Independent living at The Mornington Retirement Village Shearwater Serviced Apartments

Family, friends and a little support to live independently. 

Those three factors are what give Ruth Jones a good quality of life in the Shearwater Serviced Apartments. 

Part of Southern Cross Care’s The Mornington Retirement Village, the Shearwater Serviced Apartments offer people like Ruth their own private space, surrounded by the facilities and people they need to live well. 

Ruth was born in Ballarat and grew up moving around Victoria as her father took on different teaching roles.

After a brief time as the owner of a small babywear shop in Bendigo, Ruth followed her father into the teaching profession. 

She was passionate about special education, focusing on helping students with learning difficulties, rebellious attitudes and brain injuries. 

While at teacher's college she met Ronald and the couple married in 1952. 

They had two boys, David and Peter, who both live near Ruth on the Mornington Peninsula. 

Ruth said she is very lucky to have a supportive family, including four grandchildren and four great grandchildren. 

A few years ago Ruth had a nasty fall at home and decided it was time to move. 

"I had a very bad fall and I injured myself so I sort of became physically impaired. I put myself first of all into aged care because I didn't want to impact my family,” Ruth said. 

“I was there for two years and that was quite a journey for me. I was able to sort of see what the atmosphere was like and then I decided ‘I don't think this is really for me’. “

So I did a bit of Googling on my computer and decided I was very interested in the Mornington Retirement Village because of the way it is set out.” 

She found the Shearwater Serviced Apartments and visited for a tour with her family. 

“Obviously I was suitable to them, and it suited me,” Ruth said. 

Ruth is very independent and manages her own apartment, with the added bonus of weekly cleaning and linen services. 

She moves around the village using an electric walker, but is wary of falls so the on-call emergency call system is important for her peace of mind. 

While Ruth’s family is an important part of her social life, so are her neighbours in the Shearwater Apartments. 

Ruth is on the Social Committee and likes to encourage other apartment residents to be socially active too by reminding them of upcoming events, or suggesting they join a bus trip with a friend. 

“I can't do much because of my leg but I represent the apartment people,” Ruth explained.

“If there’s a concert the Social Committee have organised like a Sunday music session or there’s an outing that the Social Committee have organised through the bus or maybe to the Frankston Theatre, I just remind them, perhaps say ‘are you going to go to that?’” 

“If they say, ‘I’ve got no one to go with’ then I suggest, ‘you know that person why don't you have a chat with them, and why don't you team up - you might like it’, and that's the sort of part that I can play.” 

The twice daily meals for Serviced Apartment residents are also a great chance for Ruth and her neighbours to connect, and allow them to share good meals with good company. 

Ruth said she appreciates the kitchen and administration staff at The Mornington too, as they regularly check on residents’ welfare and provide an extra safety net to support her independence. 

For more information about independent living at the Shearwater Serviced Apartments, call 1800 852 772 or click here to visit the Mornington Retirement Village page.