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Heartless act
<span style="font-weight: bold">Senior citizens abandoned at hospitals </span>
BY INGRID BROWN Sunday Observer senior reporter [email protected]
Sunday, March 07, 2010
THE 86-year-old woman's eyes lit up as she propped up her frail frame in the hospital bed, her midday lunch forgotten for the moment, as she welcomed this reporter and a social worker with a big smile.
Rosemarie [that's the name we'll call her to protect her identity] is grateful for the visit, because unlike the other patients around her, she has had very few visitors in the last two years she has been in the St Ann's Bay Hospital.
"Yes my dear, come and talk to me," she said, putting away her lunch of chicken and rice. And, like someone who has been devoid of human interaction, the words rushed from her mouth.
She has a slight pain in her right hip but she is not sick enough to be admitted to a hospital.
A single diaper from a pack, which was a gift from a good Samaritan, is propped up on her bed like a trophy on a mantle piece. Rosemarie pointed to it and expressed gratitude to the person who had given it to her.
"Me been here since 2008 and no one for me don't come and look for me because dem seh me fi meck Jesus feed me 'cause them no business with me," she said, the smile gone suddenly from her eyes.
"Sometimes I feel like jumping through the window," she added, her voice now almost inaudible.
Rosemarie is the lone woman of nine senior citizens abandoned by their relatives in the St Ann's Bay Hospital, some for more than three years now. Two children have also been abandoned at the hospital for more than a year.
The nine seniors is a sharp drop <span style="font-weight: bold">from the 27 who were left in the 249-bed hospital in 2008.</span>
Social workers have been able to place some of the seniors in the infirmary, and have returned some to their homes, while a few have died. However, <span style="font-weight: bold">the task of returning them to their homes, the social workers said, wasn't easy, as in many cases they had to seek the protection of the police.</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">"We have had cases where persons have picked up stones to stone us or draw knives at us when we go to return their relatives</span>, and so we have to call the police to come in and assist us," explained Kerrian Adair-Campbell, one of two social workers at the hospital.
"<span style="font-weight: bold">The police will tell us plainly, 'take him out of the bus, put him on the verandah or on the step as long as the relative is there and let's go'</span>," added Janet Boswell, the senior social worker in the region.
<span style="font-style: italic">Adair-Campbell said sometimes the children will not accept their elderly parents or even visit because the parents never played an integral role in their lives</span>.
According to the social worker, Rosemarie's three adult children refused to take her as they accused her of "giving them away". The one child she is said to have kept is mentally challenged and unable to care for her.
In the less than 10 minutes the Sunday Observer spent with Rosemarie, she recounted her life experience of having been a successful dressmaker who used to sew and sell when she lived in Kingston.
But she fell on hard times when fire gutted her house, forcing her to relocate to St Ann, where she was later admitted to the hospital.
"Me used to have up to three machine and do me sewing and sell, but me life mash up, man," she said, shaking her head in disbelief at the harsh blow life had dealt her.
Boswell said the abandonment and rejection often put an emotional strain on these senior citizens who sometimes develop mental problems.
She said they recently had to transfer to the Port Maria Hospital one patient who got really sick after he was rejected time and again by relatives.
Boswell recalled another instance when they had to return a patient to the hospital after his relatives refused to take him in.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Yet another person, whose land was stolen from him, died heartbroken in the hospital before efforts could be completed for his property to be returned to him.</span>
"That really killed him because he tried but was not reaching anywhere... and we were trying to help him to get back his land, but he died before," she said.
The social workers told the Sunday Observer that when senior citizens are returned to reluctant relatives, follow-up visits are done to ensure the seniors are not being abused.
Chief executive officer at the hospital, Eon Jarrett, said there is a constant struggle for bed space, particularly on the medical ward where many of these abandoned senior citizens are kept.
And while not being able to put a monetary cost to caring for these individuals, Jarrett said even greater than the cost is the impact on patient care for others.
"While we have these senior citizens on the ward we have a backlog of patients that are admitted and boarding in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department, which is not designed as a ward," Jarrett explained.
With the bed spaces being taken up by these abandoned persons, Jarrett said patients coming through the A&E and who should be admitted to a ward have to remain in that area, sometimes on stretchers or propped up in a chair until a bed can be found.
This, Jarrett explained, puts a further strain on resources, with doctors and consultants having to make rounds both on the ward and in the A&E department.
"We have even had one or two cases where the doctors have had to go out and see the patient in the vehicle because there is just no space on A&E to put them, and this is because we have patients there who can't go on the wards," he said.
With patients usually admitted for an average of three to seven days, having nine persons occupying a bed for 365 days each year does have a multiplying effect, according to the CEO.
"Over a year that is around 52 persons who could have been admitted because nine beds are taken up for 52 weeks," he told the Sunday Observer.
And although the hospital tries to put measures in place to prevent this practice, persons continue to find ingenious ways of pulling off this heartless act.
"Someone will bring their grandmother and say she has been having diarrhoea all night and so they are told to go and register her and come back," Jarrett explained. "They go down to the registry area and disappear or they may provide all the information but when we later check we discover the [phone] number doesn't work."
