A Road to Reunion: A Tale of Hope and Healing with United Foundation

Can you imagine how it would feel to be reunited with your family when you had lived apart for years without having chosen to? Roland has been through just that and a lot more, but her story has a happy ending. 

Several years ago, Roland was living comfortably in the suburbs with her husband and son. One day, without warning she suffered a catastrophic brain aneurism rupture. Suddenly she was left trapped inside a body that doesn’t function. She can blink and smile and swallow.   

She was rushed to hospital and survived but with significant physical limitations. Because of her high dependency, Roland was able to apply for support from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and was moved into a group home. 

In the group home she received the high level of support she needed, but it was a lonely existence. Family and friends were not allowed to visit – they could pick her up and take her out, but her son had to go to school and her husband had to go to work. That only left weekends. What they could do was drastically limited by her mobility and dependency. 

Her neighbours in the group home were not matched by their conditions or personalities. Arguments over television programs and who is in the bathroom are common. People in group homes often feel unsafe from the threat of possible personal violence. 

Roland endured this for month after month and became progressively, more and more miserable. She had been a normal happy mother and wife. Can you imagine her desperate isolation and sadness? 

Eventually her distressful circumstances came to the attention of United For Care (UFC), a registered provider of service to the NDIS. Through the United Foundation, we were able to turn things around for Roland. 

UFC and the United Foundation operate an innovative new model of care for people with disabilities, called the vertical village. Unlike the group home, the vertical village provides a self-contained unit for each of the NDIS participants. 

United takes the head lease on a number of apartments in the same building and provides the same around the clock care and support with professional staff as a group home, but participants have their own discreet space, their own television, their own bathroom and their own front door. 

They feel safe, secure and supported. Their families can come and visit and in some cases can even stay over. So how did this work out for Roland? 

Roland transitioned to a two-bedroom unit in a UFC vertical village. Her family were able to celebrate Christmas together for the first time in a long while and the family were all able to be back together again because they moved into a unit in the same complex!  

Roland’s NDIS package allowed her to afford the 24/7 care and support she needed, just down the hall. Because Roland’s family were on-site they could feel like a family again. They were able to attend to her small immediate needs and have specialist support close at hand. 

Roland began smile again!

United Foundation is the Not For Profit arm of NDIS service provider, United For Care. United Foundation’s purpose is to afford relief, assistance or support to the diseased, disabled, sick, infirm, incurable, poor, destitute, helpless or unemployed persons, or the dependants of such persons. 

If Roland’s story has touched you, please consider becoming a supporter of United Foundation this Christmas, with a donation at your level of comfort. 

 Thank you for considering United Foundation for your Christmas gift and we hope to welcome you as a supporter.