Between struggling with a small budget and finding a way to pay for needed prescription drugs, many seniors in Stoddard County may be neglecting other areas of their life or may not even know what benefits are available to help them.

That is why the Bloomfield Public Library and the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services have used funding from the Library Services and Technology Act administered by the Missouri State Library to offer a series of seminars to educate seniors in our area.

The first of those seminars, held last month, dealt with living wills, power of attorney and other legal options available to seniors and was presented by Bloomfield attorney Donald Rhodes.

"I thought Mr. Rhodes did a wonderful job with his presentation," said Bloomfield Public Library Director Linda Myers. "I thought that we had a good turnout and that everyone who attended benefited from Mr. Rhodes' knowledge.

"The agriculture-based economy of the Bootheel lags behind the rest of the state and consequently, some of the seniors in our area lack the resources that would enable them to acquire information for various types of help available to improve their quality of life."

The next program in the series is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at the Bloomfield Housing Authority Community Room, located at 476 Hester Street in Bloomfield. This program will cover nutrition for today's senior, the new food pyramid and how to make healthy food choices.

"Robin Howell, a registered dietitian from Dexter, will come to give the presentation," said Myers. "The program will include serving sizes, the relationship between good nutrition and good health and how seniors can live a healthier life with better food choices."

The next seminar will be given at the same time and at the same location on Thursday, May 25. This seminar will be given by M.A. Hart of Dexter and will concern genealogy.

"This will consist of teaching the patron how to begin to research and chart their ancestors," explained Myers. "Many seniors have expressed a desire to organize and chart the information they possess for their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

"They may also donate copies of their research to the Family History section of the library."

The fourth and final seminar will be given Thursday, June 23, at the same time and place and will highlight options for seniors that will allow them to live independently as long as possible. Rita Speight of Dexter Hospice, Sherry Montgomery of Dexter Home Health and Carolyn Frank of Bloomfield Senior Housing will explain the program their agencies have for seniors.

Hand-outs will be available at each seminar for the attendee to take home with them.

"We chose this program because the Bloomfield Public Library has several patrons who have expressed a need for information about each of these subjects," said Myers. "We also gathered more information about seniors' needs by conducting an informal poll with the seniors who came into the library, in some local churches, those living in senior housing and relatives.

"Many of this area's seniors are undereducated and do not know how to apply for the help that is available," Myers continued. "We hope to generate interest in the library as a place where seniors may come to use our reference books and public access computers to log onto the web sites that address their concerns."

The library will also be holding free computer classes to help teach seniors how the use the Internet to access information. The library also has microfilms, reference books, cemetery records and more that seniors can use to compile their family history.

Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Myers at 568-3626 or by e-mail at bplibrary@real.more.net.

Sacha Champion may be reached via e-mail at schampion@dailystatesman.com