On 22 October 2016 the Third Health Congress of the Seniors of Zawiercie Region was held in the events hall of the Municipal Culture Centre in Zawiercie. ASA was pleased to be a partner of this event.
During the Congress, whose motto was: “We are ageing with style”, many aspects related to senior citizens’ health and nutrition were discussed. The senior participants could meet various people who had changed their (usually bad) habits for different reasons, and they could have free-of-charge tests and become familiar with the partners’ offers, including ASA’s, whose motto is: “Health is the most important!”
We can observe on a daily basis that seniors are not just old people with walking sticks who prefer to spend their time sitting in armchairs and watching TV. Active ways of spending free time, everyday exercising, walking, participating in workshops and other fitness activities have become a part of the lives of most people aged 50+. Due to a lot of free time and effective disease prevention, senior citizens who retire do not shut themselves away but start another stage of their lives, focusing on physical activity and the development of their interests which had had to be postponed before.
It was thanks to the creativity and ingenuity of the senior citizens of the Zawiercie District that the Third Health Congress of the Seniors of Zawiercie Region was organized. It comprised lectures, performances, discussions and tests. The guests, senior citizens and speakers were greeted by Krystyna Męcik, Chairperson of the University of the Third Age in Łazy, and Jan Gwizd, Chairperson of the University of the Third Age in Zawiercie, and the host of the Congress was Patryk Drabek, editor of the “Dziennik Zachodni” newspaper.
“We are so pleased to have you here with us today. The objective of this Congress is to integrate and educate, as well as to present the state-of-the-art equipment and offer the participants a chance to have free-of-charge tests”, said Krystyna Męcik.
The participants could take advantage of free-of-charge tests and learn what kind of exercises to practice in order to minimize the effects of ageing. Lectures on disease prevention delivered by specialists enjoyed great interest. The inaugurating lecture was delivered by Marek Pilch, who discussed the ways of delaying the ageing process and the importance of exercising and taking up sports by people at any age.
In the discussion panel, several difficult aspects were also mentioned, e.g. the closing of the cardiology ward of the Polish-American Heart Clinics at the District Hospital in Myszków. This was the place where heart disease specialists frequently had saved the lives of people from the region, as the time of getting to the hospital was the shortest.
The artistic performances of the seniors during the Congress proved that a good sense of humour and a certain distance to the surrounding world are a guarantee of good health and a long life. The organizers of the meeting were the University of the Third Age in Łazy and Zawiercie, CIL, the District Senior Council and ARK. The event was organized under the honorary patronage of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy, the Polish Ombudsman, the Marshal of the Province of Silesia, the District Office in Zawiercie, the Town Office in Łazy, the Town Office in Zawiercie, MOST- the Association for Support of Non-Governmental Organisations, the Polish Federation of Associations of Universities of the Third Age.
Source: information provided by the organizer, the University of the Third Age in ŁAZY (Agnieszka Seweryn)