Clayton senior center could be a model for Watertown

Jan. 23—CLAYTON — Just 59, Debbie J. Hunter felt alone when her husband died 11 years ago.

It was a painful time.

Fortunately, Mrs. Hunter eventually found a group of other widows when she started attending activities at the Paynter Senior Center in Clayton.

It's become a support group of friends she can rely on and get together with to do things at the senior center.

"They can relate to me and I find I relate to them," she said.

Open Monday to Friday, the Paynter Center offers all kinds of activities for seniors and has served Clayton, Alexandria Bay, Cape Vincent and Orleans since 1976.

Seniors can join exercise and art classes, community-sponsored dinners, hear live music, receive monthly advice on how to use iPads and the internet and retirement programs from the Department of Social Services.

Without the senior center and its activities, older adults could be very much home alone and suffer from loneliness, said executive director Barb Morrow.

"There has to be a reason to get them out," she said.

City resident Robert Avallone would like to see seniors in Watertown also have a place to go to enjoy each other's company and do things together. He's proposed opening a senior center in Watertown and has appeared before City Council to talk about it.

The National Council on Aging says 1 in 6 seniors living alone in the United States faces physical, cultural and/or geographical barriers that isolate them from their peers and communities.

That isolation can prevent them from receiving benefits and services that can improve their economic security and their ability to live healthy, independent lives, the national council reports.

It's harder for those seniors who lost a spouse. The senior center offers a grief support group that helps, Mrs. Morrow said.

But the Paynter Senior Center also is there to simply help people find something to do, to get together and enjoy similar interests and activities.

Activities director Sandi Baril said "the coffee is always on" at the center and that initiates camaraderie.

Last week, about a dozen 60- and 70-something women came together in the morning for some exercise, participating in a Balance Boxing class.

The program is designed to put the effects of Parkinson's disease on the ropes and slow down its symptoms, thus improving the lives of those with the disease.

For those women in the class, it's mostly a form of exercise for them since they don't have the disease, a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement. A key part of the program are its balance skills.

On this morning, Ms. Baril, Mrs. Morrow and Diane Rogers were instructors for the class, filling in for Bob and Fran King who were away for a few weeks.

Wearing coaching training mitts, they went toe to toe with the would-be pugilists, calling out steps to correlate with punch sequences they must memorize.

For an hour, the women bobbed and weaved, throwing their best combinations of jabs, right hooks and upper cuts. "Thuds" and "thwacks" were heard when they landed their punches on the coaching mitts.

Not pulling any punches during the class, participant Barb Bugshaw said she had to make sure that the two instructors duck or they'd get hit with a right hook.

"It's a lot of fun," she said.

That kind of activity is exactly what Mrs. Rogers, 73, still looks for, so she attends many of the exercise programs that the center offers to get that full body workout.

"They have every level of fitness for us," she said. "They're very accommodating."

Besides those types of physical workouts, seniors get together to play cards or board games in the game room. Some participate in weekly art classes, making artwork out of wine bottles one week or painting landscapes another. A couch and a couple of comfy chairs are set up in the corner of the main room where seniors can watch TV.

Twice weekly, a hot meal at lunchtime is served up at the center.

Mrs. Hunter was there for Balance Boxing, but she also enjoys when musician Mike White brings his guitar to the center and the center's monthly dinners.

The center owns two 14-passenger buses that take seniors to weekly trips to the grocery store, a local specialty coffee shop, local events and other outings.

Founded by the late Mayor Dorothy Paynter, the nonprofit organization has a $50,000 budget from stipends from the municipalities it represents, donations and an endowment.

On Friday, a small group of seniors brought their grandchildren to hang out to paint a picture and eat snacks together. That night, about 50 attended a community dinner of chicken and biscuits sponsored by the Rotary Club.

The Paynter is the only senior center in the region. Lewis and St. Lawrence counties do not have one.

In both counties, the Office for the Aging offers congregate meals to seniors at lunchtime, mainly senior city housing facilities. In some cases, senior clubs schedule their own activities in them.

But none of them offer a full week's worth of activities.

"There's always talk about opening a senior center," said Andrea M. Montgomery, director of the St. Lawrence County Office for the Aging. "But it takes funding and staff."

Mr. Avallone has done some research on the Paynter Senior Center. It's exactly what he'd liked to see open in Watertown.

But the City Council was hesitant about his proposal.

Mayor Jeffrey M. Smith suggested that the program could be placed in an existing building or partner with an existing nonprofit organization.

He also suggested the city should contact the Jefferson County Office for the Aging to see what programs it offers to seniors, so it doesn't duplicate services.

City Manager Kenneth A. Mix said Friday that the city will look further into the proposal.

Councilwoman Lisa A. Ruggiero thanked Mr. Avallone for bringing up the proposal. The city should make a list of services and activities that exist in Watertown, she said.