SEQUIM — “Road Ahead” organizer Mary Coupland aims to steer clear of the idea of a “senior” fair and instead offer an event that anyone in the community seeking more about managing their health, wealth and general well-being could enjoy.
“We’re not talking about a dead end, we’re talking about enjoying life,” she said.
Coupland, the publisher/editor-in-chief of the Compass & Clock — and owner/operator of the organization of the same name — is bringing back the “Road Ahead” to Sequim.
It is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at Sequim Community Church, 950 N. Sequim Ave.
The free event looks to bring resources, experts and advocates to one place where people can get more information about financial, health care and physical fitness.
The “Road Ahead” will include health care screenings such as blood pressure checks by Assured Hospice, spinal screenings by Lodge Chiropractic, pulse diagnostics from functional movement assessments by Jefferson Healthcare hospital personnel and a medication review clinic by Costco.
It also will offer balance exercise demonstrations, cooking demonstrations on how to cook nutritiously for one or two people (with samples) and travel tips.
Coupland said that the balance exercise articles in her free “Compass & Clock” publication are the most-read pieces.
“As long as people stay vertical they’ll [be] healthier,” she said.
The “Road Ahead” also will feature such door prizes as massages, carpet cleaning and bike rentals, as well as complimentary light snacks and beverages courtesy of Costco.
The event includes a demonstration and information about electric bikes from Garth Schmeck of Pedego Sequim.
The “Road Ahead” schedule is:
• 10:15 a.m. — Balance exercises to do at home.
• 10:55 a.m. — Financial, legal experts tell of “Avoiding Potholes.”
• 11:55 a.m. — Electric biking with Pedego Sequim.
• 12:35 p.m. — “Changing Lanes,” housing and health care experts offer advice.
• 1:30 p.m. — Creating, fun, affordable travel experiences.
Coupland said she and her own family members had a tough time negotiating some of life’s winding roads as her parents aged.
“We didn’t know anything as a family; we made some really bad choices,” she said.
In recent years she’s helped bring senior-themed events to the area, but found she wanted to expand the events to bring in others who perhaps aren’t retired but are looking for some help before they have to make hard decisions.
That help, Coupland said, can be anything from de-cluttering a home years before having to move, being aware of signs of identity theft and getting information about possible financial and legal potholes.
Attendees can sign up for a monthly Compass and Clock email.
“We’re not trying to sell anybody anything,” Coupland said.
A Sequim event Coupland organized in 2017 outdrew a similar event held in Port Angeles one year later, so Coupland is bringing it back to east Clallam County.
“I think people in Sequim have really embraced the program,” she said.
For more information, visit www.compassandclock.com/compass-clock-sponsored- events, or contact Coupland at compassandclockmc@gmail.com or 206-321-8016.
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Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him at editor@sequimgazette.com.
