From: Suzanne Vilardi
To: pvinews1@aol.com
Subject: Interesting Neighbors

Dead Editor,

My name is Suzanne Vilardi and I spoke to you last Friday afternoon regarding your newspapers request for interesting neighbor stories. I wanted to tell you about Margie and Matei (pronounced "Matt-Tay") Raica, who own Senior Paradise Living at 5045 East Paradise Lane, Scottsdale, Arizona 85254. Their phone number is (602) 494-7101.

My father, who passed away recently after 4 months of illness, was a resident of Margie and Matei's adult care home. Previous to my dad's illness he was an active senior who still drove his own car, managed his own affairs and played cards everyday. After seeing my dad shuffled between sub-standard hospitals and institutional nursing homes, I began searching for a better care facility for him. My father needed daily medical care and I was very concerned about the level of care he would receive in a private adult care home. I looked at over a dozen facilities in the area and selected a few final facilities for my family to inspect. During all our visits to Senior Paradise Living, even unannounced visits, we were greeted at the door with wonderful cooking fragrances, a fully involved staff and well cared for residents. The extraordinary warmth and concern of the Raica family provided my dad with comfort and happiness he would never have received in an institutional nursing home.

My dad could be difficult and grouchy, and had not come to terms with his loss of privacy and freedoms. My enter family held their collective breath during the first few days of my dad's arrival. As expected, after one day he was complaining about everything and demanding to be moved. By day two, I found him propped up on the living room lazy boy, surrounded with magazines, his favorite beverage and a bell to ring if he wanted anything. Half way through the week Margie had been shopping for all his favorite foods and he was telling me she was a great cook. After a week he was telling Margie he loved her, and teaching her 15 year old son how to play cards.

I cannot tell you how much it means to me to know that my father was so well taken care of during the final days of his life. These neighbors are some of the most wonderful people I know and will be friends always. I thought your readers with similar difficult decisions to make about elder care may be interested in knowing there are some special people like Margie and Matei providing extraordinary care.

 

Sincerely,

Suzanne Vilardi