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Forgotten, but not gone
Infirmary full says CEOPat Roxborough-Wright, Editor-at-Large/ Western Bureau
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Delbert Anderson
MOUNT SALEM, St James
FamilIes who have apparently abandoned their relatives at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) are being asked to come and pick them up.
The request by CRH's Chief Executive Officer, Everton Anderson, represents a desperate attempt to free up facilities being utilised by the patients for needier members of the public.
"The continued presence of persons who have been treated and remain on the ward presents a problem for those ill patients who need to use hospital beds. It makes the waiting time for admission much longer and as such we are asking for the assistance of the families of the persons who currently occupy the beds to come in," he told the Observer West.
Eighty-one-year-old Delbert Anderson of Lottery in St James is among the apparently 'forgotten' group.
As the father of two women in their fifties, he has been at the hospital for over two years since losing both feet to diabetes.
A member of the Seventh- Day Adventist Church in South St James' Sommerton, Anderson remembers how his wife upped and left him to care for the girls - Vindaline and Pamella - on his own many years ago.
Still chirpy, he passes the time listing to a small transistor radio, happy for any occasion to recall the day his first and favourite daughter was born.
"The first girl, the one whe me love born Sunday, June 8, 1952, 12:00 pm. Me remember how me haffi call the mid-wife out of church," he told the Observer West proudly.
His memory of the other daughter is hazier. I think she born the year after," he said.
Fifty-eight-year-old carpenter, Renville White of Mout Horeb in St James, remembers the day his nightmare started about four years ago when he fell out of a breadfruit tree. The fall damaged his spinal chord and as a result he is unable to walk. However, he feels that if he can be afforded a spot at the infirmary he will, over time, regain his mobility. However, Anderson said the infirmary was overflowing. White, the father of a 14-year-old son who lives in St Elizabeth and a daughter who lives in the United States, was looking forward to his second marriage to a woman, Pearl, who had promised to take him up to the States just before the fall.
He has been at the CRH since 2004.
A former wheelwright, Artley Grey doesn't remember exactly when he was born.
"Sometime in the 20's," he told the Observer West.
Crippled, apparently by old age, he is the father of eight children,
"Six with one woman and two with two," he said.
He was admitted last July and expects to see a daughter next week, but he's not sure what she wil be able to do for him.
Alphanson Brown from Grange Hill in Westmoreland is the youngest of the lot. Crippled by a gunman's bullet in 2004, he has no children and doesn't expect anyone to come for him. Prior to his mishap, he was a mechanical engineer who worked in Montego Bay.
Tanika Wilson, the social worker who is handling the men's cases said contact should be made with her prior to pick up."It is important that we adopt a family approach so as to reduce and ultimately eliminate the incidence of abandonment among the elderly. There are several options which can be explored with regards to home care and we ought to assume responsibility for our relatives, regardless of the challenges," she said.
Infirmary full says CEOPat Roxborough-Wright, Editor-at-Large/ Western Bureau
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Delbert AndersonMOUNT SALEM, St James
FamilIes who have apparently abandoned their relatives at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) are being asked to come and pick them up.
The request by CRH's Chief Executive Officer, Everton Anderson, represents a desperate attempt to free up facilities being utilised by the patients for needier members of the public.
"The continued presence of persons who have been treated and remain on the ward presents a problem for those ill patients who need to use hospital beds. It makes the waiting time for admission much longer and as such we are asking for the assistance of the families of the persons who currently occupy the beds to come in," he told the Observer West.
Eighty-one-year-old Delbert Anderson of Lottery in St James is among the apparently 'forgotten' group.
As the father of two women in their fifties, he has been at the hospital for over two years since losing both feet to diabetes.
A member of the Seventh- Day Adventist Church in South St James' Sommerton, Anderson remembers how his wife upped and left him to care for the girls - Vindaline and Pamella - on his own many years ago.
Still chirpy, he passes the time listing to a small transistor radio, happy for any occasion to recall the day his first and favourite daughter was born.
"The first girl, the one whe me love born Sunday, June 8, 1952, 12:00 pm. Me remember how me haffi call the mid-wife out of church," he told the Observer West proudly.
His memory of the other daughter is hazier. I think she born the year after," he said.
Fifty-eight-year-old carpenter, Renville White of Mout Horeb in St James, remembers the day his nightmare started about four years ago when he fell out of a breadfruit tree. The fall damaged his spinal chord and as a result he is unable to walk. However, he feels that if he can be afforded a spot at the infirmary he will, over time, regain his mobility. However, Anderson said the infirmary was overflowing. White, the father of a 14-year-old son who lives in St Elizabeth and a daughter who lives in the United States, was looking forward to his second marriage to a woman, Pearl, who had promised to take him up to the States just before the fall.
He has been at the CRH since 2004.
A former wheelwright, Artley Grey doesn't remember exactly when he was born.
"Sometime in the 20's," he told the Observer West.
Crippled, apparently by old age, he is the father of eight children,
"Six with one woman and two with two," he said.
He was admitted last July and expects to see a daughter next week, but he's not sure what she wil be able to do for him.
Alphanson Brown from Grange Hill in Westmoreland is the youngest of the lot. Crippled by a gunman's bullet in 2004, he has no children and doesn't expect anyone to come for him. Prior to his mishap, he was a mechanical engineer who worked in Montego Bay.
Tanika Wilson, the social worker who is handling the men's cases said contact should be made with her prior to pick up."It is important that we adopt a family approach so as to reduce and ultimately eliminate the incidence of abandonment among the elderly. There are several options which can be explored with regards to home care and we ought to assume responsibility for our relatives, regardless of the challenges," she said.