“It’s easy to meet people here” – A Park Place of St. John Testimonial
After years of living in a big house in Chicago, it was time for Ernst and Marjorie Carstensen to move. “Our house needed a lot of repairs,” Marjorie said. “It all just became too much to keep up with.”
Marjorie had minor health issues, so she thought they should move to a senior living community where care would be available, should they ever need it down the line. When she toured Park Place of St. John with a friend, she loved it. But Ernst didn’t want to move to what he assumed would be like a nursing home.
“I had an uncle who lived in a nursing home many years ago,” Ernst says. “He didn’t get the kind of care that he needed, and it was an unpleasant place. From that experience, I just avoided places like this. I thought they were all like that.”
Reluctantly, Ernst came to see for himself, and was surprised to find that Park Place was so much more than he imagined. “It was nothing like I expected,” Ernst said. “It was beautiful, but more importantly, there’s a freedom here. You’re on our own, unless you want assistance. You can live your own life here just as you would in your house.”
Since moving in, Ernst and Marjorie have both enjoyed meeting new people and enjoying all the active retirement community has to offer. Marjorie, a social butterfly, enjoys taking the Park Place bus to go shopping, playing Scrabble with friends, and enjoying concerts. Ernst, a self-proclaimed “homebody,” enjoys relaxing in his apartment with a good book and spending one-on-one time with friends he’s made at Park Place.
“They’re interested in what we’re interested in,” Ernst says. “I told them I liked to watch Ma & Pa Kettle videos, and next thing I know, they have them in our library.”
“And they do little things,” Marjorie says, “like balloons on your birthday, candy on Easter, flowers on Mother’s Day. Little things that are kind of meaningful.”
“I like it very much here,” Ernst says. “It’s easy to meet people here. There’s a variety of people, plus a variety of levels of care, in case we ever need it. It’s care I have trust in because I’ve seen it.”
“I would recommend this to anybody who feels isolated and can’t do what they used to do, or what they want to do living alone at home” Marjorie says. “You get the help you need here, and you get the socialization. That’s really vital, to get help, but to also live the life you deserve.”
