants and our planning committee and there was a strong interest in the topic of living independently as we age,” Gillard said.
“We’re thrilled to be kicking off our new season with this important discussion and we’re looking forward to more great PACE talks through the year.”
Gillard expressed her appreciation, on behalf of the PACE partners, for both the speakers and the PACE participants for “bringing their interest and their energy to these discussions.”
Speaker Micki McLean, who is general manager of Palisade Gardens Retirement Community in Cobourg, holds a long-term care (LTC) and retirement facility administrator certification. During her session, she’ll share real-life stories and insights gained from working with LTC residents and their families.
The talk is an opportunity for attendees to discover the challenges and realities of finding the right living arrangements, and to learn how to recognize when it’s the right time to make the transition, a media release noted.
As is standard within the PACE series format, audience questions are welcome. For the October talk, questions can be submitted by emailing mbhargava@imcare.ca prior to the event, if time permits, posed live during the event.
Lasting an hour in length, each PACE talk consists of a 30-minute talk, a 20-minute question-and-answer period with the guest speaker, and a short moderator summary.
Advance registration is required, and space is limited to the first 300 registered attendees. This event is hosted on Zoom, and attendees are asked to log in to the event five minutes prior to the start time.
Online registration for the October talk is available at www.pacetalks.com, which also provides access to recordings from many of the previous talks.
Since 2018, the Northumberland PACE partners have been hosting free public education sessions on a broad range of health and wellness topics and have consistently drawn large groups of community members with a variety of questions and perspectives.
PACE, which is an acronym for Personalized Assessment and Change Education, is a TED Talks-inspired speakers’ series. NHH, the Northumberland Family Health Team, The Community Health Centres of Northumberland, internal medicine specialists IMCare, the NHH Foundation, Community Care Northumberland, the Ontario Health Team Northumberland, as well as local patients and caregivers are all represented on the PACE planning table.
Talks are held virtually every month at 5:30 p.m., typically on the fourth Thursday of the month.
