A WALK TO THE ‘GOLDEN SUNSET’
A home-care facility specializing in ‘assisted living’ for the elderly rises at the foot of Mt. Makiling in Laguna.
NESTLED at the foot of the verdant Mount Makiling in Laguna is a retirement facility offering a comprehensive package of home-care services for over two dozen elderly individuals.
The facility of Golden Sunset Elderly Home Care Services is inside the verdant campus of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB).
It is different in a sense that its residents are largely Filipino retirees, mostly residents of other countries for many years, and have become citizens there, but have chosen to return home and retire here.
What makes Golden Sunset different is that it is not a typical nursing home, which specializes in providing medical care for the aged and infirm. It is not a home for the aged or a traditional nursing facility that treats its residents as patients.
It veers away from the traditional concept of caring for the elderly by extending a more holistic or community-based approach, says CEO Fe Tolentino-zosa. Golden Sunset is essentially community-oriented, which means the facility itself provides the community for quality and effective living for its residents.
Community-centered orientation
TOLENTINO-ZOSA said its community-centered orientation enables the facility to give its residents what she termed “assisted living,” revolving around personal care, including medication, social events, meals, housekeeping, laundry, and tracking their maintenance medication.
Although the Golden Sunset facility falls within the concept of residential care, it should not be mistaken for a nursing home that provides hospice care for the sick and terminally ill.
According to Tolentino-zosa, the elderly care that the facility provides stresses the social and personal requirements of retirees and senior citizens, who wish to age with dignity and grace, while requiring assistance for daily activities and healthcare. It emphasizes the twin virtues of empathy and compassion to its professional staff of caregivers and other hands, who attend to its residents. She said she envisioned setting up the facility mainly in response to the loving care of her mother Gregoria Tolentino, who died at 96.
She said her mother became a widow at a young age but did not remarry to raise her brood of six children, of which Tolentino-zosa was the second to the youngest. Tolentino-zosa did not take a course related to social work or medical care for the elderly, but finished BS Accounting magna cum laude at the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas (UST). She held various positions related to finance, but established the facility as her way to pay tribute to her mother.
Changing times
FILIPINOS are known for their devotion to the family. Like other Asians, Filipinos generally take care of the elderly in the family. But times are changing.
Some families are learning to institutionalize their elderly to the professional care of a nursing home or home for the aged, of which its package of home healthcare services provides “clinical” or “skilled” care by licensed nurses and therapists. On the other hand, home care provides “non-clinical” or “non-skilled” care by professional caregivers—so the distinction goes.
Sometime in early 2000s, Tolentino-zosa came upon the idea of putting up a community-oriented facility for foreign-based Filipino retirees who have decided to return home and settle here for good. It is
‘T his facility for the elderly will persist because there is a necessity for assisted living for our elderly. This is a new model for assisted living for our elders.”—fe Tolentino-zosa
not easy for them to relocate here even if they have the wherewithal to reestablish themselves here.
When possible, they prefer a community-oriented facility because they can live with their dignity and personal pride intact. Besides, they want to interact with other people.
Tolentino-zosa cited the cases of their residents, whose children are based in other countries, but whose parents have chosen to return home for good.
These parents do not want to live in the countries where their children stay mainly because they could not endure the cold weather, especially during winter. They have entered into accords with the facility management, where the kids pay for the upkeep of their parents as residents in the facility.
She cited the case of an American national, who has chosen to take residence in the facility, and a Filipino couple, who have never been in a foreign country. The facility started operations in 2022, even as it continues to undergo facelift and construction.
Golden Sunset occupies a halfhectare compound at the foot of Mount Makiling inside the UPLB campus. Its uniqueness lies in the extensive vegetation of the area, which enables the residents to enjoy its quiet and relaxing environment. It has three buildings; each building is subdivided into eight apartment units, where residents could dwell. It has a swimming pool to enable the residents to exercise. It has two gazebos where residents could gather.
One of the buildings features a rooftop designed for hosting larger social events, while the facility also offers guest units for visiting family members at affordable rates, as noted by Tolentino-zosa. There are plans in place to further expand the range of services as the firm continues to develop and enhance its facilities.
The facility employs a team of highly trained caregivers adept at handling senior citizens, including those who may exhibit challenging behaviors, stated Tolentino-zosa.
They are given competitive salaries, which could be a factor why they stay in the facility despite the changing dynamics of the caregiving business.
The retirement business, she said, will continue to grow as more retirees of Filipino descent and their partners return to the Philippines to enjoy their retirement here in solitude and warmth.
Moreover, the Filipino culture of hospitality, warmth and compassion is always present. More than any other consideration, this is obviously the most important one.