INNISFAIL – Mayors from across Central Alberta will gather in Innisfail to kick off National Fall Prevention Month.
The 5th annual Walk with the Mayors will be held on Nov. 1 at Innisfail High School from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
“We will start at 10 o’clock with a tai chi demo from one of our committee members and then we’ll go into our walk afterwards,” said Allyssa Bremner, community facilitator with the Town of Innisfail.
Six mayors have confirmed their participation for the event, including those from Innisfail, Penhold and Red Deer County. Innisfail mayor Jim Romane will share opening remarks.
“He will proclaim November as National Fall Prevention Month,” she added, noting the event is open to the public. “We’re hoping to get some seniors to come and join us. It is wheelchair accessible so if you can’t walk, you can still join in.”
The event is put on every year by the Central Alberta Falls Prevention Coalition.
“We rotate through different communities in Central Alberta and it’s the first time (for the walk) in Innisfail,” said Bremner.
In the past, the mayors' walk has been held in Sylvan Lake, Penhold and Red Deer.
“It promotes National Fall Prevention Month. We do a walk because walking is one of the best ways to help keep you strong as you’re getting older and help prevent those falls,” explained Bremner.
Raising awareness and highlighting the need for prevention is an important part of the event and an important topic for Innisfail’s seniors, she noted.
“On our evaluation form at our Seniors Wellness Conference last week, we asked a few questions and one of them was what future topics they would like to see (discussed),” said Bremner. “There were quite a few people that put down different exercise routines and different ways to stay active and healthy. That goes hand in hand with preventing falls.”
The walk itself will be about 20 minutes, and this year students from various classes between grades 1 and 10 will also participate.
“We’re also having a class from each school here in Innisfail that will be joining us, to make it an intergenerational event,” Bremner concluded.
