Homecare – Shoreline Sibaya

If you’re a child of the late 40s, 50s or early 60s, Bob Dylan’s ‘The times they are a-changin’ could well be your refrain. Your mind tells you you’re still in your thirties, but your body says otherwise … those activities that took no thought and little effort are perhaps a little less spontaneous, and the bones are beginning to creak and show signs of wear. Not only do you have to deal with your own sense of mortality … but also perhaps the responsibility of ageing parents. As they say, getting old isn’t for sissies!

Back in the day it was the norm to look after your ageing parents at home. Take my mom for example: she’s 93 now, but in her late thirties she nursed my grandmother until her death at 63. Yikes, we think, that’s so young … and so it is – now. But it wasn’t back then. The move to living a more active healthconscious life together with the advancement in the medical and pharmaceutical industries has seen the average life expectancy increase from the biblical threescore years and ten by approximately a decade (in first-world scenarios). According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in Canada, Australia, western Europe, Japan and South Korea the average life expectancy exceeds 80, with Japan edging towards 84.

Academics from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Vienna, Austria, contend that old age should not be measured by age, but rather by how long people have left to live – and that old age should be defined as having 15 years or less to live. This would suggest that 70 has become the new 50, and that by the time our kids get to that stage of their lives, it’s possible that ‘old age’ could begin at 75 or 80.

We clearly need to revisit the way we plan for our lengthy golden years. We think differently to our parents (thankfully), and for many for us retirement isn’t really an option – either due to financial constraints or purely the fact that we love what we do and have little desire to retire at all. So, what are we looking for? Something aesthetically pleasing, conveniently located to shops and transport (including an international airport if travel is on the agenda), high-speed internet and opportunities for a home office, and of course access to gyms and heated swimming pools to keep us healthy, and health care facilities for when we’re not. Ask any older person, and their comment will no doubt be that they can think of nothing worse than living (and dying) in a frail care centre.

So, what are our options? There’s the option to stay in your suburban home for as long as possible and hope like heck the kids can make a plan for you when the time arises – not ideal, as you will ultimately be relinquishing your independence and decision-making to your children. You could look at your current home and make changes that would allow for private nursing when you get to that stage – also not ideal, as you still have the worry and costs of property maintenance as well as the additional costs of paying for private nursing, which can be exorbitant. There will also be the need to retrofit your home to allow for wheelchair routes and roomier bathrooms. Another consideration is the loneliness that might accompany the stay-athome care scenario, and the burden on family and friends.

Alternatively, you could sell your suburban home and retire to one of the many lifestyle retirement estates around the country. This would give you a gated, secure resort-type environment with access to a variety of sports facilities and community activities as well as the peace of mind of having frail care available if you need it. At face value this seems to be a marvellous idea: no home maintenance to worry about and the nursing part of getting old dealt with. Unfortunately, this invariably comes with a cost in the form of higher levies – someone does after all have to pay for the availability of all these services.

But don’t let this depress you; there is another option. A fairly new retirement model is available that, instead of offering an extensive frail care facility, offers care programmes that enable residents to be cared for within their own homes. This offers the benefits of a familiar environment where friends and family feel more comfortable to visit, where care is offered on a one-on-one basis and catering needs can be individually adapted, and where, most importantly, there is peace of mind for partners knowing that their loved ones are close by and being well cared for. As Leigh-Anne Aitken, Operations Executive of Carmel Care, says:

In conceptualising Shoreline Sibaya, one of our main priorities was to create a home-based care model that keeps independence and wellbeing in mind. Residents will be able to remain in the comfort of their home and have the care come to them, for anything from one to 24 hours a day. The custom packaged care is right there when you need it without having the displeasure of ending up in a frail care facility that does not promote independence and overall wellbeing. The onsite care centre will be managed by a registered nurse who will keep residents connected to a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals as and when required.

Internationally the trend for looking after seniors is towards home-based care as an alternative to nursing home facilities. In Australia there are the popular Green House Villages where residents have a private bedroom and bathroom, and share the living areas, like a big happy family all being looked after by qualified staff, and, in the UK, Audley Retirement Villages offer residents a community feel, lifestyle facilities and home care services. A study by the International Longevity Centre (ILC) suggests that seniors living in a retirement community are less likely to feel isolated or lonely than those living in their own homes. Audley Retirement Villages in the UK questioned a sample of residents about their levels of loneliness and isolation, and 81% responded that they ‘hardly ever’ or ‘never’ felt lonely or isolated, as against only 60% of older people not living in a retirement community.

A new development near Durban, Shoreline Sibaya, offers lockup-and-go apartment living in a coastal environment – complete with tailor-made care and a safe community lifestyle. Located within the new Sibaya Coastal Precinct development node, Shoreline Sibaya offers residents easy access to the nearby towns of Ballito and uMhlanga as well as King Shaka International Airport. The Shoreline Sibaya community centre houses a fully equipped gym, swimming pool, social lounge area and internet café, as well as an outdoor braai facility – great for entertaining family and friends.

Residents in these luxurious sectional-title apartments pay a monthly care levy, which allows access to the services of the care centre. This offers top quality, personalised care through an individualised care programme – from annual health checks for blood pressure and cholesterol, to changing dressings, medication management and more regular care, as well as access to a multidisciplinary team of specialists. These personalised care plans, which are revised annually, help residents to maintain their independence as well as a great quality of life. In addition to this, they offer immense peace of mind to couples who are assured of not being split up if one of them becomes ill.

Says Natalie Bradfield, co-owner of Piccadilly Properties:

“Another aspect that we have found to be of great importance to people looking at purchasing in our retirement estate is the fact that they have options, not only when it comes to the care provided at Shoreline Sibaya, but in many other aspects of the development. They have the option to stay in the care centre or in their own home; the option to be very social within the community of Shoreline or sitting on one of the communal rooftop gardens with a book and a glass of wine and just relaxing. This is something that attracts many of our clients – they don’t want to feel that their independence has been taken away; they want to know that they are free to make their own choices.”

Freedom, independence and the option of compassionate home-based care in the comfort of our own home if we need it – what more could we ask for our golden years?