(from left) Charlotte-Mecklenburg Senior Centers Board Chair Bob Shaffer, Huntersville Mayor Jill Swain, Cornelius Mayor Jeff Tarte and North Mecklenburg Senior Center Director Joanne Ahern cut the ribbon at the grand opening celebration Thursday. (Christina Ritchie Rogers / DavidsonNews.net)

More than 100 people turned out for the grand opening celebration at the North Mecklenburg Senior Center Thursday. The center moved in November from its Cornelius location, in River Church on Catawba Avenue, to the Solid Rock Christian Church, on N.C. 115 in Huntersville.

“We believe that today really marks the beginning of expanded services we can offer to seniors in North Mecklenburg,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Senior Centers Board Chair Bob Shaffer said. “The turnout today underscores the need for such a facility in the northern part of the county.” Full story on YOUNG AT HEART>>

Carolyn Cook, of LiveSmart Design in Charlotte, has the latest entry in our ongoing series of articles one issues facing seniors as they try to “age in place.” Today, she looks at “visitability,” an affordable, sustainable and inclusive design approach for integrating basic accessibility features into all newly built homes and housing.

“Inaccessible homes impede the daily lives of people who are mobility impaired due to illness, accident or age. Visiting an inaccessible home presents the danger of falling on the entry steps, the worry of not fitting into the bathroom and the embarrassment of being carried up stairs,” Ms. Cook writes.

Read the full article and see the photo examples, on our YOUNG AT HEART page.

Caswell Washam turns 100 years old on Tuesday, and his family and friends this weekend are making sure the milestone doesn’t go unnoticed. The north Mecklenburg native and retired textile mill supervisor was scheduled to be the guest of honor at big party Sunday afternoon in a Huntersville church hall. And on Saturday morning, his monthly haircut at Raeford’s Barber Shop in downtown Davidson was interrupted with a birthday cake and round of “Happy Birthday.”  Story and photos on our YOUNG at HEART page»

The North Mecklenburg Senior Center is closed this week and will reopen in its new Huntersville location Monday, Nov. 7. After months of searching, the center found a new home at Solid Rock Christian Church on N.C. 115 in Huntersville, and this week staff and volunteers are working to move it from its current location, at River Church on Catawba Avenue.

The move is one of necessity, as the center announced earlier this year it could not afford to stay in the Cornelius facility. On YOUNG AT HEART»

By CHRISTINA RITCHIE ROGERS
DavidsonNews.net

The center will move out of its current location, River Church, on West Catawba Avenue

After months of searching, the North Mecklenburg Senior Center has found a new home, at Solid Rock Christian Church on N.C. 115 in Huntersville. The senior center aims to move from its current location, in the River Church on Catawba Avenue, on Friday.

Solid Rock reached out to the center when news broke of its need for a new space, Pastor Sylvester Williams said. “This is exactly the type of thing we want to be involved in, helping the community,” he said. Read the full story

The Davidson Committee on Aging, which began life in 2007 as a task force looking at senior issues, is continuing to evolve this fall. The group has a new chair – Mary Anne Hammond – and began work on a new set of goals during a half-day workshop in mid-September. Among those goals: Improving local services for seniors, developing a senior center, and improving mobility for older residents.  Read more on our YOUNG AT HEART page.

She has few responsibilities but lots of freedom. She’s out weekly for “Taco Tuesdays” or “Wings Nights” at local hang outs. She tries to avoid the drama that erupts among certain social circles. She has a boyfriend who takes her out to dinner or stays in to watch movies or play games.

My 80-year-old mother says this stage in life is like being a teenager again.

According to the analysis of a 2008 Gallup poll which surveyed more than 340,000 adults ages 18 to 85, there is a great new trick for combating stress and worry: It’s called age. Read the full story

Cheryl Pletcher and other organizers want to start an end-of-life home in Davidson, like Mooresville's Serenity House (background). (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

Where would you like to die? A jarring thought, yes, but not an inappropriate one. As we or family members near the end of life, it’s an important question.

Our area has hospitals and hospices, and for many, home is the favored choice. But for some families, none of those fits. Since 2007, Serenity House, off I-77 Exit 33, in Mooresville has offered another option called “comfort care,” to families of those nearing death. Now organizers are trying to bring a “comfort care” home to Davidson, and eventually to Cornelius. Read the full story