Goodwin Aged Care: Helping parents to downsize homes and upsize community
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Helping your parents make the move into retirement living is a daunting task.
However, as lifestyle and health factors begin to impact the ones you love, assisting them in building a community, making friends and finding a home that puts their mental and physical health first is the best way to help them keep living active lives in their retirement and beyond.
For journalist Alex Sloan and her mother Elizabeth, choosing Goodwin Village Ainslie as a new home was the best choice the family made.
“It was me who pointed out Goodwin Ainslie,” says Alex. “At first Mum wasn’t so keen, thinking it’s an institution, the old dreaded model of aged care that many of her generation quite understandably fear.”
“I pointed out that the idea for Goodwin came from women, an idea put in 1954 by The National Council of Women and is now a not for profit with an excellent reputation. I left it at that. I really wanted this to be Mum’s decision.”
For several years Elizabeth had been concerned about the cost of maintenance on her home in Curtin. Various areas of the home needed upgrading, including the back deck and the bathroom but as a pensioner Elizabeth couldn’t afford to do that. She was also finding the cost of heating her small modest house quite prohibitive in the colder months.
“She was having some quite bad physical falls,” says Alex. “I would respond to her calls as quickly as possible, getting to her house in about 20 minutes from our house in Ainslie, but she would say ‘You’ve been a long time’.”
Soon the family started talking about moving Elizabeth closer to Alex.
Alex says she was in Sydney when her mum rang to say she had looked at a two bedroom unit in Ainslie Goodwin Village, which had “windows into the street, lovely trees and winter sun.”
“All four of her children came to look at her unit at Goodwin, and found it to be spacious and high quality with lots of light,” explains Alex.
“We, including Mum, understood that it’s not a cheap option, but prioritised Mum feeling safe, comfortable and cared for. Mum was able to buy her unit, with the sale of her house, I live nearby, I can be at Mum’s unit in under 5 minutes and that’s obeying the speed limit!”
Moving into the apartment in 2010, Elizabeth hasn’t looked back as Goodwin continues to allow her to live independently with services close at hand to meet her changing needs.
“For the first eight years of Mum’s Goodwin life, she lived a very independent life and her unit was like anyone else’s home, in that her social life was mainly outside Goodwin,” explains Alex. “Mum plays bridge, loves theatre, film, music and exhibitions and for the first eight years, drove her own car, cooked her own food and held dinner parties.”
“After turning 80, Mum found herself using more of the Goodwin services, joining the Goodwin bus outings to the cinema, shopping, exhibitions, wineries and cafes. She also used the restaurant for coffee and snacks with her friends, enjoying any of the musical offerings and of course Happy Hour on Friday afternoons!”
With resort-like amenities on offer including an heated indoor pool, an onsite hairdresser, a wellness center and more, Elizabeth and the other residents enjoy a superior level of comfort with the security of knowing that their home can adapt to their future needs.
While Ainslie is located in the cosmopolitan heart of Canberra, there’s a new Goodwin Village set to open in Downer in 2023, just a stone’s throw from Gang Gang Café and Bar. The latest village offers yet another location to choose an enriching lifestyle when looking at entering retirement living.
Like Goodwin Village Ainslie, there will be over 100 options of generously sized two and three bedroom apartments with a choice of colour schemes, open plan living, gourmet kitchens, large balconies, high ceilings, ample storage, an excellent energy rating, lift access and underground secure parking. There will also be access to bulk-billed allied health, geriatrics, GPs and a range of products and information services.
For families investigating retirement living for their loved ones, Alex and Elizabeth encourage them to have the discussions early, when everyone is fit and well, before people get too old to make the move.
Elizabeth says if you’re miserable in Goodwin “it’s your own silly fault, there’s something for everyone.”
For more information visit goodwin.org.au
