RYM - Ryman Healthcare

[Beagle]

For me it was a no brainer. Dad had the early stages of the onset of dementia and Mum was facing living alone in a quiet street where most of her neighbour's were away during the day and maintaining a 50 something year old house all on her own. I knew she would be lonely when Dad died and we live a full one hour drive away so can't be there as often as we would like. Mum knew quite a large number of residents in the local retirement village already and she is much closer to her local church there too so when she eventually loses the ability to drive I know she can catch a lift with her friends to the shops, church e.t.c.

Dad passed on a few years ago now and she has been fairly lonely seeing as they were married for nearly 60 years. She has pretty average health now and is on a large number of medications to keep the old ticker going and everything else spluttering on okay. Knowing she has the support of on site nursing care, panic buttons in various rooms she can crawl too if she falls e.t.c. and supportive residents that look out for her is a tremendous peace of mind as is the fact that my brother who has a caring nature lives just down the road too. She still enjoys many social things at the village and I know for a fact that she is much happier than she would have been if she was stuck away in her former quiet street mostly on her own. Peace of mind is a commodity that's hard to put a price on. I guess there will always be a percentage of kids that feel disaffected financially but I would hope most see the bigger picture.