“I’M SO happy here. The new building is perfect,” 92-year-old resident, Helen Bertram beamed from her room at Maculata Place.
Helen, along with fellow residents from Hakea Lodge moved in to the new $34M state-of-the-art two storey residential aged care home at Tarcoola in November.
Three months on, Helen has nothing but praise for her new home.
“I love my room. I loved it right from the start. I walked through the purple door and my cover was on the bed and everything was all unpacked. It was like home, it really was,” Helen said.
There are so many spaces within Maculata Place for residents to enjoy – little cosy sitting rooms, lounge areas, courtyards and beautiful gardens. But most of all, Helen enjoys the lovely view from her ‘purple’ room.
“I have beautiful big windows to look out at the world passing by. In the early months here, there were lots of ducks and ducklings. The air conditioning is brilliant; you absolutely don’t even know it’s summer in here,” Helen said.
It’s not only the beautiful building with all its modern fixtures that make Maculata Place home to residents – it is also the relationship model of care, where the resident is the centre of everything.
“The staff are also wonderful and nothing is a trouble – you couldn’t wish for more. There is no pressure on us for anything we don’t want to do. They tell us this is our home and make it quite clear we can do as we like. I can’t think of a single rule that stops us from doing anything we want.
“Of course, you are wise to find out ahead of time if a nail in the wall would be ok, but the maintenance men come and do that for you,” Helen says, with a twinkle in her eye.
