Today my brother, my mother and I went to inspect a retirement village that my mother is thinking of wait-listing herself for. It's one of those establishments which has: apartments for people who want to live independently but have access to lots of other old people; assisted living apartments for people who want someone else to worry about the housekeeping, heating and bill-paying; and rest-home apartments for...well, you get the idea.
It was the independent apartments she was after, and the display apartment we looked at was really quite nice - modern, reasonably spacious and low-maintenance. It's appeal to my mother was that it looked just like a "normal" apartment.
Then we went to visit a friend of hers, who has recently moved into one of the assisted-living apartments. It's a studio, so everything's crammed into one cosy room plus bathroom. This friend doesn't have to worry about power bills, vacuuming or cooking - the former two are included in his living package and the latter is sorted by the closeness of several small eateries nearby.
I haven't talked to the sales lady yet, but it appears that either you get the larger apartment and mostly look after yourself, or get loads of help but live in a cupboard.
And I think my mother is going to want the bigger living space AND the lotsa help.
5 comments:
Ah you can't have everything! But at least she wants to go. You should so read that Chestnut tree book.
Good luck. My Grandma in law had gone to a similar place. She had quite a bit of room then she transfered to more assistance which was much smaller. She declined in health and passed away. The main thing was that the family didn't have to go through as much stuff after she passed.
Sorry didn't mean to bring up death.
She should have a new social life though.
donnasoowho: yeah I'll get around to it. I've borrowed two books to read by Chinese American authors, one by a Chinese author and also The Hunchback of Notre Dame - so Chestnuts is gonna have to wait ;-)
Angela: that's ok I reckon when you get to your 80's it'd be pretty foolish not to think about death occasionally!
Hey Violet, make sure your Mum (i.e. you) reads all the small print. My friend is stuck very unhappily in Malvina Major and can't get out.
Karen: sorry to hear that. I've just emailed you to get the gory details, 'cos the one we went to is owned by the same crowd.
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