..:: ZOMBiE Destinee ::..

Monday, January 26, 2009
Orange Valley
[ZOMBiE CyGiG] ranted at 11:24 PM --- Post#4181762178420204308

Today is the first day of CNY, most of the younger Chinese will be paying respect to their grandpa and grandma along with their dad and mom. My grandpa passed away soon after i was borned, and my grandma was down with severe diabetes and various other ailments. Her illness had rendered her unable to walk and control her bowels, some said that those were the effects of her sinful doings in the past, while others said that its all cos she did not know how to control her own diet.

In short, according to my parents and relatives, my grandma used to be a sharp tongued woman with nothing good coming out of her mouth. Not only she distrusted outsiders, she deemed her own son and daughter as unreliable as well. Gossiping was one of her "well-acclaimed" hobbies, and it served as a trouble magnet for her. She was extremely money minded and held financial issues as top priority over everything else, she would not hesitate to ask for money over the slightest thing, even from her own children and close friends. Often, ppl around her are framed for stealing her cash and jeweleries.

Anyway, she has been unable to move around on her own ever since, i think, she tripped over something in my uncle's house and was immediately rushed to the hospital. Even though her leg injuries were patched, she refused to re-learn how to walk, and would rather depend on ppl to push her on wheelchair. So my mom and uncle decided to put her in a nursing home, in view that there wun be anyone in our houses to take care of my grandma 24/7.

They insist on calling it "nursing home" rather than "old folk's home". There may prolly be some difference in the two, but in my view, the former is just a nicer name for the later one.

Old grandma used to be in Serene's Nursing Home near Joo Chiat. Trust me, just the odor alone was enuff to put you off from entering the home. It looked like a convert from a former ran down bungalow, a structure that was "recycled" into something else more useful. Either that, or the home really had a damn long history. The building was peeling and some parts of the compound looked like tiny ruins, where abandoned furniture were thrown together in a corner and weeds had overruled that place. The dormitories for the elderly were badly ventilated. No sign of technology were seen every time i visited that place. The equipment and furniture were old and creeky, some were even pest infested. But the up side is that the price is cheap, roughly $1000 a month. After quarrels with her roommate, Grandma was kicking a fuss to change a place, which they agreed to promptly before Grandma had the idea of going home, which will cause them infinite trouble.

This new, ahem, NURSING home, Orange Valley is much much better. Its a new multi level building, with neat rooms and arranged beds. Each dormitory has its own rest room with elderly friendly features, as well as compartments for their belongings and personal items. Many fans are installed, and alongside with numerous windows, the rooms are very well ventilated. Each level as a common main hall, where the elderly can come out to have their meal or watch TV. Some levels has a small court yard with magnificent outside view. The roof of the complex is a man-made garden, sort of a bigger version of the mini courtyard.

I find this home much better than the previous one. In fact, i would prolly not mind if im sent to one when im old. The down is that its twice as expensive than the former home, at $2000 a month.

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