Treat senior citizens with dignity
THE EDITOR: I am extremely pleased to note that there is someone of like mind, Mr Dexter Rigsby, concerning the lack of facilities for our old people. Our Prime Minister has been boasting about the billions of dollars floating around the country. Mr Conrad Enill also confirmed that there is a surplus of three or four billion dollars. This is the time to focus on priorities. Our country needs proper rehabilitation centres with modern facilities to accommodate the aged and disabled. The proliferation of old people’s homes in the outcome of Government’s lack of attention to essentials. Has any Health Ministry personnel ever visited these homes? Please do so and you will understand the desperation that these inmates suffer. These people are the salt of the earth and have been the foundation of our society. Many of them are existing on a small pension that has to be handed over to their care givers. Why are those in authority so mindless and myopic? Any civilised country makes provision for the young and the old. The young need to be educated and guided. The old need to treated with respect and dignity. It may be enlightening to the powers that be if a visit is made to any Social Welfare Office (there is one at the corner of Richmond and Duke Streets), and see what goes on there. See the look of helplessness on the faces of these people; listen to the treatment that they receive at the hands of the clerks. Please do not wait for 2020. Many of you will be too old to make the journey or out of office and unable to help. But you may be old enough to identify with the plight of the old. Mr Minister of Health, if you have any say in the matter, please liaise with the Social Welfare Minister and professionals in the care of the aged, and get cracking on a facility for the disabled. There are many caring people who can advise on what form the facility should take. From the daily reports in the news media, I understand that we have billions to spare. We need this facility where people can go to for therapy. It is done in other countries with great success. A country is judged by how we treat our young and our old. We should aim to have the best health care and after care system in the entire Caribbean, Latin American, indeed the Americans. Citizens of other countries should be coming to us for help. Instead, we long to go to them , but most of our citizens cannot afford to go overseas and /or to stay for any length of time. We have the resources, the technology, the competence, yet we have so little in place to assist our own, far less the outside world. We cannot claim any status at all if we continue to treat our citizens with disrespect. Information on rehab facilities, "state of the art", as our politicians like to claim, is available. We are taxpayers, and voters, and ironically powerless, so we depend on those who sit in Parliament to speak on our behalf. Mr Prime Minister, forget Tarouba and $850 million. Put aside part of that money for a much needed health, therapy and rehab facility. Veronica Ferreira Petit Valley
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"Treat senior citizens with dignity"