Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
By 2030, 1 out of every 5 people in Indiana will be age 65 and older, according to InContext.Indiana.edu, and the percentage of senior citizens will continue to grow through at least 2050.
Tuesday’s 2026 Senior Expo and Outreach provided an opportunity for seniors and/or their caregivers to seek out and find information on everything from insurance and healthcare to recreational activities and funeral planning.
“It’s our second annual Senior Expo and Outreach. We’re located at Warsaw Community Church today. We are bringing all things together for seniors and aging; for the caregivers, for the family members that maybe their parents are looking into something that they might need down the line here, whether that’s downsizing or assisted living, independent care, independent living. We have real estate, orthopedics, we have blood pressure checks and bone density checks. So, just tons of information on health and otherwise in our community,” said Stacey Leek, founding member of the Senior Expo and Outreach committee.
Nora Christiansen, Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce events coordinator, said, “We really wanted to focus on covering all aspects of senior life. So we have things for recreation all the way to estate planning, and kind of everything in between.”
Leek said they were also having a couple breakout sessions. The first one was on fraud, presented by 1st Source Bank, and the second one was attorney Will Stockdale presenting on elder care and elder planning.
About 60 attendees were in line right when the doors opened at 10 a.m. Tuesday for the expo, Christiansen said. Miller’s Merry Manor provided a free lunch for the first 150 people through the door.
Explaining what prompted the formation of the expo in the first place, Leek said she and Allyson Taylor, advance pre-planning specialist with McHatton-Sadler Funeral Chapels, were discussing one day how they really didn’t have something for seniors like other communities do.
“So, we were like, ‘Why don’t we have something like that?’ And, there was another hospital that was doing something similar, it was very healthcare oriented, and we wanted to bring in other resources because there’s so much more that goes into aging than just healthcare. So we wanted to bring all of that together and that’s why we called it a resource fair as well,” Leek explained.
They started planning it, but found they were biting off more than they could chew. The Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce “was gracious enough to help us through that first year, and we partnered with them, and we were very willing to let them take the lead on that this year, and they have done an amazing job. We could never be so grateful to them. We’ve expanded this year, we’ve grown. We have a beautiful new venue. Just things that we couldn’t do as just two people with full-time jobs, couldn’t really accomplish, so we’re very grateful to the Chamber on that level as well,” Leek said.
Christiansen said vendors were excited to be a part of the event.
“I will say, even from last year, that was something when we didn’t even know exactly what this would look like, we’ve had a huge buy-in from the community of vendors wanting to support this endeavor,” she said. “This year, we are hoping to grow even more, so last year we had about 100 attendees. Today, I think we are going to surpass that, it looks like, and all of our vendors have been really great supporting that mission as well. We’re just trying to get it out there for everybody.”
Going forward, Christiansen said the expo will continue to be an early June event.
“We will be continuing next year for sure. We’ve had an amazing turnout. A lot of interest from the public, a lot of interest from vendors and this year we have over 60 (vendors) and, who knows? Maybe next year we’ll have a few more,” she stated.
In talking to the seniors, Taylor said she just wanted to communicate to them that “they have all kinds of resources with us to kind of write their last wishes down, or just get some information written down that they’re able to do that so it’s not on their family and things like that.”
Some seniors are ready and willing to talk about funeral arrangements, while others don’t want to think about it. “We just try to make sure they have all the information that they need to make the best decision for them and their family,” she said.
Katey Walls, guest relations at Paddock Springs, said Paddock Springs is a long-term care facility. They offer assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing, as well as long-term care.
“We offer quite a bit of different services. I think it’s important for us to be here because the community needs places that offer long-term care and skilled nursing. It’s definitely a growing need in the community, especially with the senior population, so we’re here just to promote that and get people connected,” she said.
Paddock Springs will be opening a stand-alone memory care facility with 24 beds in the fall.
Tom Tearney, 1st Source Bank trust administrator and vice president, said they wanted to be a part of the expo because, “It means a lot to 1st Source to be able to contribute to the community and help people every way we can, and let them know about our services.”
Fraud against senior citizens is a growing problem, he said, and 1st Source Bank branch managers gave a “nice presentation on how to prevent fraud and things that we can do to help customers prevent that.”
Gwen Calvert, community relations director at Miller’s Senior Living, said, “Miller’s has been long-standing in the community and the state. We offer the independent living at the villas, assisted living and skilled nursing care, and we wanted to be here to represent and be here for this community so they know what’s there when they need us.”
Cori Humes, executive director of Kosciusko County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the Chamber invited the KCCVB to have a table at the expo this year.
“We’re happy to be here to share about things that are going on in Kosciusko County. It’s not just about what visitors can do, it’s about what residents can do in their own backyard. We always kind of use the idea of be a tourist in your hometown, so we’re just here sharing about things that you can do in your own destination, especially now that we’re here in our favorite time of the year in Kosciusko County - summer!” she stated.
Brittany Lyon, Titus Funeral Home pre-planning advisor, said, “Our goal today is to just have a conversation with seniors as they come through. We’re not really pushing anything specific. We’re handing out doughnuts for breakfast, giving them information on pre-planning and what Titus Funeral Home does, and really just to answer questions as they have them.”
Bowen Health Director of Community Engagement Mike Murphy said, “We’re letting the population know that Bowen Health has really changed in the last 10 years. Now having primary care, dental services, built-in pharmacy all in one location. When we think about our aging population, and the fact that they don’t want to drive as much, so the ability to go to one spot for them is a game-changer. So that’s what we’re here really communicating, because the older population, when they think of Bowen Health, they really think Bowen Center, which was who we were - which was just mental health - and now we’ve become a truly integrated health system.”
Charlotte Wise, operating director for Cornerstone Caregiving, said Cornerstone is an in-home care service for seniors. While Cornerstone started in 2020 in Texas, the Warsaw office opened in February. They serve four counties - Kosciusko, Whitley, Marshall and Fulton - and offer a variety of services, from helping with bathing and dressing, laundry, housekeeping, running errands and more. There are 11 other offices in Indiana.
“We have a few niches,” she said, of what makes Cornerstone unique. “One is that we don’t have any minimum of hours, so you can go out for one hour and that’s good. We don’t make you have any kind of time blocks, and we have no long-term contracts.”
Zachary Dennis, radiology supervisor at Lutheran Kosciusko Hospital, said he was discussing with seniors the different imaging services that LKH provides. “We offer mammography services, as well as cardiac screenings. They’re $50 easy tests to kind of get a good look at your cardiovascular health. Lung cancer screenings for anyone that may have had a history of smoking. We also do offer sleep labs tests as well, for anyone who may have issues with sleep disturbances.”
He said Lutheran wanted to be a part of the expo because of their long time as being part of the community.
“They have provided care for seniors for a long time. That’s a large part of our clientele, and we just help as much as we can to make sure we can provide excellent care for everyone,” Dennis said.
