A Tenant’s View

Elaine Jones and her daughter, Sue, share their story about moving into an independent living apartment at Belong Wigan.

“We’d asked for some recommendations on Facebook and Belong kept coming up – people spoke highly of them,” Sue begins, sharing how she and her mother first heard of Belong’s daycare service, Experience Days. “Mum’s 82 and has a dementia diagnosis and we were exploring options for things for her to do in the day.”

Elaine takes over: “We met Charlene [the village’s experience coordinator] over lunch in the bistro and she was lovely, so, I decided I’d give it a go. I loved it! The team are very good, and I get to take part in everything going on – I'm a Scrabble fanatic and I’m pleased this is one of many things to choose from.”

Apartment ambitions

It was a conversation with another customer that got Elaine thinking about potentially making the village her permanent home. She explains: “I’d made friends with Kath, and she invited me to look at her apartment. It’s on the ground floor and her sitting room doors open into the courtyard. Having seen how lovely it was, I wanted to find out more.”

Sue continues: “We enquired with the front of house team if we could have a formal viewing and they showed us a number of options that were available. Mum chose an upper floor apartment with two big windows overlooking the main road, so she can watch the goings on. It’s lovely; nice a bright and she loves it here.

“We’d looked at other sheltered schemes, but nothing felt quite right. Here, she has the activities, visits the bistro every day, and if things change, she has the option of living on the households. I think, most importantly, Mum was happy to choose to live here, and that was key for us.”

On the doorstep

Elaine shares more about what she gets up to at the village. She says: “I like going to the group exercises classes and soon I’ll be doing one-to-one sessions with Lee [the village’s exercise specialist] – I used to go to balance classes, so it will be nice to continue with this. I also enjoy visiting the hair salon once a week. Not so much a fan of the bingo though, I tend to give that one a miss!

“I didn’t want to go into a ‘home’, I like being independent. Living here, I get time on my own, like I used to. And, if I want to speak to someone, I only need to pop downstairs.”

Sue finishes: “We’ve also got the Belong at Home team popping in soon for an assessment to find out more about what they offer and see if they can help Mum with anything.

“With Mum here, it really brings a lot of peace of mind for me and my brother. We can even bring Jacob for visits – not all places are pet friendly. He’s like a grandson to Mum and is a big part of our lives, so when we come, we all go for a walk around the canals – it really is an ideal set up the whole family.”