By PSS | Posted: Tuesday January 30, 2018
Gore’s Resthaven Village has been home for Alice McAlister for close to seven years, and the 84-year-old has been on quite a journey over that time.
In 2011; then in her late 70s, Alice had a major health scare. As she puts it:
“I nearly died. I spent three and a half months in Kew (Hospital) and when they couldn’t keep me there any longer they sent me to Resthaven. They didn’t think I’d last very long when I came, that’s how sick I was when I first came … I couldn’t get out of bed, I couldn’t wash myself… the staff here had to do absolutely everything for me.”
It was about nine months before Alice could even get out of bed, but now – six years on – and her health has completely turned around. She is fit, active, happy, healthy and, while she still has some hip trouble, is otherwise “fit as a fiddle”.
Now, Alice is an active member of the Resthaven community.
“I’ve got my little jobs to do. I look after the cottage residents who come over for lunch, write their names down and things, I’ve folded thousands of serviettes over the years, I organise a football sweepstake, and some mornings I play piano at Oban (the dementia wing at Resthaven) so it all keeps me busy.”
“I’m as busy as I want to be.”
“The staff here are marvellous, I’ve got a great trust and respect for the staff.”
Alice gets out and about as often as she can and, while she was offered a home in a cottage some time ago, opted to stay put in her room in the rest home part of Resthaven; the room that has been home to her since she moved there.