#BTEditorial – Does the Geriatric Hospital really need replacing?

“Don’t abandon them, lend a helping hand, and remember they are treasures of our land.” – Richard Layne

It is no secret that Barbados has an ageing population; as Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic recently noted: “Only Okinawa in Japan has more centenarians per capita than Barbados.”

We also recognise that some of those older Barbadians are in varying stages of chronic non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and Alzheimer’s disease, and some are in need of institutionalised care owing to the severity of their illnesses, or the fact that their closest family members are either deceased or reside in another country.

Therefore, news of a proposed all-new geriatric hospital to replace the existing one at Beckles Road while appreciated on the one hand, on the other, gives us pause.

Apart from the many privately-owned senior citizens homes all across the country, Government presently owns four facilities, including the Geriatric Hospital and three District Hospitals in St. Lucy, St. Philip and St. Thomas. There was another District Hospital in Oistins, Christ Church, but that institution was closed and the building demolished some years ago.

Like the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, those facilities have been around for a very long time – centuries in the case of these particular buildings – and like other Government facilities, have not been properly maintained over the years. This may be attributed to the “almshouse” stigma these institutions carried many years ago, where old, indigent people were sent to live out their last days.

The current We Gatherin’ promotions highlighting the St. Lucy District Hospital shows an institution that is in dire need of new equipment and general repairs while encouraging people returning for the celebrations to consider giving back by helping them obtain the necessary materials. We should not be surprised to see similar promos when St. Thomas and St. Philip take the spotlight later this year.

Thankfully, the Barbados Defence Force adopted the Barbados Geriatric Hospital in 2018 and has been steadily upgrading that institution, and for anyone visiting the place, it is very tranquil despite the fact it is located in a busy area on the outskirts of Bridgetown. It is also one of the older buildings making up the Bridgetown and Garrison Historic Area, which was designated a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2011.

So why demolish it when efforts have been successful in keeping it in good shape? Not only that, where will the current residents go if and when this demolition happens? We all know the QEH cannot accommodate them, but their relatives may not be able to keep them at their homes; there are laws governing the number of people that can stay at the existing private senior citizens homes based on their overall size, and in some cases, family members may find them costly.

The Health Minister spoke of building a rehabilitation centre to assist people with NCDs. He said we need such a facility since “we simply do not have the capacity at the QEH or any of our other institutions to handle the number of stroke victims, accident victims, diabetics and amputees we have now”. This idea is commendable, and we are hoping that the nurses Government is seeking to bring in from Ghana are trained in these specialised areas so they can transfer this knowledge to their local counterparts.

Commentators on social media platforms, some of whom claim to be former employees, have said parts of the Geriatric Hospital are “sick”, so if necessary those buildings should go, but in replacing them the architects should stay close to the original design and rebuild on its footprint.

Older people were fond of making do with what they had and maintaining it diligently, especially if it was an expensive item they had taken years to source. We need to get away from the “almshouse” mentality and show respect for all old people however we can by making sure any facilities we use to house senior citizens are properly maintained, given the vulnerability of their physical health.