"Wonderful end of life care for my son in law in a Nursing Home"

Last year, my son in law who I had been caring for was admitted to hospital in a serious condition. He was suffering with end stage renal failure and had developed pneumonia and uraemia. After 3 weeks he was sent to another public hospital to a rehab ward and he wasn’t happy. He just wanted to go home to die and that just wasn’t feasible as there was no one to give him high level care. I am 74 and for years had been hearing stories about Nursing Homes, not very nice stories! My son in law had heard the stories too and the last place he wanted to go was a Nursing Home.

So, my husband & I started to look at places and asking people we knew about various homes. We came to see Allity at Ridgehaven and walked around with the manager, asked questions and we got a good vibe. There was no nursing home smell when we entered. Residents were sitting around in lounge chairs looking quite content, staff were pleasant and the rooms were lovely and comfortable. We made up our mind up on the spot.

The admittance procedure was painless and my son in law settled down well with the help of the carers there. Nothing was too much trouble for them and they eased my fears too. His own GP visited him and remarked to him that we had found him a good place and how lucky he was. In the first few weeks, due to the good food and care, he put on 6-9 kilos in weight. He loved the food and the menu variety was good, it certainly smelled good! We had Christmas lunch with him and it was certainly lovely.

Each week or so I received a phone call from either a registered nurse or carer with an update on his care. I was able to talk to staff either personally or by phone if I had any concerns. As his condition deteriorated and he was bedridden the care seemed to go up a notch and he was lovingly washed and fed by the carers. When he became unconscious and my daughter and I weren’t there, a carer sat with him when he died. Thank you Di! The carers, the registered nurses particularly, Amandeep, the reception staff and even Angus in the accounting section in Melbourne were helpful and pleasant to me!

My family are forever grateful and thank the staff at Allity Ridgehaven Residential Care from the bottom of our hearts for their care of my son in law, his wife (who is disabled) and us.