In some instances, Jarrett said,<span style="font-weight: bold"> people leave their relatives at the hospital during holiday seasons, apparently in an effort to go and enjoy themselves, then return for them after the holidays.</span>
He said that when relatives cannot be found or are unwilling to receive these senior citizens, then efforts are made to place them in the infirmary. But this in itself is a challenge, as the infirmary is often filled to capacity.
"We can't throw them back out on the road, so we are basically stuck with them until we can find a better housing accommodation for them," Jarrett said.
Noting that the law allows for children to take responsibility for their elderly parents, Jarrett said he has no idea who has the authority to bring such an action to the Courts.
(That information is provided in the Maintenance Act, the relevant section of which is published here.)
With the worsening economic climate, Jarrett fears that this worrying trend may get even worse. And with the hospital attempting to clamp down on this practice, Jarrett said many of these elderly persons may be abandoned on the streets or even in their own homes.
The high cost of private care at the four main convalescent homes in the parish and lack of space at the infirmary only compound the problem.
But Jarrett has what he believes is a solution.
"Instead of building a 200-room facility, I don't know whether the Government could contemplate a fostering system for the elderly, because you might have people out there who are willing to take them in and the Government could provide a stipend to assist with their care," he said.
The CEO said he is not aware of any national thrust to address this problem, however, the matter has been brought to the attention of the Ministry of Health which admitted that it is happening in other hospitals but was unable to provide figures Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Paulette Long-Carr, director of nursing services, said with the beds occupied all year round by these abandoned elderly persons, other makeshift conveniences have had to be found for some persons waiting to be admitted on the wards.
"Sometimes we have patients waiting in Accident and Emergency that even the examination couch is occupied by a patient who should be admitted on the ward," she said.
She noted also that taking care of all of the daily needs of these senior citizens puts a strain on the nurses who have to help most of them with all the activities of daily living.
"We really want to see these relatives come and take home their next of kin," she said.
Long-Carr made the startling revelation that while the problem has increased over recent years, it has been happening even before she joined that hospital staff 27 years ago.
And for those who argue that improper planning for the future may have resulted in abandonment of these elderly persons, Long-Carr said this is not always the case.
She cited one incident <span style="font-weight: bold">where the nephew of a senior citizen took control of the uncle's guest house in Ocho Rios and abandoned him at the hospital.</span>
The uncle's sisters, who were abroad, were told he was in a home and was okay. "But when they came unexpectedly to Jamaica they were so surprised to find out he was in hospital," she said.
Next: The ability of infirmaries to facilitate these persons as well as the role of government and the organisation for the elderly.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Senior citizens abandoned at hospitals </span>
BY INGRID BROWN Sunday Observer senior reporter [email protected]
Sunday, March 07, 2010
THE 86-year-old woman's eyes lit up as she propped up her frail frame in the hospital bed, her midday lunch forgotten for the moment, as she welcomed this reporter and a social worker with a big smile.
Rosemarie [that's the name we'll call her to protect her identity] is grateful for the visit, because unlike the other patients around her, she has had very few visitors in the last two years she has been in the St Ann's Bay Hospital.
"Yes my dear, come and talk to me," she said, putting away her lunch of chicken and rice. And, like someone who has been devoid of human interaction, the words rushed from her mouth.
She has a slight pain in her right hip but she is not sick enough to be admitted to a hospital.
A single diaper from a pack, which was a gift from a good Samaritan, is propped up on her bed like a trophy on a mantle piece. Rosemarie pointed to it and expressed gratitude to the person who had given it to her.
"Me been here since 2008 and no one for me don't come and look for me because dem seh me fi meck Jesus feed me 'cause them no business with me," she said, the smile gone suddenly from her eyes.
"Sometimes I feel like jumping through the window," she added, her voice now almost inaudible.
Rosemarie is the lone woman of nine senior citizens abandoned by their relatives in the St Ann's Bay Hospital, some for more than three years now. Two children have also been abandoned at the hospital for more than a year.
The nine seniors is a sharp drop <span style="font-weight: bold">from the 27 who were left in the 249-bed hospital in 2008.</span>
Social workers have been able to place some of the seniors in the infirmary, and have returned some to their homes, while a few have died. However, <span style="font-weight: bold">the task of returning them to their homes, the social workers said, wasn't easy, as in many cases they had to seek the protection of the police.</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">"We have had cases where persons have picked up stones to stone us or draw knives at us when we go to return their relatives</span>, and so we have to call the police to come in and assist us," explained Kerrian Adair-Campbell, one of two social workers at the hospital.
"<span style="font-weight: bold">The police will tell us plainly, 'take him out of the bus, put him on the verandah or on the step as long as the relative is there and let's go'</span>," added Janet Boswell, the senior social worker in the region.
<span style="font-style: italic">Adair-Campbell said sometimes the children will not accept their elderly parents or even visit because the parents never played an integral role in their lives</span>.
According to the social worker, Rosemarie's three adult children refused to take her as they accused her of "giving them away". The one child she is said to have kept is mentally challenged and unable to care for her.
