By PSS | Posted: Wednesday February 28, 2018
The level of care given to Maria Arhanic’s father, Branko, at Gore’s Resthaven Village was so good it has inspired Maria to give back to the elderly in her community.
In 2008 Maria Arhanic’s father, Branko, moved to a rest home.
When he was diagnosed with vascular dementia, and the home he was in in the Wakatipu was unable to meet his needs, he moved to Resthaven Village in Gore.
While at the time it was a huge step – Maria was his only family member in New Zealand and lived in Queenstown – she now looks on it as the best thing that could have happened at that stage.
“The staff at Resthaven were just amazing,” she reflected.
“They would take him out for coffee, get him involved with gardening – he used to love those sorts of things – and they took the time to get to know him and to talk to him.”
Maria made special mention of Carol Riddle, who was then a Registered Nurse at Resthaven and now manages Vickery Court in Invercargill, who she said went above and beyond to support her father.
“With me being so far away, and only able to visit every fortnight, it was just so nice to know how well looked after Dad was,” she said.
“To have someone like Carol working in that area, someone young and vivacious, and who has a real and genuine care and love for those people … she made that stage of my Dad’s life just so much better than it could have been.”
The care was so good, it inspired Maria to become a volunteer for Enliven; joining the SupportLink service in Wakatipu so she could give back to the elderly community in her area.
“At the time I remember thinking if I win Lotto, I’ll volunteer some of my time, but then I thought, why wait. Then I saw an advert about volunteering for SupportLink; a service, which matches volunteers with older people in the community who require some companionship or support.”
“I was matched with an elderly couple, neither of them can drive anymore, so I’ll meet them each week and take them to appointments, or the shops, or wherever they need to go.”
“They do have a lot of family and friends to call on, but it can be hard to ask people you know to do these things, you don’t want to be a burden. So the nice thing with this is that there is someone they know can help them every week, and it doesn’t feel like they have to ask someone for help, because they just know it’s there.”
“Kindness goes around in circles, and it feels really good to be doing something for someone else.”
“The influence of Enliven staff is far wider than just the people they have immediate care of… Carol was such a wonderful example, and I know that elderly care in Southland is in the best hands possible.”