Old folk deserted at Harrison Point, QEH

Four elderly people have been abandoned at the Harrison Point Isolation Facility in St Lucy by their families after going there for treatment for COVID-19 infections.

This was revealed by Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey, as he responded to questions about welfare services and care of the elderly from his colleague and Member of Parliament for St Andrew Dr Romel Springer.

Calling on Barbadians to “do better”, the minister also disclosed that nine senior citizens had also been dumped at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

He said government wanted to move away from institutionalising elderly people to facilitating their care at home and in their communities. In this regard, the minister insisted the first level of care must be with family members.

Humphrey stressed there was a pervasive belief that the state was expected to be the main provider of care to the elderly. However, he stressed that Barbadian seniors should be cared for and made to feel comfortable in their own homes and not in an institution.

Meanwhile, director of the National Assistance Board (NAB) Colleen Walcott said a full, independent review was being undertaken of the two-year-old Elder Care Programme, in an attempt to identify any deficiencies and make way for possibly reconstituting the services being offered.

In a lengthy series of questions, St Michael North MP Davidson Ishmael, asked what was being done to address the need for daycare facilities for persons suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s in order to provide some relief for their caregivers.

According to Ishmael, who said he has been a longstanding member of the Alzheimer’s Association, the disease was a debilitating one which reduced those suffering from the condition to a “mere shell of themselves”.

He said while some Alzheimer’s sufferers may be physically well, they often encountered episodes that “take a toll on their caregivers”.

In response, the NAB director said the association was an active partner with the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, and provision was made in the 2023-2024 budget to assist with the association’s functioning and its programmes.

Walcott said the association had also worked with the ministry in the provision of training for caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease.

Furthermore, she said it was recognised that the disease could take a toll on caregivers and the provision of a daycare facility to offer some respite for them was being prepared at the Pine, St Michael.

However, she outlined that some occupants of the Vauxhall Senior Citizens home were currently at the Pine facility until repair works at the Vauxhall, Christ Church senior citizens home were completed.

At the same time, she said, the Pine daycare facility had a maximum capacity of just 30 and the major obstacle to accessing the services would be the waiting period and the limited capacity. 

(IMC1)