Tuesday 25 May 2010

Clarence Valley and Yamba are special

 
Letter to the Editor published in The Daily Examiner on 24 May 2010:
 

Hospitality a hit

I RECENTLY brought my invalid mother Joy Hempenstall to Yamba for a four-night stay.

What started out a logistical nightmare became a seamless dream for her and for us, and I could not have done this without help from services provided by the Clarence Valley.

I have struggled with ways to thank them as everything seemed to pale into insignificance.

I hope these heartfelt words of thanks will reach them.

Firstly, we could not have Joy stay at our home because of stairs etc so we booked her into The Cove. Georgina and Jim were fantastic from the moment of inspecting the most suitable rooms to looking out for us during Joy's stay and various people coming and going. In fact it was hard to get Joy off the balcony overlooking Main Beach and who can blame her.

The girls at Maclean Community Health came to our rescue with the supply of equipment like bed sticks and the like. We were able to create a mirror image of where Joy resides in care in Brisbane and so provide a safe and familiar haven for her.

Clarence Valley Nursing provided overnight care for my mother and this enabled her to have some independent company and someone else to look out for her while I was able to slip off back home. She became so attached to these gorgeous girls she didn't want to let them go or she wanted to take them back to Brisbane with her.

Just when you think everything is going well I damaged a wheelchair I borrowed from a friend and with one desperate call to Janene at RSL Life Care I was able to pick up another chair within 30 minutes.

Joy experienced the very essence of Yamba while shopping at Zig Zag's Boutique, BWL Jeweller and Sweet Vintage where everyone was so kind, patient and helpful to us.

You people are amazing.

You have collectively given an old sick woman more to live for in five days than she has had for the last five years.

 FELICITY HEMPENSTALL, Yamba

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's great! :)