Nokomis Healthy Seniors
The goal of the Nokomis Healthy Seniors project was to educate senior citizens about junk mail and toxicity reduction through educational workshops and in-home visits tailored to their unique needs. 77 seniors attended the educational seminars and 30 home visits were made to frail seniors. A series of three monthly health promotion workshops was presented in February, March and April. The titles of the workshops were: "Reduce the hail of unwanted mail," "Do you have hazardous waste in your home?" and "Sharing successes." Hennepin County staff presented information. Seniors completed junk mail reduction postcards, were given a message stamp to use in sending back unwanted mail, were taught to look for warning words on household product labels, and were informed about mercury thermometer exchanges and HHW disposal options. One additional presentation was added on how to reduce waste in gift giving due to the strong reception among the seniors to waste reduction information. A staff member at Nokomis Healthy Seniors was trained in how to discuss similar issues during in-home visits with frail seniors. A checklist was developed for this purpose in collaboration with county staff. 30 home visits were made. During these, the staff member helped seniors with limited vision to complete junk mail postcards and discussed how to reduce toxicity focused on household cleaning products.
Counties of Activity:
Hennepin Grant Project Years:
2001 Contact Information
Margo Casey, Service Coordinator612-729-5499
Nokomis Healthy Seniors
4200 Cedar Ave SouthMinneapolis MN 55406
Additional Resources
For state, county, Rethink Recycling, and grantee tools, visit Grantee Resources.
