By Terrie M. Roberts
In October 2017, Mary Ann Webb was standing in water … inside her house! Two water heaters in the attic had burst and flooded her Appletree home.
“You can imagine how long it took me to find people to clean it up and get everything back in order,” she says. “That was the last straw.”
Having lost her husband two years earlier, home maintenance and upkeep had become her responsibility. “I was always trying to find someone to do handywork, trim this and that and make minor repairs. I had had enough,” she says.
Webb no longer wanted the worry or financial burden of surprise home repairs and general maintenance. She wanted maintenance-free living.
She found it at The Oaks of Louisiana, where she moved into Tower at The Oaks, one of the community’s independent living residences. “No longer having to worry about maintenance was the main reason I moved here,” she says.
The maintenance team at The Oaks is composed of friendly and familiar staff who are a phone call away.
Residents are introduced to team members upon move-in and receive a couple of hours of help to get pictures hung and furniture in place.
“We want residents to know from that point on they don’t have to worry about their home. Leave the care of it to us,” says James Parkerson, Oaks maintenance manager. “Freedom from home maintenance allows residents to experience vibrant, carefree living each day – something they don’t have as homeowners. In a house, something always needs to be repaired.”
And home maintenance is essential to ensure a safe and healthy environment. Because the capabilities and limitations of a person change with age – strength decreases, hearing and vision loss occurs, memory declines – the demands of a home pose challenges. That is why maintenance-free living is appealing to senior adults who move into communities like The Oaks.
“If a resident has a problem, he or she picks up the phone and it’s taken care of,” Parkerson says.
Maintenance services include miscellaneous electrical, plumbing and structural repairs as well as monthly cleaning of air filters and fire extinguisher checks. They even replace light bulbs!
“I am just very pleased everything is taken care of here and I don’t have to worry about a thing,” Webb says. “All things work together for good.”