These are tough times for everyone, and even more so for seniors and those with underlying medical conditions, who find themselves most vulnerable to the new coronavirus. As we navigate new ground, our Evergreen village managers and their hard-working teams, together with our exceptional Evergreen Health staff, are making every effort to ensure that our residents stay physically and mentally healthy, and feel safe within our villages.

Exceptional hospitality is one of the cornerstones of our Partnership for Life promise, and since the onset of the national lockdown, our day-to-day services have been extended to include those that ensure the health and safety of our residents – and provide peace of mind for their families:

• Evergreen drivers are making regular trips to the shops, so that our residents don’t need to leave their homes.
• Medicines are being delivered to our villages and residents by Evergreen staff.
• Our village management teams are making daily calls to residents to check in with them and find out how they’re doing.
• A team of Evergreen Head Office volunteers is phoning single and vulnerable residents to provide encouragement and support.
• A free support hotline is available for residents struggling to cope with social isolation.

Together with their teams, our dedicated village managers have prioritised keeping residents informed of the latest COVID-19 developments, and have been sending out interesting articles, indoor exercise ideas and brainteasers to lift their spirits. We recently asked a few of them to share an encouraging quote for this season. Here’s what they chose.

Attie Schultz, Val de Vie Evergreen

“We can’t always choose the music life plays for us, but we can choose how we dance to it” – Unknown

Derek Drew, Evergreen Muizenberg

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor Emil Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor

Wilma Swart, Evergreen Broadacres

“If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.” – Fred DeVito

Christine Dempers, Evergreen Bergvliet

“Bless what there is, for being. 
Whatever it be, bless it because it exists, you need no other reason.
Source of All Blessings, you bless us with breath –
In and out, in and out, ever-renewing us, ever anew, making us one with all who breathe the same air.
May this blessing overflow into a shared gratefulness, so that with one breath I may praise and celebrate life.” 

– Brother David Steindl-Rast, Co-founder of A Network for Grateful Living

Bronwyn Davis, Evergreen Noordhoek

“Don’t count the days. Make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali

Jill Blignaut, Evergreen Diep River

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see” – Mark Twain