Interview with Berwick On The Park resident, Lil Saari

It’s a beautiful place. I love it at Berwick On The Park. I didn’t at first because my husband and I were in here first, and I had to look after him because he was quite sick. That was one of the reasons why we moved in here. But I love it here now. I’m very happy. Everybody’s so friendly, so nice.

I feel safe. The shuttle bus and the car are wonderful things here, so that you can get out at any time that you want to. The ones I go to, I really enjoy doing. I don’t go to too many of the activities because I volunteer a lot. I go out a lot. It’s very enjoyable when I come back, and they say, "Oh, you’re back." They’re so happy to see you come back and ask how your day was.

The atmosphere at Berwick On The Park is very happy. I find most people very happy.

The staff is very happy. They are very cordial to you. They are willing to help you with anything that you need, or if they can’t help you, they’ll find somebody that can. I find it very happy.

I find the staff very helpful, very friendly, and very eager to do things for you if you need the help. I’ve had a couple incidents where I’ve had accidents, and they were right there. They got ahold of my daughter right away. I am very pleased with the staff here.

We went to quite a few of them, and my first impression was when we came here for lunch that everybody was very happy. At other places, it was kind of like nobody talked too much or laughed too much. Here, everybody was so jolly and so happy. I said to my husband, this has to be the place, because if everybody’s happy, it means the staff is good, the help is good, and the atmosphere here must be very good.

It was a little bit hard at first for about a month. Mind you, my husband and I have moved a lot, so it was fairly easy for me. I just thought, oh, this is home now, and you’ve got to make the best of it. And I have.

Berwick On The Park is a very friendly, happy place, and the staff is very good. They have the amenities, or they have a shuttle bus and they have a car that if you have to go to the doctor or dentist or shopping, they’re willing to take you. There’s certain hours, and I don’t have a car, so it’s excellent for me and for other people that I have talked to. The car, to me, is the most important.

There isn’t anything I could improve here at Berwick On The Park. I’ll accept that sometimes the beer’s down or the pub’s down a little bit more heat. But the staff, the activity staff, is very good. When we go to the games, they’re so nice to explain things to us. I don’t think there’s anything here I could see changed. I think it’s running very well. Everybody’s very happy at what they do

I’ve had a good life, and I’m quite happy, and I enjoy living here. There really isn’t anything different. I can’t say anything about that.

Make sure they ask about what amenities there are. Is there a car or transportation for them if they have to go to a doctor or to go to the store? I would just say I’m very happy here. If you’re looking for help and nice people, the majority of people I’ve met here are very friendly. There’s the odd one, but in a big group like this, there always is one. Overall, it’s a very friendly, happy place, and everybody’s willing to help you.

It’s a very homey, happy feeling around here, and they seem to want to do so much more for you because you need it. I’m happy I’m here because, like I say, my husband has passed away, and this is home, and I feel safe here, and I’m happy here. I can get to my volunteering, and they pick me up, which is so nice. I go out for three or four hours, and the rest of the day I can go out and play some games or go visit somebody, have coffee with them in the coffee room. The atmosphere here, I find, is very nice, very friendly, very happy.