In the less than 10 minutes the Sunday Observer spent with Rosemarie, she recounted her life experience of having been a successful dressmaker who used to sew and sell when she lived in Kingston.
But she fell on hard times when fire gutted her house, forcing her to relocate to St Ann, where she was later admitted to the hospital.
"Me used to have up to three machine and do me sewing and sell, but me life mash up, man," she said, shaking her head in disbelief at the harsh blow life had dealt her.
Boswell said the abandonment and rejection often put an emotional strain on these senior citizens who sometimes develop mental problems.
She said they recently had to transfer to the Port Maria Hospital one patient who got really sick after he was rejected time and again by relatives.
Boswell recalled another instance when they had to return a patient to the hospital after his relatives refused to take him in.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Yet another person, whose land was stolen from him, died heartbroken in the hospital before efforts could be completed for his property to be returned to him.</span>
"That really killed him because he tried but was not reaching anywhere... and we were trying to help him to get back his land, but he died before," she said.
The social workers told the Sunday Observer that when senior citizens are returned to reluctant relatives, follow-up visits are done to ensure the seniors are not being abused.
Chief executive officer at the hospital, Eon Jarrett, said there is a constant struggle for bed space, particularly on the medical ward where many of these abandoned senior citizens are kept.
And while not being able to put a monetary cost to caring for these individuals, Jarrett said even greater than the cost is the impact on patient care for others.
"While we have these senior citizens on the ward we have a backlog of patients that are admitted and boarding in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department, which is not designed as a ward," Jarrett explained.
With the bed spaces being taken up by these abandoned persons, Jarrett said patients coming through the A&E and who should be admitted to a ward have to remain in that area, sometimes on stretchers or propped up in a chair until a bed can be found.
This, Jarrett explained, puts a further strain on resources, with doctors and consultants having to make rounds both on the ward and in the A&E department.
"We have even had one or two cases where the doctors have had to go out and see the patient in the vehicle because there is just no space on A&E to put them, and this is because we have patients there who can't go on the wards," he said.
With patients usually admitted for an average of three to seven days, having nine persons occupying a bed for 365 days each year does have a multiplying effect, according to the CEO.
"Over a year that is around 52 persons who could have been admitted because nine beds are taken up for 52 weeks," he told the Sunday Observer.
And although the hospital tries to put measures in place to prevent this practice, persons continue to find ingenious ways of pulling off this heartless act.
"Someone will bring their grandmother and say she has been having diarrhoea all night and so they are told to go and register her and come back," Jarrett explained. "They go down to the registry area and disappear or they may provide all the information but when we later check we discover the [phone] number doesn't work."
In some instances, Jarrett said,<span style="font-weight: bold"> people leave their relatives at the hospital during holiday seasons, apparently in an effort to go and enjoy themselves, then return for them after the holidays.</span>
He said that when relatives cannot be found or are unwilling to receive these senior citizens, then efforts are made to place them in the infirmary. But this in itself is a challenge, as the infirmary is often filled to capacity.
"We can't throw them back out on the road, so we are basically stuck with them until we can find a better housing accommodation for them," Jarrett said.
Noting that the law allows for children to take responsibility for their elderly parents, Jarrett said he has no idea who has the authority to bring such an action to the Courts.
(That information is provided in the Maintenance Act, the relevant section of which is published here.)
With the worsening economic climate, Jarrett fears that this worrying trend may get even worse. And with the hospital attempting to clamp down on this practice, Jarrett said many of these elderly persons may be abandoned on the streets or even in their own homes.
The high cost of private care at the four main convalescent homes in the parish and lack of space at the infirmary only compound the problem.
But Jarrett has what he believes is a solution.
"Instead of building a 200-room facility, I don't know whether the Government could contemplate a fostering system for the elderly, because you might have people out there who are willing to take them in and the Government could provide a stipend to assist with their care," he said.
The CEO said he is not aware of any national thrust to address this problem, however, the matter has been brought to the attention of the Ministry of Health which admitted that it is happening in other hospitals but was unable to provide figures Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Paulette Long-Carr, director of nursing services, said with the beds occupied all year round by these abandoned elderly persons, other makeshift conveniences have had to be found for some persons waiting to be admitted on the wards.
"Sometimes we have patients waiting in Accident and Emergency that even the examination couch is occupied by a patient who should be admitted on the ward," she said.
She noted also that taking care of all of the daily needs of these senior citizens puts a strain on the nurses who have to help most of them with all the activities of daily living.
"We really want to see these relatives come and take home their next of kin," she said.
Long-Carr made the startling revelation that while the problem has increased over recent years, it has been happening even before she joined that hospital staff 27 years ago.
And for those who argue that improper planning for the future may have resulted in abandonment of these elderly persons, Long-Carr said this is not always the case.
She cited one incident <span style="font-weight: bold">where the nephew of a senior citizen took control of the uncle's guest house in Ocho Rios and abandoned him at the hospital.</span>
The uncle's sisters, who were abroad, were told he was in a home and was okay. "But when they came unexpectedly to Jamaica they were so surprised to find out he was in hospital," she said.
Next: The ability of infirmaries to facilitate these persons as well as the role of government and the organisation for the elderly.
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