Interview with White Cliffe Terrace - Verve Senior Living resident, Blanche Billett

My last husband died. I waited one year. As the books always say, don’t move right away, don’t make any decisions. Then when I came to visit my son and it’s three and a half hours from London, where I lived, and I was in ill health at that time, I said, I can’t do that to my son anymore. This is too much for him. So I wanted to move closer to Curtis. He’s five minutes from White Cliffe Terrace.

He said, "Well, we’re going to go visit a friend of a friend of a friend who lives here on Third, so let’s go." I said, okay, I’ll go with you and I’ll check you guys out. I got inside the double doors, looked directly into the dining room, and my daughter-in-law was parking the car. I stood there, and I started to jump up and down.

I saw the dining room and the foyer, and I fell in love with it, and I said, "This is it, this is it." Then they gave me a tour. We weren’t expecting a tour, but they were very gracious. They said, "We can do it now if you want." I did, and we made arrangements. That was in December, and in April, Jeanette called me to say we have a one-bedroom. I said, I’ll be there. It was a good decision because I’ve been here five years and four months, not that I’m counting.

The first impression was very good. We have a terrific manager now, and we’re really going full force ahead right now. Changes are being made, all for the better. It’s just wonderful.

Moving was hard. That was really rough because we’d sold the townhouse condo because of my husband’s health and moved to a high-rise apartment. By that time he got ill and had to go into long-term care, and then he passed on, and I had to sell or give away so much. I’m from the old school, and no one wanted my memories. They didn’t want the lovely antiques, they didn’t want the Wedgewood dishes. They were in a different era, a different what. They wanted their own, and I can’t blame them. It was my memories.

I sold some, gave a lot away, and then we had an estate sale, and that was hard. What do you take with you? Of course I brought it back, and it’s still over in my son’s garage in boxes. I never knew, you know, I might need it later on. It was good. It was hard. Everyone that’s come in here said exactly the same story, maybe in different words, but it was hard. Giving up, giving away, selling, and moving from a treasured home was hard.

I was in contact with Jeanette. If she were here, she would tell you I called almost every day. One time I called to say, Jeanette, I’m giving clothes away now. I said, what do we dress for dinner? She laughed and she said, anything, but no bathing suits. So I fit right in there. That’s good then.

When you need help, you go in every department. Don’t go to the manager unless you can’t get what you need or want from the other managers. Her open-door policy is there, and that’s great. If her door is open, you can knock and come in or get an appointment. If the door is closed, she’s either on the phone or with a person or she’s writing and doesn’t want to be disturbed.

Once you find something, say the washer’s broken, you go to Mark and he’ll say, okay, we’ll get it next week or use the one on the second floor, because it’s your home. They fix it. I told her the other day, I said, those gardeners aren’t doing a good job out front. The weeds around the flower beds are horrible. Sure enough, by the next day, the people were out there taking away all the weeds. It’s fixed now

I used to call Bingo once in a while, but I don’t do that anymore because of my double vision. That’s a good one. And the horse races, it’s funny, and they line up to go with that one, so I never can get there early enough to get in. Then they have their card club, they have the Java Music Club, they have the arts club. They have so many. I don’t go to all of those, but I go to a lot of things just to talk to people and just to get out.

We have a laundry and dryer facility on each floor, so we do our own, which is great. They do have house cleaning once a week, and if you need your bed linen changed, they’ll help you with that as well.

I’ve got a one-bedroom. They have what they call a studio, or a bachelor, which is one big room, and I wanted the one-bedroom. They do have two-bedrooms, but I just don’t need the two-bedroom. When I moved, my daughter-in-law and son took the furniture that they checked out ahead of time and had X’s all over, and they put it in. So the living room was done and the bedroom was done and the bathroom was done so well. They had a brand-new cupboard they bought and put up for my towels and over here for toilet paper stuff. So you have everything you need

We have our lifeline here. You wear it around your neck all the time. You press the middle button, and it rings in where the nurses are. Someone will come, and they might send a PSW if the nurse is busy with another client or resident. Many times I’ve had to say, just please call the ambulance. I have to go to the hospital. Because you know your body better than anyone. They notify the family where you’re at, which hospital, and so on and so forth. The staff is great. Sometimes we don’t thank them enough. Sometimes we take them for granted, too.

