Joan Wieringa visited many different senior living communities in her career as an elder-care consulting nurse. So when the time came to decide on her own future, she already knew where she wanted to be: The Kenney. “I could picture myself living here,” she says. In 2002, following the death of her husband, Joan filled out an application for an independent-living apartment in The Ballymena. “I felt comforted that I’d made some kind of a plan.”
Even so, Joan wasn’t sure she was ready when The Kenney called with an apartment opening. She “turned it over every which way” and ended up with many more pros than cons.
While she sometimes misses her house, she doesn’t miss the endless chores and responsibilities of homeownership. Now, if something breaks down in her Ballymena apartment, she just calls maintenance staff and they fix it.
“My life is very easy,” says Joan, who still works four days a week and serves on The Kenney Board of Directors. “I have free time. I can think about travel. And when I retire, I have a community waiting for me here.”
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