Life in a Retirement Village

Many of our ancestors originally came from communities where entire families lived in small country villages. They were reliant on relatives for support; uncles and aunts baby-sat; cousins played cricket on village greens; and the laughter of children echoed in the cobbled streets.  However things have changed and today many elderly people have opted for moving to a retirement village. 
 

What is a retirement village!

It is a secure communal living cluster, which cares for elderly people from entry date to the grave. It always includes a frail care section, and provides meals, care and support to those who are no longer able to fend for themselves. 

So why do we move into retirement villages? Because we are old?....No! Because we might need frail care!...Not really! Only 2% of those over 65 need frail care, and only 8% of those over 80 require it! The real reason is security; and additionally in South Africa, the osmotic attraction of retirement villages is fuelled by family fragmentation.

A recent survey of two retirement villages in KZN showed that 72.5% of those who purchased a unit were motivated by security concerns; the second highest reason being the provision of frail care. The results were very consistent and reflected the population’s growing concern for security and vulnerability as the driving force behind their moves.

So the decision is taken to move into a retirement village – what should one expect? What problems habitually beset residents; what situations should one try and avoid?

 

Some aspects worth considering as you embark on this major decision are as follows:

 

• If you intend to move in to a retirement village do not leave it until you are too old to adapt…move in earlier rather than later.

 

• If you are still working at the time most people retire, the fact that you are moving into a retirement, or Lifestyle Village (as most of the Bermuda shorts and tennis shoe brigade call them), is no reason to stop working. Keep pedaling…the moment a bicycle stops the rider falls off! And so too with life (If work is no longer your thing then develop an all consuming hobby which will serve to prevent the onslaught of stagnation). Remember momentum keeps us going!

 

• Avoid becoming close friends, or visiting buddies with your immediate neighbours…remember that the confinement and close proximity inherent in retirement village life is claustrophobic enough as it is  Don’t exacerbate the situation – you need your privacy. We live next to a lovely couple in our village, yet apart from an initial obligatory introductory visit, we have never again set foot in their home; neither have they in ours….Maintain your privacy – it is both precious and rare in the claustrophobic confines of village life!

 

• Avoid cliques!  The social dynamics of communal living makes the polarization of cliques inevitable. And in an environment where boredom reaches new heights after the frenetic activity of the real world, cliques, gossiping and rumour-mongering become popular past times.

 

• You would of course have chosen a village within practical distance of your Church, friends, and those members of your family that are still speaking to you. Keep up these contacts as they may eventually be one of the few means of maintaining your sanity.

 

• Be prepared to down size! Use the following formula to decide how many items you will need to dispose of…. Square. metres of retirement unit  ÷ square. metres of  the unit you are currently living in.  Example 100 sq metres divided by 150 sq. metres = 2/3.  In this example you would need to dispose of one third of your worldly goods; possessions which you have accumulated over many years and to which your attachment increasingly in latter years seems more akin to a bungee or umbilical cord. You will come up with ingenious ways of storing stuff - such as cupboards that are so high that you will never be able to access them, and lofts above your car in the garage, from which at some stage or other, a heavy object will plummet down on to the bonnet of your prized car. And don’t be overly generous in giving the items away…who knows… perhaps the family had their eyes on them when they persuaded you to move?

 

• Investigate the garage size and availability. Do not purchase a unit which does not have at least one garage. If your current vehicle is a large Chrysler or Jag, consider investing in a Smart Car or motor cycle and sidecar…That is about all that you can squeeze into most retirement village garages; and if you are male, just remember, your wife will probably drive for 7 or 8 years longer than you will. Perhaps you should rather ask her what small vehicle she would prefer (But if she chooses a single-seater be careful, as it is possible that there may be problems looming on the horizon; it is probable that your future may not be quite as rosy as you had hoped!)

 

• And then there is the question of where to hang your washing – many retirement villages have strict rules concerning washing lines and Windy driers. Find out under which over-hanging tree, or behind which wall it must be hidden. Isn’t it strange that in my youth it was expected that washing would need to be dried -  it appears that with modern technology not only does washing emerge crease free – it is also expected to be damp free.

