Seniors at Odle’s Glen to pay part of pensions for housing

Residents of the proposed Odle’s Glen Senior Citizens Village in St George could be required to pay up to 35 per cent of their pensions towards accommodation under a government cost-recovery arrangement similar to that used at Vauxhall Senior Citizens Village, the government’s chief social care official has said.

The village forms part of the development of four major healthcare facilities under the government’s US$175m ($350m) Health Services Resilience Programme, which is expected to be operational by 2029. The programme also includes the new Geriatric Hospital at Waterford; Roseville Halfway House in St Peter; and an expansion at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. 

Appearing at a public consultation at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on the planned village, interim director of the Social Empowerment Agency (SEA) Coleen Walcott said: “The plan is – and this has been happening both at Soroptimist Village and Vauxhall Village – there is some level of cost-recovery. Housing is heavily subsidised, particularly the Vauxhall Village, by the state; and that will be the plan for Odle’s Glen Village as well, where there will be some percentage of the pension, which will be used to cover accommodation. At the Vauxhall Senior Citizens Village, residents pay 35 per cent of their income for accommodation; and pension is treated as income.

“As I said, it is very heavily subsidised, but it covers your accommodation, it covers your utilities. After you have paid that 35 per cent, it’s just a matter of food and personal effects. But of course, as you know, circumstances change, people decline, and therefore that is where we refer people. The former Welfare Department and National Disabilities Unit all fall under the SEA; then it makes for better coordination of services.”

She continued: “We know it’s not going to be perfect. Older persons are a diverse group, but these persons… wherever it is possible; and we have seen this, that once older persons are not totally dependent or seen as a liability for families, then it is after a while you have your social worker intervention. You still want to maintain those linkages and those connections with families as much as possible.”

Walcott was also asked about completion timelines for the $7m Sterling housing project in St Philip, now under way for seniors who need specialised home care, and for the Odle’s Glen village.

The first phase of the three-phase Sterling project is the day care facility, which, Walcott said, was at a “very, very advanced stage” and is set to be completed “by the end of this financial year”. 

The second phase – roads, pathways and therapeutic pool – is to be followed by the construction of 27 cottages “for older persons on that compound as well”, she disclosed.

Walcott explained that the units will not be communal, but individual houses, because research has shown that, culturally, elderly people in Barbados prefer not to share living spaces.

Although there will be separate units, provision will also be made for couples, she said.

Walcott also revealed that, unlike the Vauxhall Seniors’ Village, Sterling will not have staff on duty around the clock.

“Initially, as persons come… part of the criteria for persons who are capable of independent living, they will be able to access some of our services, whether it is home care services or activities of daily living, while there is the companion programme, where the companion comes in and stays for a longer period.”

She said they also recognised that some seniors would decline and need assisted living.

“But we will be building the services around the people, whether it is community care, it is located in Sterling nearby to healthcare services; and also, as part of the Social Empowerment Agency. Within that agency will be a rehabilitative unit. Already, we have some capacity in that we have… on contract, of course, nurses who offer support to our beneficiaries. So, yes, we know there will be changes and that we have to have adaptive management in the facility.”

(EJ)