Senior Safety Academy provides great information
Seniors came to the Bella Vista Lutheran Church for this year’s Senior Safety Academy, featuring vendors for various senior-relevant businesses and presenters on a variety of topics.
The academy was set up by the SALT — Seniors and Law Enforcement Together — Council.
Former police chief Ken Farmer said he’s still on the council and he worked to organize this year’s academy.
“We plan these things for three or four months before we put them on,” he said. “I think it’s gone decent, we got a wonderful crowd. … There’s probably close to 100 people here today.”
He appreciated the church’s help, he said, and he was glad to provide a platform for speakers who discussed a wide array of topics, including services offered by the Police Department,
"They give a lot of good information." Charlotte Spencer
identity theft, power of attorney, medicare fraud and elder law, to name a few.
Among those in attendance were Bella Vista residents Charlotte and Mike Spencer.
“We’ve been to a few of these,” Charlotte Spencer said. “They give a lot of good information, they really do.”
That information, she said, also provides good conversation fuel. She learns a lot, she said, and gets a lot of what she learns out to her friends.
One thing she found useful, she said, is learning about spoof calls — where a potential scammer fakes a local number on the caller ID.
“We’re getting lots of phone calls … it looks like a 479 area code, but it’s not,” she said.
Mike Spencer said it’s something important to be aware of, because someone may be getting scammed and it might not be obvious to their family.
He found the presentations on identity theft particularly interesting, he said.
Spencer said he’d suggest the academy to anyone.