Every Friday night down in the main lobby, a DJ comes. You should see those people. I can’t dance. I like to watch them wiggle, you know. Anyway, I like it, and they enjoy it too. Last week they went to the winery. A couple of months ago, we saw the McLaughlin house. We’ll go on picnics in the summertime, and they’ll pack us our lunches, and we take it with us and go to the park and the waterfront.

What’s so important is chatting on the bus. We have our own bus and our own bus drivers, and they take us there and make sure we’re well. It’s whatever you want. You have to ask. Maybe they can’t do it, but they’ll try their best.

It wasn’t six months. It was before that. I had to go to the hospital with a bowel obstruction. At that time the pandemic was on. I didn’t know I had to have the nose test done before I could come back to White Cliffe Terrace. I waited for two hours, and they did one stat to get me in here. I kept saying, I want to go home. They thought I was in a residential home, a freestanding one-unit place. Then when they realized, no, no, I was in a seniors’ residence, that’s why they had to do the nose test. I was clear. I was negative.

They take good care of us. We’ve all had four shots for all that. We had our three original and then the second booster. They keep up with our health. They weigh us. They do such a good part in the health. As I said, I’m a retired registered nurse. I know what’s right and I know what’s wrong. They do a good job. And if they didn’t, I’d tell them.

Afternoon nap. Don’t laugh. Afternoon nap. My son said, Mom, if you sleep in the afternoon, you won’t sleep at night. He’s so wrong. I do sleep at night. The doctor said, if she’s tired, let her lay down and sleep. So there we are

The favorite thing for me is the meals, number one, and the outside activities when we get on the bus. We do as much talking on the bus going and coming back as we do when we get to our activity. I like bingo, but because of my eyesight, I don’t do it anymore. But I like it. I really do. Everything’s fun. It’s how you make it.

I would tell them to be very careful when approaching the family member that you think needs this type of facility. Be very careful. You can hurt their feelings. You can make them say, no, no, you’re not putting me in that old folks’ home. No, no. If you just come on down and just take a tour, whether it’s this one or any other one, just come and take a tour.

If they book ahead, they’ll give you a free lunch. And they don’t make it any special. We all get the same thing. But if you don’t like what’s on the menu, you do have alternatives. If you’re allergic to something, make the kitchen chef aware of it, and you never get it. Have them come in and look everything over and ask questions and ask someone who’s lived here for a while. They’ll be able to say, I think you’d do good if you came in here. You fit right in perfectly and have a life of your own, and still have a life.

You’re not ending a life when you come in here. It’s just the beginning. You sold your house, and you gave away most everything, and here you are, but it’s not the end of the line. It really is just the beginning. It’s how you make it the beginning. It’s how you do it.

Pick your location. Of course you want one closer where your family’s living. Pick the location, pick the best one, the closest one, because you never know, in good weather you might be able to walk to and from.

Go see more than just one. Go two, three, and four. It’s not going to hurt anyone. You can make a schedule. Go in and ask your questions there. We’d like to make a tour. If it’s not convenient, then they’ll set up a time and make a tour. But go and visit. Go ask your questions. Have them written down. It’s no shame to ask questions. You don’t know. You’ve never been in one before. It’s just hearsay.

Most of them say, oh God, I’m not going there. That’s an old folks’ home. No, no, no, no. Get that out of your head, please. It is what you make it. So ask them. Ask the questions and go visit different homes.

I can’t say I’d do anything different. I made the right choice. As my daughter-in-law said, she fell in love with it and she still is. There are bad days. We all have bad days. There are death dates and birth dates and anniversary dates and just bad days. But they’re so few and far between. Let it go. Get your tears out. It’s not a shame to cry over something you don’t have anymore, but you don’t need it either anymore, so move on. You’re a better person for it. There are always other people who need your help as much as you need their help