News from the Senior Citizens' Center of Oak Park & River Forest:

On Thursday, June 16, 2016 the Senior Citizens' Center of Oak Park and River Forest will offer its first "Health and Longevity Expo" at the Rush Oak Park Hospital Gymnasium (Madison and Maple) in Oak Park from 10 am to 4 pm. This is one-stop-shopping for people to gather information on "how do you want to live for the rest of your life?" There will be providers available from a diverse background - everything from housing, in-home services, leisure activities to downsizing. Rush Oak Park Hospital will provide the staffing for screening such as blood pressure, hypertension, mobility, diabetes, fall prevention, and nutrition.   Bone density screenings will be available from the Radiology Department, with stroke screening, and wound care provided by the nursing staff. Long-term care providers will be available to talk about planning ahead - knowing where you want to go and where you do not want to go. Some of the conversation will include transitioning into an alternative living arrangement. Another topic that will be discussed is how to prepare for a visit to the doctor before surgery - what questions to ask.

When selecting this summer's One Book, One Oak Park title, Assistant Manager of Materials Services Kathleen Spale said she and her team wanted to choose a book that's not only a great read-well-written, popular, and award-winning-but one that's also challenging and prompts conversations that can help us grow.

The goal of the community reading program for adults and teens, now in its third year, is to explore a theme that matters most to Oak Parkers and to this community's future. This year, the library considered recommendations from staff and patron surveys asking for the best books of 2015. Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me stood out, Spale said, for the way it faces "head on, in a no-holds-barred, brutally honest, and provocative way, issues of race, class, and democracy that are affecting all of us not only as individuals, but also as communities like Oak Park and the country as a whole."

Written as an especially personal and compelling letter from Coates to his adolescent son, Between the World and Me tackles America's racial past and present. A #1 New York Times best-seller and winner of the National Book Award, it is a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son regarding race. Both digital and print copies are available at the library, and all three library buildings will host related events (at this link) in June and July.

"Here is an opportunity for us to grow as individuals, an opportunity to grow as a community," Spale said. "The library is providing opportunities to open this dialogue and connect deeply with others over conversations that we might never bring up otherwise."