For many in the cities, we tend to view the post-retirement period of life as the twilight years, a time of simply winding down and waiting out the years. Anna Chew and ReU Living are out to challenge this conventional mindset.
ReU Living is primarily an eldercare and healthcare service. However, it has an identity like few others, set within the relatively new concept of offering Quality of Life. More than just offering care and health services, it aims to provide an authentic experience of comfort, luxury, and serenity.
Branding itself as a Retirement and Recovery Village, a vital mission of ReU is to build communities for senior living and post-hospitalisation recovery. We spoke to Anna Chew about her dreams and goals for ReU Living.
The Genesis of ReU Living
The first impression you get upon meeting Anna is her bubbly and hospitable personality. Anna has an extensive background and training in eldercare. Previously, she was an investor in an award-winning eldercare company, Care Concierge, and then she came out to set up Meaningfull, a Khazanah Impact Innovation Challenge recipient, which provides products & services and builds ecosystems to help the elderly age meaningfully. With ReU Living established, she is now the only Eldercare consultant in Malaysia who has successfully launched and operated two fully-operational luxury senior-living products with paying guests, in Penang & Kuala Lumpur.
Anna related that her dream of building up ReU Living as a Quality of Life service for the elderly had its origins in her own experience with her late dad and aunt. Before the concept of a Quality of Life service existed, taking care of elderly parents was often a painful experience. ‘Spending time with dad in hospital, Mom and I only had a PVC chair to sit on and being helpless to do as much as I wanted to for him, I had wanted from a young age to involve myself very much in eldercare. I subsequently worked to develop Care Concierge to find solutions to this industry which has yet to see innovation’
‘I have often come across many friends and acquaintances who love their parents but are clueless in giving the level of care they would like to their parents. Many of them are working people who do not have the peace of mind to leave their parents alone at home or supervised by just a maid. This is exacerbated even more if the parents had just undergone surgery,’ Anna shared.
In October 2021, while attending a leadership program organised by Accomplish Asia, God gave Anna the vision to start her very own eldercare facility, where she could directly supervise and be involved in the day-to-day operations to raise the quality of care.
‘The miraculous thing was that the process was so smooth,’ she expressed. ‘It was as if God had already paved everything. Very early on, I got an opportunity to connect with IGB Berhad, which is one of the largest listed property companies in Malaysia. We had a discussion and mutually agreed to found and build ReU Living as a joint venture. I also got to work with Estee Tan, ReU’s COO and one of IGB’s Senior Management, also a fellow believer. God also spoke to her separately that she would be involved in eldercare!’
Only five months later, in February 2022, ReU Living would already have its location right at the center of Kuala Lumpur, our capital city. At the time of this feature in October 2022, nine months later, it already had an extensive list of programmes and services and clients.
Main Features of ReU Living
ReU Living derives its name from the combination of the word Re and You, signifying the importance of the client as a central point. Meanwhile, the word Re is encapsulated through many facets; Rehabilitation, Rejuvenation, Renewal, Restoration, Relaxation, and Retirement.
ReU Living is located in Ampang/Tun Razak in MiCasa Hotel, giving it a strategic location with multiple nearby major health facilities and easy access for Klang Valley residents. Although in the city, the surrounding environment is tranquil and away from the bustle, and the place itself is plush with polished floors, open spaces, soft lighting, and sliding doors. The main hall is like a luxurious lobby in a hotel with a library corner, dining and activity areas, customized armchairs and sofas, and soft music playing in the background.
Anna explained that the core services at ReU Living are post-surgery recovery and retirement living. As such, it is paramount that the clients are as comfortable and safe as possible. ‘Monitoring is done 24/7 by the professional care team & our proprietary tech, and residents stay in beautifully-furnished suite rooms with their own kitchenette,’ she shared as she showed us the rooms, which are 5-star hotel rooms.
‘Since retirement living is a lifestyle, we provide housekeeping & laundry services and full access to our Club floor with daily activities. They can opt for private rooms or co-living in a 2-3 bedroom shared suite each equipped with their own bathrooms.’
ReU Living has 180 rooms spread over four floors, and all are accessible through lifts and individually-assigned beacons. Meals consist of a wide buffet selection, catered from the hotel within an atmosphere akin to a landed cruise. Clientele can also opt for special meals from the award-winning restaurant, Cilantro, or the coffee house, Shiso, or dine with family members there. Additional facilities include a dedicated clubhouse, state-of-the-art physiotherapy centre (specialised in stroke and orthopaedic recovery), gym, and pool.
Perhaps most importantly, the care team members are made up of experienced professionals comprising a Head Nurse specialised in critical care, and trained staff nurses and caregivers who oversee every step in the patient’s recovery journey to ensure optimal recovery. Anna shared that the staff is paid above market rate as she and the carefully-picked team believe in building the industry and the people in the industry.
Activity coordinators are carefully selected based on their passion and capabilities and their Head of Programs is certified and known in the industry for her previous Dementia daycare. ReU Living showcases a fully-equipped rehabilitative therapy or care room where post-surgery patients can learn to regain their abilities and strengths under careful supervision with the physiotherapist, speech therapist, occupational therapist and their TCM doctor.
Care Packages at ReU Living
To date, over the space of just nine months, the ReU Living Retirement and Recovery Village, already has an extensive list of services over a wide range, from short-term to long-term, and from residential to healthcare. They include everything from Senior Daycare, to Assisted-Living Care, to Post-Surgery Care, to Medical Tourism, Staycation, and Retirement Living.
The full list of Care Packages, each with its own set of features, are:
- Senior Daycare (https://reuliving.com/products/senior-day-care/)
- Retirement Living (https://reuliving.com/products/retirement-living/)
- Assisted-Living Care (https://reuliving.com/products/assisted-living-care/)
- Post-Surgery/Recovery Retreat (https://reuliving.com/products/post-surgery-recovery-retreat/)
- High Care Services (https://reuliving.com/products/high-care-services/)
- Medical Tourism (https://reuliving.com/products/medical-tourism/)
- Staycation (https://reuliving.com/products/staycation/)
- Physiotherapy (https://reuliving.com/products/physiotherapy/)
- Caregiver Training (https://reuliving.com/products/caregiver-training/)
For Anna Chew, ReU Living is more than just an elderly care or healthcare facility. It is a dream come true, blessed upon her and placed under her care by God. The Accomplish conference she attended had challenged her to manage and grow ReU Living through Godly principles. There is serendipity that ReU Living coincides with a calling that is centered on care, hospitality, and love.
To find out more about Reu Living, you can get in touch with their friendly team at +6010-380 0938, through email at info@reuliving.com, or through their contact form at https://reuliving.com/contact/
ReU Living maintains a website at https://reuliving.com/ where you can take a video tour of the amenities (https://reuliving.com/galleries/) and find out in more detail about their list of services.
This feature was written with the kind permission and help of Anna Chew. All photos credited to ReU Living.
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