MALAYSIA: Old Folks Homes

. SELANGOR, Malaysia / The Star / Citizen's Blogs / July 28, 2009 In developed countries we do not call them old folks homes. They are referred to as retirement villages. Generally speaking they are very nice homes with gardens and full time staff. Occupants have their own rooms & TVs and SOS call buttons. The staff would usually consist of a full time nurse and a couple of nurses aides, cleaners, cook and gardener. All meals are supplied with a choice of menu. The homes have a central entertainment area. The caretaker will organise card & board games for the occupants each evening, bingo and bridge are all time favourites. Musical nights are frequent events. There are also people who arrange hobbies like knitting, gardening, flower arrangement or ballroom dancing etc...There is never a shortage of activities. Sundays are usually family day and the residents are always excited. Even if they are not related to you it is always appreciated if you can spare a few minutes for a stranger. Doctors and dentist visit every week and some retirement villages even have their own mini bus and outings and picnics are organised on regular intervals. Local councils also provide mini buses but they have to book. Most retirement villages consist of single level villa type houses of modest size and are situated in closed secured compounds. These establishments are not free. Usually you have to buy in. How much will depend on the luxury level and the level of services provided and the size of the complex. There are legal requirements and all of them have to provide most of the services I have spoken about above. On top of that you also have to pay a monthly fees. Mostly the fees is equal to the old age pension. You just have to sign your pension cheque over to the operators. They will usually just leave you with a few dollars leftover. It is now an accepted practise for people to save in order to become "self funded" retirees. People no longer depend solely on the old age pension alone. Some will sell their homes in order to get the money to buy into a retirement village and still have some money left over to spend. They find that the family home is getting too big and they are getting too old to look after the house. Gone are the days when they think about leaving an inheritance for the kids. Maybe leave them a little bit but forget about leaving too much behind. I am currently involved in adopting American styled retirement village concepts of building high rise apartment blocks to be used as retirement "villages". There are many differences and many different concepts to be incorporated into such developments. This is a high growth industry and many of the grey hair "army" likes the concept and many public listed companies are developing this concept. Governments too are busy legislating new laws to control these sort of establishments to make sure that minimum standards are maintained and the new buildings satisfies the intend and are fit for purpose. Some churches are also involved, they are subsiding the villages that are not so well funded and help the not so well off residents. This is mainly done through a special collection each Sunday.Volunteers also play a very very important part in this system. But for all these to work you need an honest and transparent Government. To pass and enforce the necessary laws. Those that abuse the system are punished no matter who you are and society looks upon those who abuse the system as the scum of the earth. Many hefty jail sentences have been handed out without fear or favour. Serving sub standard food, maintaining bad hygiene and unclean premises or rude, abusive carers are not tolerated. I will see if I can attach some pictures in my next post.[rc] Posted by: ahvincent Copyright © 1995-2009 Star Publications (M) Bhd