news&views Autumn 2018 | Page 22

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.