One of us: Stories from two New Zealand rest homes

In this article we explore the ways in which two aged residential care facilities in New Zealand construct and present themselves through the stories told by those who live and work in them. Ethnographic field notes and interviews were analysed using an immersion/crystallization method consistent with a narrative gerontology framework. Woven into residents' stories about their lives in the facility were tales of earlier lives and identities, immigration, occupations, marriage, tragedies and medical emergencies. Care workers, nursing staff and managers talked about vocation, the ethos and values of the institution and the importance that both staff and residents felt a sense of belonging and 'being one of us.' These stories, 'talk into reality' the aged residential care facility as a particular kind of rest home, in which residents feel 'at home'. In addition, as researchers who brought our own stories to the project, we actively contributed to the construction of each institution as a certain kind of facility.