Concordia Retirement Center feels like home

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

— Mary Nell Turner had lived in a 1916 schoolhouse on 2.5 acres for 14 years in Hope. After her husband died in 2006, her two daughters felt she was too isolated at her home. She disagreed at first, but as time went by, she said, “It got to be more and more of a chore to take care of everything.”

Family members continued to nudge Turner to sell the house and look at retirement centers.

One of the daughters told her she could either leave home on her own terms or in an ambulance when she’s had a stroke or broken a hip.

“That kind of helped me start thinking about it positively,” she said.

Turner visited Concordia Retirement Center in fall 2009.

“I think we spent 30 minutes here, and I said this is where I want to be,” she said.

She believes she made up her mind that day - because she was ready and Concordia just appealed to her. Turner also brought a lot of family members to see it, and they all approved, she said.

Turner had the option to move into the apartment in January but she said she could not possibly dismantle her house that fast.

“I had an accumulation of 90 years of stuff thatI had to get rid of,” she said.

On move-in day at Concordia, it was “hot as Hades,” she said. She said she could only walk through the center of the apartment because of all of her packed boxes. She noted that she brought about 7,000 pounds of items with her.

She began getting up every morning and going through boxes. It took her six weeks to open all of them, she said.

Turner began to feel settled when she had people to sit with for dinner every night. She said she ate with different people for the fi rst few weeks, then one night, two people asked her come sit with them.

“I sit with them still every night,” she said.

Turner said she also started to get involved in activities. She participates in a happy hour every Friday afternoon. About 100 people come to the social hour, and five or six men go around asking the ladies to dance, she said. She has grown to enjoy the people there and added that everyone is friendly.

Although she enjoys taking part in activities, she said she likes that she is allowed to have her space. She said some people play bingo, but she doesn’t happen to like the game. She likes to read, write, play on her computer and get in touch with family.

“I have freedom to do that,” she said.

She also likes that she doesn’t have certain responsibilities, such as taking care of a lawn, taking out the garbage or painting a house. A maid comes by once a week to change the bedding, clean the bathroom and vacuum.

“My daughters said they’d like to move in,” she said with a laugh.

One of her favorite things about living at Concordia, though, is being able to relax.

“I feel like I can be me,” she said.

Business, Pages 12 on 07/06/2011