If you cut corners, criminals can take a bite out of you.

In our community, there are at least three agencies concerned with the safety of the frail and the elderly.

On Friday, the Napa County Commission on Aging, the Area Agency on Aging Napa/Solano and the Healthy Aging Planning Initiative will collaborate on a very timely program entitled “Surviving Today’s Economy: Resources for Seniors.”

The keynote speaker will be Michael Mautner, elder abuse prosecuting attorney with the Napa County District Attorney’s Office.

The title of his address will be the opening sentence of our story, “if you cut corners, criminals can take a bite out of you.” I would call that a definite attention grabber. I won’t spoil the fun of your hearing, firsthand, just what Mautner is referring to. But I encourage you to attending this free event at the Napa Senior Center, 1500 Jefferson St., from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.

In-home respite care will be available free of charge if you call Redwood Caregivers at 800-834-1636 no later than today.

RSVP for the event at 644-6612 or www.aaans.org.

Space is limited at the event and in the parking lot, so carpool if you can.

We’ll learn how to:

• Protect ourselves from financial scams, such as housing rip-offs and other forms of consumer fraud.

• Prevent or deal with foreclosures and how to solve problems with meeting expenses of daily living.

• Find safe, quality caregivers at all income levels (Hint: this might have something to do with our keynote speaker’s topic.)

We’ll have an opportunity to speak on the challenges that we face and how to find help for our particular concerns. There’ll be plenty of resource literature and survival tools, as well as expert speakers.

Furthermore, there’ll be door prizes and refreshments. You can’t beat a deal like this. So get on your phone and start making arrangements to come to the Senior Center this Friday and meet some folks who really care about helping get us through these tough times.

I’ll be there to help welcome you and to help get you checked in and registered.

Senior Corner appears every other Monday, alternating with James Ford’s Napa As It Was. Betty can be reached at bettyrrhodes@sbcglobal.net.