Contemplating-Retirement Villages for Sri Lankan Seniors in  NSW

Sri Lankan Association of NSW (Australia) initiated steps to help senior member families and singles, to assist in finding accommodation in retirement homes in NSW, for their pre-terminal stages of life.

With that in view, President Ajith Karunaratne and committee member Gnani Thenabadu accompanied a group of senior members to the ‘Uniting Elanora residential age care-home in Shell Harbour in two coaches provided by the ‘Elanora’ Uniting residential Care Centre.

The members collected at the Thornleigh Community Centre and proceeded at 10 am. heading towards Shell Harbour situated in the Southern coastal region, 100 km from Sydney. In spite of the heavy traffic on the motorway and other roads, the group reached their destination by 12.30pm.

Walter de Ruyter the service manager at the Centre received the Seniors’ and a preliminary talk was given on the workings of the institution.

He pointed out that Uniting Elanora Shell Harbour residential age care-home is one of the Uniting residential care communities. It is a high quality care centre having 100 residents. The Home provides high quality care to meet individual needs and promote quality of life in a comfortable and caring environment.

He said,” Aged care should be decided by the person who knows you best-you”

“Changes to aged care give you more choices, more control and more of the services you might need to help you stay in your own home for longer and remain independent.
The seniors and their families were then taken round and shown the most impressive centre, which included common lounge rooms with screen televisions, comfortable single bed rooms with large modern toilets, wide corridors, cafeteria, and so on- akin to a five star hotel.

It was a most educational enlightening trip for the seniors and were well entertained and cared for by the service manager and his staff.

The group left about 4.30pm back to Thornleigh and the consensus of opinion was that it was a wonderful project organised by the committee of the Sri Lankan Association of NSW.

It is hoped further similar projects will be organised by the future committees.

Reported by Dr harold Gunatillake participant on the trip.