Retirement Village Resident Interview: Les Armstrong at Living Choice Kawana Island, Kawana Waters

"Take note - residents are part of the industry too."

President of the Association of Residents of Queensland Retirement Villages (ARQRV) Les Armstrong shot to notoriety earlier this year after he was quoted in The Sunday Mail saying he regretted paying $500,000 for his Sunshine Coast village villa. We met with him to get the real story.

Les: "I was misquoted. In fact, my wife and I love living here [at Living Choice's Kawana Island] - we reckon this village is well and truly in the top 10 percent of villages in Queensland."

"I asked for a retraction because they extended some of my ARQRV comments to our personal situation, which was just not correct. But it never came, and I am sorry about that because of the staff here, which are the best that our money can buy."

"And to a degree, that is part of the point that I was discussing with the journalist from The Sunday Mail. We residents pay the bills and are part of the industry."

"Moving to a village is a huge transition for a lot of people. It's the first time in their life that many of them have a lot of money, often with half going into their village home and half freed up to live on - a great deal. But it is my view that people don't do the due diligence and, at times, sales people don't go out of their way to tell prospective residents what they don't want to know.
Elderly people are a soft touch at times."

"My background was 43 years in the air force, where I spent the first half doing exactly what I was told and the second half doing the telling. Our children gave us grandchildren and then stopped coming to see us - too
busy with their own pressures of life, and understandably so. We had a five bedroom house and I was getting a bit slack with the garden."

"We looked here and everybody is the same age as us, there are fabulous facilities and this house has a great fit out. We adapted quickly and made good friends. I still manage the local squash courts - it's been an easy
transition."

"Most problems in villages arise because management allows a problem to build and then do not know how to diffuse it. An example is a case where a resident complained about a village neighbour's noisy pet bird. It was allowed to escalate up to the Tribunal, which found against the operator because the operator did not provide ‘peace and quiet' as stipulated in the Personal Information Document [which explains the guidelines of each village]. That was a lot of trouble and cost because of a noisy bird."

"I enjoy working with many of the operators who are sensible; we get things done. It is much easier to get together over a beer to sought things out. I see my role as President as providing moderation and I want to diffuse the ‘victim concept.' But I also have to say that the role of the ARQRV is consumer protection and therefore this becomes at times an adversarial role, if needed, to the operators. We are not a toothless tiger."

For more information on Living Choice Kawana Island please click here.

Other stories in this section:

• RVA wins Andrew Giles as CEO
• Retirement Village Resident Interview: Dennis Olsen OAM. MiD. Tantula Rise
• Village Manager Interview: Helen Denmar at Fassifern Aged Care Services, Bo
• Retirement Village Resident Interview: Joan McCrystal at Samford Grove
• Retirement Village Resident Interview: Jill Wilson at Aveo Clayfield

View all stories in Village Life in QLD »