Family Run Villages

Healthy Senior Living

What makes them stand out from the crowd…

Retirement villages – whether landed property or apartments – offer many benefits as a living option. Just a few of these benefits are:

  • Added security
  • Access to excellent lifestyle facilities
  • Technology to assist you
  • Maintenance of your home
  • The ability to live in a community of like-minded people.

While this is great for those with limited mobility, having an aged care facility next door ensures, should they need more permanent help, they don’t need to move far to get it. This arrangement is particularly good for couples. At a time when care needs can change rather abruptly, having a retirement living and aged care home in the same community provides them comfort, knowing one partner will not have to make another move, should one of them need to transition to 24/7 nursing care, usually located right next door.

Family-Run Community

Senior with their in home carer

However, deciding to live in a retirement village is only the first of several decisions – another important decision is whether you should join a community that is run by one of the large corporations, or perhaps a church group, or should you join a community run by a smaller organisation, perhaps even a family-run community. Each has its own set of pros and cons.

In day-to-day living, it is often the quality of the individual community manager and his or her team that most impacts the culture of the community and therefore how comfortable and ‘at home’ you are going to feel in the new community.

Larger Corporations

The larger corporations provide the most diversity of experience to their managers, especially if they are rotated between properties. Back-up is also never a problem as it can be in smaller organisations. Larger village operators also tend to be quicker in terms of capital improvements to the facilities and renovations. They have the resources to have the best of facilities and technology.

Family-Owned Villages

Seniors having a consultation

On the other hand, family-owned villages have tremendous advantages as well. Family-managed retirement villages offer the most personal environment for residents and staff; especially if the family members are involved in the day-to-day running of the village and are frequently onsite.

Continuity of staff and the quality of service is also very important, and this tends to be more secured in a family-run community because families tend to be much closer to their own staff than head office personnel in a multi-level hierarchy.

One advantage of family-run villages that is not often publicised, is the speed with which things can get fixed if there are problems. If you are unhappy about something in a family-run village, you will usually be able to get access to the owners directly and get things sorted out. This would be well-nigh impossible in a large corporation or even church-operated village.

Although most retirement villages are affiliated with a larger group, there still are family-run villages. They have the advantage of not only getting to know the residents well, but they also get to know the residents’ families, adding an individual and special quality.

“FAMILY-MANAGED RETIREMENT VILLAGES OFFER THE MOST PERSONAL ENVIRONMENT FOR RESIDENTS AND STAFF.”

Where a retirement village has been managed by the same family for decades, they even have residents from two different generations choosing to live there. That’s a fantastic testament to the personalised benefits.

A family-run village is definitely one option to consider seriously, especially if the family feel is high on your list of criteria for choosing a village to live in.

Courtesy Bougainvillea Retirement Village

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