Altamonte Springs' One Senior Place to host special program on sexual health

There’s one health topic in the world that is just simply difficult to talk about for many people.

Just the thought of having to discuss it aloud is enough to make people clam up and turn the brightest shade of red.

Although sexual health can be embarrassing and fraught with awkwardness, it is an important part of our lives and well-being. 

Most people assume such a topic doesn’t apply to the elderly community, but sexual health plays a role throughout your entire life.

To that end, One Senior Place will host a seminar, called “Keep Your Motor Running: Aging, Intimacy and Sexual Health in the 21st Century” to help educate the senior community on the importance of dealing with the physical and psychological aspects of sexual health.

“It’s things that are often embarrassing to talk about, but they’re going to happen probably to everybody once you get to a certain age, they are just natural things that happen,” said Michelle Steffano, director of business development at One Senior Place. “So even though they are uncomfortable topics to talk about sometimes, it’s the reality, so we thought it would be a nice event to bring that out to give people a place to go to get some of those answers.” 

Last year, One Senior Place held a special “men’s day” event that concentrated on a gamut of health issues, including some sexual health. But this year’s event is concentrating on sexual health specifically for both men and women.

The event will include discussions by Dr. Steven Williams, a board certified urologist at Florida Urology Associates, and April Boykins, a licensed clinical social worker at Counseling Resource Services Inc. A special Dean Martin Tribute Show featuring Felix Deneau Jr. will conclude the program.

As a urologist, Williams will discuss the physical side of sexual health and issues that arise in the senior community.

“He’s going to talk about different treatment options for men and women’s health,” Steffano said. “Obviously as men and women age, different things happen to our bodies, including incontinence or maybe erectile dysfunction, or some pelvic floor issues with women — different issues like that.” 

On the psychological side of sexual health, Boykins will present the “Myths of Aging Sexuality” as she examines issues and topics ranging from the emotional benefits of good sexual health to the psychology of feeling sexually attractive later in life.

“As those physical things happen to us, that could affect us emotionally and mentally — as far as meeting people or not feeling comfortable enough to be intimate anymore, and different things like that,” Steffano said.