The high cost of caring for the elderly is behind some cases of “abandonment” of senior citizens at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), St Peter MP Colin Jordan has told Parliament.
He based his views on interactions with caregivers, as well as firsthand experience in caring for his late mother.
The sensitive issue of caring for the growing elderly population was at the centre of discussion as the House of Assembly took up the Older Persons (Care and Protection) Bill.
Jordan, the minister of labour, social security and the third sector, said his knowledge of at least one case in which a person admitted to leaving their mother at the hospital after she was discharged, simply because they did not have the money to properly care for her.
He said: “I have to say to this chamber . . . that I have, over the last three or four months, seen an alternative perspective on the issue [of abandonment of the elderly].”
According to the minister: “In the last four months, I have come also to understand that there is a reality that some households face.”
He added: “Their mother was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. She recovered to the point where she could be discharged. To be discharged, she would need someone to take care of her while at home. . . . The person who spoke to me about their mother said to me, ‘If I am to do this, I will not be able to work’.”
He told the House: “The person said to me, if I remain working, I still can’t do it because my pay is not enough to engage someone to look after my mother.
“Now, that is not a licence to leave people at the QEH. I want to be very clear that that is not what I am saying.”
While insisting that his comments were not meant to encourage people to discard elderly relatives, he said it was necessary to acknowledge the high cost of providing care for older people.
Drawing on personal experience, Jordan told the chamber: “We took care of my mum right at her home. I will tell you that if I did not have the means, and if she did not have a decent pension, what we wanted to do for my mum, we would not have been able to do. My mum got to the point where she needed 24-hour care, and 24-hour care is expensive.”
He continued: “For those who want to take care of their elderly parents or other relatives, there is a significant cost, and that is one that we have to come to grips with and continue to find avenues where we can provide the care that our older people need, that they deserve, that they have earned through their work and their contribution to our society.”
Jordan reminded the House that Barbados will very soon be a “super-aged country”:
“In a society that is ageing, the matter of care – how we provide that care and what mechanisms are in place to deliver it – becomes vitally important.”
He added: “Our society, our country has to have that conversation, and in many cases, we have to have the conversation with ourselves. How do we see our older people? What is my responsibility in taking care of my mother, aunts, uncles, grandparents?”
(IMC)
