Old Age Homes · Bedfordview, Edenvale & the East Rand
Italian-community old age home in Bedfordview offering assisted living, frail care and dementia care, open to all, with Life Bedford Gardens hospital minutes away.
Frail Care · Edenvale / Lyndhurst, Bedfordview, Edenvale & the East Rand
Rand Aid's 160-bed frail care centre on the Elphin Lodge property, with single and double rooms, a dedicated memory-loss wing in River Lodges, recuperative and respite care.
Retirement Villages · Witfield, Boksburg, Bedfordview, Edenvale & the East Rand
Trans-50's longest-running village, open since 1970 in Boksburg, with flats and single rooms, a care centre, memory care rooms and home care, run by a non-profit.
Local knowledge
The east of Johannesburg is the province's retirement heartland. The non-profit Rand Aid Association runs four life-right villages and two large care centres on and around Modderfontein Road, including Elphin Lodge with 223 units and the 160-bed Ron Smith Care Centre with a dedicated dementia wing. Trans-50's Witfield Park in Boksburg has been running since 1970, and Bedfordview has St George's Village and the Casa Serena Italian home. Few areas in the country offer this much choice at middle-income prices.
Medical care is close: Life Bedford Gardens, Netcare Linksfield, Life The Glynnwood in Benoni, Netcare Sunward Park in Boksburg and the provincial Edenvale Hospital. OR Tambo International is 15 to 25 minutes away, which makes the area the most practical in the country for a parent whose children fly in from Cape Town, Durban or abroad.
Expect older, well-run villages rather than resort estates, long waiting lists at the Rand Aid villages (a refundable deposit secures a place on the list), and some of the most affordable frail care in a major city at Thembalami. Our retirement village costs in Gauteng guide explains how the life-right refunds work here.
Dementia care units provide a secure environment and staff trained to care for people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Good units have safe walking routes, a calm layout, daily routines and activities designed for memory loss.
Questions families ask
Elphin Lodge, Thornhill Manor, Inyoni Creek and Glendower sell life rights to people aged 65 and over, and Tarentaal rents studios and one-bedroom apartments. You join a primary waiting list with a refundable deposit of R5,000 (R2,500 for Tarentaal). Residents get priority admission to the Ron Smith and Thembalami care centres and 24 days a year of recuperative care.
Thembalami Care Centre in Lombardy East is run as Rand Aid's affordable care centre with single and double rooms. Church and community homes in Benoni, Boksburg and Germiston also take residents on the state pension, usually with a waiting list.
About 15 minutes to OR Tambo International from Bedfordview and Edenvale, and 20 to 25 minutes from Lyndhurst and Modderfontein.
Common triggers are wandering, safety risks at home, increasing confusion at night, and a family carer who can no longer cope. A memory clinic, GP or the facility's nursing manager can help assess whether a secure unit is needed.