Photos: County Launches Program to Help Seniors

Seniors poured into the Guilderland Public Library on Jan. 16 for “The Doctor Is In,” a new program launched by Albany County executive's office.

The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
Deb Riitano, commissioner of the Albany County Department for Aging, at left, greets a visitor to “The Doctor Is In,” a new county program that brings one doctor a month into the community to speak somewhere in the county on a topic of interest to senior residents. Next month’s speaker will be Albany cardiologist Michael Marmulstein on Feb. 27 at 2 p.m., at a location yet to be decided. Riitano is a resident of Guilderland, and her husband received approval from the town in 2018 to open a senior independent-living facility on Johnston Road, to be named Westmere Village. County Executive Daniel McCoy also announced at Thursday’s event the start of the “Year of the Senior” and promised that many more senior programs would be unveiled in 2020.

The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
Seniors pour into the Guilderland Public Library on Jan. 16 for “The Doctor Is In,” a new program launched that day by Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy. Under this new program, established with the Department of Aging, Albany County will bring a doctor once a month to speak somewhere in the county on a topic of interest to elderly residents. At the first-ever event on Thursday, Albany Medical Center endocrinologist Mark L. Fruiterman spoke about diabetes to a crowd that included residents from three senior-living communities. The residents who arrived at the event by bus had eaten together before the event at Guilderland’s Tesoro restaurant, in a “Go & Dine” event, a county initiative funded by a federal grant in which eligible county residents can receive vouchers for free meals at participating restaurants.