 

• Find out how many times special levies have been raised as this is invariably an indication of mismanagement.. There are occasions when in the initial development phase, essential expenditure items may have been over looked, but generally once a village is up and running special levies are warning signs that all is not well in the land of Nod!  

 

• If you intend installing an air conditioner ascertain where it may be positioned. Villages have strict rules concerning where such aesthetically offensive items may be sited.  Yes it maybe true that the chairperson of the Residents Association has one facing directly onto your front door…but this was before they conveniently changed the rules.

 

• Consider any pets that you may wish to accompany you. You may normally only have a dog if it stands no more than 30 cms high. The cloning of dolly the sheep is perhaps merely a fore runner to dilly the retirement dog! In years to come I am sure that, as you enter the village gates, you will be issued with a purpose bred dog exactly 2950 millimeters high. It will be mute in order not to annoy your neighbours, (who because of greed of the developers, reside only 2 feet from your bedroom window), its poops will emerge pre-wrapped, and it will obediently run and hide under the bed every time a Trustee approaches your unit. (On a rare serious note - the beneficial effect of an animal friend in our twilight years cannot be over emphasized – especially if they have been with you for some time, however if you intend to use the village as a respite base amidst ongoing travels then pets are not recommended).

 

• Resist requests to serve on resident’s associations or committees. If you don’t you will soon discover that most residents will not respect your privacy. You will be contacted over a myriad of unimportant issues that residents are concerned about; that they feel deserve your immediate attention, that cannot wait until morning; this in spite of the fact that it is midnight and you have just gone to bed with a splitting headache.

 

• If you are told that the village is 100% safe…that they have had no break-ins whatsoever,… check immediately in order to ascertain if they have escaped from the dementia wing. Then make plans to secure your individual cottage anyway. Security statistics are akin to airline statistics I hate to be told that the particular airline on which I am traveling last experienced a fatal crash in 1875. Far from comforting me this only confirms my worst suspicions that based on the laws of probability they are overdue for their next crash!

 

• In addition criminals are aware that retirement villages house vulnerable people, and consequently consider them soft touches. In South Africa break-ins are inevitable and security guards and fences merely serve to deter those intent on crime. Make your own cottage secure.

 

• Ascertain whether you may enclose your verandah, but more importantly find out the exact detail and detail permitted. You will probably be advised that the only design allowed is that which was discontinued 20 years ago …Such is the price of conformity! (Of course if you happen to be a Trustee that is sometimes quite a different matter!)

 

• Is there enough parking adjacent to your unit? Or do your visitors have to walk 500 metres in pouring rain from their parking area at the gate.

 

• Remember that your grass must be exactly 2.75 centimetres high and the colour must be code 352 Jade Green. The down side is that God does not always have that particular shade in stock.

 

• If you own a caravan find out exactly where it may be parked. The fact that the allocated parking area is hidden away next to a secluded area where previously countless break-ins have occurred, may influence your decision as to whether or not to sell it.

 

• Often only one car is allowed to park adjacent to the cottage. You may need to park your wife’s car some three hundred meters away, in a hail belt, next to the office.

 

• You wish to erect a picket fence…This is no problem provided that it conforms to a predetermined design and is erected by a specified contractor who charges twice the normal price.

Although lifestyle villages have become necessary evils, they are often yet another insidious form of big brother; an arena in which people play power games! Apart from the purchase price and levies, communal living is invariably accompanied by a high social price in the form of rules and regulations….and always remember that it is seldom the capital cost that will prove to be a problem – levy’s and the services and facilities they support, should be your main concern – This should be your defining criteria in your search for Nirvana.

Choose carefully! Choose well! Choose  a village where the rules are based on common sense and are reasonable…where rules serve people rather than the other way around.  Make sure that you understand exactly what you are purchasing, and insist on having the details in writing

This vital retirement decision is invariably a one-way Street from which few, should they change their minds, emerge unscathed.