Wisdom doesn’t automatically come with age but knowing where to find answers can certainly help, and that’s the goal for Lynne Yuill, the supervisor for the Adult Activity Center at the St. Charles Park District.

Known as the AAC, it was designed for adults ages 50 and older. With each season, Yuill creates a calendar of events to engage adults in the community with lively lunches featuring live entertainment and games, guided walks in the community and trips to theaters and culturally interesting locations. Many of these events often fill within days of the opening registration.

Yuill is seeing growing interest in her educational programs, providing content on topics that touch on health, aging concerns and financial and legal planning.

“It’s so important for me to stay connected and find relevant topics that will benefit the lives of older adults,” Yuill said. “I prioritize this service. In my role, I can provide education and make life better.”

And this fall she’s lined up some of the best when it comes to educational programs. She has a panel of local experts for “The Journey to Successful Senior Living: Am I Prepared” on Wednesday, Sept. 17. The panel included an attorney to help explain the difference between a will and trust and tips on how to make educated decisions for a loved one.

“We felt it was really beneficial to gather the different representatives together,” Yuill said.

She’s coordinated programs on staying healthy and active, managing hearing loss and how to fight memory loss and dementia.

“I feel like our programs provide such a wonderful service for older adults in the community,” Yuill said.

Aging isn’t an easy topic, after all no one wants to feel old, but varicose veins and cataracts can and do happen, so Yuill wants to help people and remind them they aren’t alone in managing these health concerns.

“It’s about getting questions answered,” Yuill said.

When it comes to finding experts, she turns to the community for assistance, to share their insight and knowledge. Yuill has built partnerships. When a local doctor specializing in geriatrics offered his time, Yuill developed seminars where he could speak on relevant medical topics including diabetes, vaccinations and how sleep patterns change with age.

Some come to hear a topic as it affects them, others come because it’s something their loved one is facing and they want to know more. Some of the younger members of AAC represent the sandwich generation, caring for aging parents and their own teen and young adult children.

“Anything I can do to help educate or just help them find a resource where they can follow up. That’s my goal for these programs,” Yuill said.

With positive feedback from AAC members and strong program attendance, Yuill said it’s been rewarding to help the community find information, and she added, she’s learned quite a bit too.

“With the speaker from Geneva Hearing Services I learned how the ear works, how the brain and hearing works and how they are related. Our speakers really help us to understand a topic,” Yuill said.

She continued, “We had 42 attend the Brain Health Lunch & Learn and it was really very interesting. We all know we need to exercise our brain, the brain is a muscle you and have to work it and if you don’t, you lose it. The speaker shared ideas for stimulating, creativity and problem solving to find ways to exercise your brain.”

The AAC is located inside the Pottawatomie Community Center and open daily. Annual membership is $15 for park district residents and $23 for nonresidents, or $5 for a daily guest fee. Membership comes free and discounts for programming.