Sparking joy
Meet Alison whose balcony of her apartment looks like a garden with its 26 flower pots including orchids, roses and aloe vera which she uses to keep her skin and hair looking young and beautiful.
Alison has been at Amarco Apartments, a Uniting AgeWell Independent Retirement Living community in Kingsville for nearly four years, and loves the freedom and the security which she says gives her the best of both worlds.
The devout Catholic reads the newspaper every day, loves reading novels, and does her own cooking. And of course admiring the splash of yellow on her balcony, largely through six pots of gardenias, a miniature lemon tree and yellow chrysanthemums.
And she used isolation to re-organise her two-bedroom “New York-style” apartment following the guidelines of famous Japanese organising consultant Maria Kondo who advocates gathering all your belongings together and keeping only those things that “spark joy.”
She’s also looking forward to getting out and about more now that restrictions are lifting, but says she felt less lonely being in an apartment block with similar-aged people than if she was on her own in the suburbs.
“I’ve made friends here,” Alison says. “It’s a good life. I can order dinner if I don’t feel like cooking and push the emergency button if I have a fall.”
She was initially nervous about leaving her large family home in Wantirna and her close-knit Chinese community, but a serious fall which resulted in her lying on the ground for 10 hours with multiple hip fractures before she got help, reinforced her decision.
And she's never looked back. "I love it here," she says. "I've got everything I need."
Best of all there is continuum of care. Amarco abuts Uniting AgeWell’s Kingsville Community aged care residence and AgeWell Centre which offers social support services.
For enquiries about Amarco Apartments, home care services, residential care and respite stays please phone 1300 783 435.