Marie Collins takes great care of her appearance. She’s proud of her independence. She likes to start her day at Northampton Nursing and Rehabilitation Center by getting herself out of bed, getting showered and dressed, and making the bed.
Marie is 98, and her goal is to use the walker to get to her door without needing her therapist to follow behind her with her wheelchair should her legs give out. She says she gets closer and closer with every passing day thanks to her therapy.
Her right knee started giving her trouble at 95. “Mother Nature decided it was time to slow me down,” she says, tapping the knee. She wasn’t interested in getting a knee replacement at that age. After a bout with COVID-19, she moved into Northampton in December 2020. It’s home now. “If you’re going to live here, you’re going to make the most of it,” she said.
Marie is comfortable, happy with the team members and rehab therapists, and pleased to not have to worry about grocery shopping, cooking, or cleaning her space (though she does keep it tidy and dusts).
“I’m an active resident,” she says. “I love it here. I like the nurses. They cook for you, they clean for you, what more could we want?”
Marie has even acquiesced to playing bingo, which she says she didn’t enjoy before coming to Northampton, because she enjoys socializing.
She spent nearly 45 years of her life as a secretary, and then another 20 as a senior model in several campaigns and community fashion shows. Marie spent much of her career in the US Civil Service, retiring in 1986.
Northampton Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Hampton