From the Branches
Ron Thompson | President, HARTA
HARTA’s Mini-Conference
On May 8, HARTA held a
mini-conference in Leduc with the
theme Keeping Connected. My
years working with the Wellness
Committee taught me that keeping connected is
clearly important in maintaining an individual’s
social, emotional, physical, and mental health.
We also took the opportunity to off er body
composition clinics in conjunction with the
mini-conference. Twenty participants took part
in them.
Daniel Mulloy, Chief Executive Offi cer (CEO)
and Executive Director of ARTA, was our keynote
speaker. His address on the Keeping Connected
theme focused on what he has learned since his
involvement with the Wellness Committee, and
he cited studies that showed a direct relationship
between loneliness and relative general health.
One study he mentioned showed that great
loneliness can result in health issues equivalent
to those resulting from smoking half a package
of cigarettes a day. The best contact, according to
him, is face-to-face contact; but phone calls and
contact such as Skype or FaceTime can work as
well. Mr. Mulloy encouraged the participants to
stay connected.
Three workshops followed. Steve Carter and
Bonnie Haave did a session about relationships in
retirement and how changing relationships can aff ect
mental and emotional health. Their session included
types of persons in retirement. Three examples are
those who remain connected to their past activities
through volunteering or part-time work, adventurers
who start new activities or learn new activities or
skills, and searchers who learn by trial and error as
they look for a niche they have yet to fi nd. In all, they
gave six diff erent classifi cations of retirees.
22 | arta.net
Participants socialize between sessions
at HARTA’s Mini-Conference
Dr. Stephen Carter and
participant after Dr.
Carter & Dr. Haave’s
presentation on Seniors
in Retirement at HARTA’s
mini-conference in Leduc
last May.
Carolynne Melnyk
presents Qigong
Concepts at her
Spring Forest Qigong
Presentation at HARTA’s
mini-conference in Leduc
this past May.
Iona Robertson’s
presentation on
Digitizing Family Photos.
Iona explains how
valuable photos can be
saved, duplicated, and
distributed to other
members of the family.