Please don’t abandon senior family members in shelters PM Gonsalves
PERSONS WHO may have elderly relatives in shelters because of the destruction of their homes by Hurricane Beryl are being asked not to abandon them in these shelters.
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves speaking in the House of Parliament on Thursday July 18, 2024 said the issue of elderly people being abandoned in situations like this country is currently facing is a “painful subject”.
He was providing some statistics in relation to the various shelters as part of a ministerial statement. The prime minister said that as of Monday, July 15, 2024, 52 emergency shelters had been activated, 39 on mainland St Vincent, and 13 in the Grenadines.
He added that there are some shelters that are not listed, but the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) recognizes the importance of these shelters and, as a result, they service them.
Gonsalves said that it is with regret that there are hundreds of persons at various schools on the mainland from the Southern Grenadines who are being looked after, and 19 persons, mainly elderly, are housed in guest houses.
He said housing for the elderly is being coordinated by the Ministry of Tourism as part of the response for sheltering vulnerable persons.
“I want to urge families of elderly persons. Please don’t use this as an opportunity to bring your elderly parent or grandparent or elderly family member and leave them to be taken care of when it is possible for you to do so yourself.
“That’s a painful subject,” the prime minister said in Parliament.
Thursday’s call by the prime minister was similar to one he made last year when he said the abandonment of men and women was becoming an issue.
In Parliament, Gonsalves was commenting after a video was shown to him of one male patient striking another male patient at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital. Both elderly persons had been abandoned by their families and were residents at the hospital.
Gonsalves revealed that at that point, about 10 elderly persons were abandoned at the MCMH, seven males and three females, and noted that they had to be there because there is not enough space at the Lewis Punnet Home to accommodate them.
In 2021, in the wake of the eruptions of La Soufriere, the Prime Minister had made a plea for people to demonstrate greater care for the most vulnerable in the population. He was referring then to the elderly, and children who were being left at shelters across the country.
In 2007, half of the 30 beds at the male medical ward of the MCMH were occupied by patients who had been discharged but had nowhere to go.
Comments
