Residential care ‘feels like a holiday’ says Maureen
When Mrs Maureen Brewer fractured her pelvis lifting Roy, her husband of 62 years, she knew it was time for some extra support.
‘I’d been caring for Roy for three years by myself,’ she says. ‘We’d stopped going out anymore, as it was just too hard, and I wasn’t looking after myself. I was so unhealthy.’
‘Then, one morning, I couldn’t get out of bed. I went to hospital, and they said, “You have fractures down both sides of your pelvis”’.
Mrs Brewer could barely stand, and was not able to return home. After a hospital stay, followed by rehab, she moved into Resthaven Craigmore.
‘I’d heard good things about this place,’ she says.
The first thing Mrs Brewer noticed about Resthaven Craigmore was the ‘family feeling’ of the home.
‘It’s not at all like the “nursing home” I expected it to be,’ she says.
‘I thought I was going to be bored to death, but I’m not at all – the days go so quick! It’s Monday, then suddenly it’s Saturday!’
‘There’s always something to do.’
Roy joined Maureen at Resthaven Craigmore three weeks later, moving straight into her extra-large room, where the couple has twin beds.
‘Roy didn’t want to move in at first,’ she says. ‘His mum had been in a nursing home, and she had three roommates, all with dementia. So that’s what he thought residential care would be like.’
‘But Resthaven is completely different.’
After caring for Roy for three years on her own, Mrs Brewer was amazed at the positive change in their lives once they moved into residential care.
‘Now, I’m not doing things I shouldn’t (like trying to pick up Roy and fracturing my pelvis in the process),’ she says.
‘When I went on my first site bus trip, I came back and Roy was fast asleep in his chair with his legs up. He looked so happy and cared for. It’s such peace of mind.’
‘I hear the staff coming in for Roy at night and I don’t have to get up, I can just close my eyes again, it’s such a relief.’
‘The lads [their sons] pop in and out, they’re always here. But they know we’re safe – they’re not waiting for a phone call all the time.’
‘I love not having to clean, or cook – the meals here are lovely. Friday fish is my favourite, and the potato bake, of course.’
‘The staff are wonderful, the services are great. I feel like I’m on holidays all the time now, it’s a nice feeling.’
‘I would recommend it to anybody.’
Resthaven Craigmore is just one of Resthaven’s eleven residential aged care homes located across metropolitan Adelaide, Murray Bridge, Port Elliot and Mount Gambier. A twelfth home will open at Aberfoyle Park in July.
Resthaven Community Services supports older people living in their own homes throughout metropolitan Adelaide, the Hills, Murraylands, Riverland, Barossa, Fleurieu Peninsula and the Limestone Coast.