When Wendy Hill talks about Lynch’s Bridge, she does so with certainty and calm. For her, moving into residential aged care was not the result of a sudden crisis, but a deliberate and carefully considered decision.
Born in Melbourne, Wendy grew up initially in Glenhuntly then Croydon. Over the years, she lived in 15 different houses, including one just around the corner from Lynch’s Bridge. When the time came to consider residential care, familiarity with the neighbourhood mattered.
“I’d walk past the back of this home and it always put out a nice energy,” Wendy says. “If I saw people in the window, they looked happy. So seven years ago, I thought, well, when it gets to that point, I’m going to go there.”
Wendy is softly spoken, and the tremor in her hands is noticeable, but neither define her. Living with Parkinson’s disease, she is candid about its impact, particularly on her speech, noting that talking can be tiring and that she is often easier to understand by text. Yet her sharp, self-aware humour is never far from the surface. It shows in the way she laughs at herself, in the dry comments about her “shaky fingers,” and in the playful way she suggests the solution might simply be holding a small sign as a reminder for people to listen a little more closely.
Her family were initially surprised by her decision. “Are you sure, Mum?” she recalls them asking. Wendy had seen how difficult the transition into care could be when people moved later in life. “I’d had my mother, my brother and my stepfather all go into care at the point that they were a lot older and they found the transition very hard.”
Her choice was shaped by a desire to retain control. “I’d made a decision that I wanted to enter care while I was still cognitively competent so that I could speak for myself and get myself settled into the environment,” she says.
After touring Lynch’s Bridge with her family and waiting for a room that suited her, Wendy moved in quickly. She has now been a resident for a little over a year, and “It has lived up to my expectations,” she says.
For Wendy, the sense of home is unmistakable. “Every time I’m walking back up the path towards the entrance, I find myself pleased to be home,” she says. “I think that’s a good sign.”
She describes the culture of the home as one built on respect. “If I ask a question, like, ‘Can I walk around in my pyjamas?’ the response is always, ‘It’s your home, you can do as you like.’ You hear that often, and it’s very reassuring.” Wendy values being acknowledged and listened to. “I feel seen and heard,” she says. “And if I have a problem or an issue, there’s always someone I can talk to.”
Before retiring, Wendy worked as a primary school teacher and later as a finance administrator with Metro Trains. She is also the proud mother of four children and grandmother to seven grandchildren. “They all approved of the place,” she says. “The kids feel very welcome. The grandkids feel welcome, and that’s important too.”
Now living at Lynch’s Bridge, part of Doutta Galla Aged Services, Wendy is clear about what this decision has given her. Not just care, but confidence that she made the choice at the right time, and on her own terms.