Minister: Families Refuse To Take Seniors Home
Speaking today [Mar 6] in the House of Assembly, Minister of Health, Seniors & Environment Jeanne Atherden said she is “distressed” that our “hospital is being used as a residence for seniors” as there is a “growing trend for the families of these elderly Bermudians to refuse to take them back home.”
The Minister said that all 90 beds at the new Acute Care Wing are full and all the beds in the General Wing of the hospital are also full, and “the Hospital is at the point now where they are having to cancel elective surgery because of a bed shortage.”
“That’s right, surgeries are being cancelled because there are a large number of people in the Hospital who do not need to be there – who cannot be discharged,” the Minister said.
Minister Atherden continued, “If the beds were full because we had a sudden influx of acutely sick patients, I would understand. But this is not the case. The problem, and the source of my distress, is that there is a growing trend for the families of these elderly Bermudians to refuse to take them back home.
“They refuse, Mr. Speaker, to take responsibility for their grandparent, their parent, their sibling – telling the hospital that they are unable to cope with an ageing relative, or don’t have the appropriate resources at home.
“I have to pause here, and say that it is my belief that the vast majority of families on this Island are responsible and caring, they look out for and ensure that their elderly relatives are well looked after. I know that many individuals and families scrimp and save and sacrifice to make sure that they provide for their elders.
“But there are others, Mr. Speaker who do not seem to have the same motivation,” added the Minister. “I have been made aware of cases where children who are professionals and have good jobs will not help to cover the cost of their parents’ residential care and the case where a senior’s family has turned their collective backs and said, ‘They are not my problem – you find them somewhere to live.”
“There is also a price that the community pays,” Minister Atherden said. ”Let’s assume that a 75 year old Senior who is on FutureCare has been in the hospital for more than 15 days, because although they don’t need hospital care, they can’t be discharged.
“Every month this Senior is in the hospital costs $34,000. FutureCare pays 20% of that, or $6,800, but Hospital Subsidy pays the other 80%, or $27,200.”
“The Hospital Subsidy comes out of the Consolidated Fund which means that the taxpayer is paying $27,200 for every month that any Senior over the age of 74 is in the Hospital. That is a real unnecessary cost to the public purse.”
The Minister’s full statement follows below:
Mr. Speaker,
Thank you for the opportunity to address my Honourable colleagues and the public of Bermuda to talk about how distressed I am that our hospital is being used as a residence for seniors who do not need to be there .
Mr. Speaker,
You will be aware that the new Acute Care Wing [ACW] at the hospital opened its doors in September of last year. During that time, the patient satisfaction survey results have been encouraging. Patients are impressed by the new facility and the services that are being offered.
Mr. Speaker, we could feel some pride that we are moving in the right direction in our provision of quality hospital care for all Bermudians. Now Mr. Speaker, some six months later, there is a problem. The problem is that all 90 beds at the new Acute Care Wing are full.
Not only that, but all of the beds in the General Wing of the hospital are also full, and the Bermuda Hospitals Board is having to add additional beds.
Mr. Speaker, if the beds were full because we had a sudden influx of acutely sick patients, I would understand. But this is not the case.
The problem, and the source of my distress, is that there is a growing trend for the families of these elderly Bermudians to refuse to take them back home. They refuse, Mr. Speaker, to take responsibility for their grandparent, their parent, their sibling – telling the hospital that they are unable to cope with an ageing relative, or don’t have the appropriate resources at home.
There are some instances in which the hospital’s medical social workers help the family to find alternative placements for their relative, but we are seeing cases where the family is still refusing to make a decision about placement – which leaves the senior in the hospital.
Mr. Speaker, we have more than 30 Bermudians in the hospital who are what we call “long stay social admissions”. These ladies and gentlemen do not need to be in the hospital, they should be at home – with their families in familiar surroundings that provide a degree of comfort that they can rely on.
I have to pause here, and say that it is my belief that the vast majority of families on this Island are responsible and caring, they look out for and ensure that their elderly relatives are well looked after. I know that many individuals and families scrimp and save and sacrifice to make sure that they provide for their elders.
But there are others, Mr. Speaker who do not seem to have the same motivation.
Mr. Speaker, I have been made aware of cases where children who are professionals and have good jobs will not help to cover the cost of their parents’ residential care and the case where a senior’s family has turned their collective backs and said, “They are not my problem – YOU find them somewhere to live.”
Mr. Speaker, what this says to me is that we ” still have much work to do”! We want Bermuda to be a community where we plan for old age and as a family we work together to allow seniors to age gracefully at home with dignity and independence as far and as long as possible.
Some may say that there’s really no harm in this, and that there’s no real cost. But the reality is that harm is being done to that senior, and there is a price that that senior pays for staying as a ” long stay social admission” in the hospital. Mr. Speaker there is also a price that the community pays.
Let me give you an example, Mr. Speaker. Let’s assume that a 75 year old Senior who is on FutureCare has been in the hospital for more than 15 days, because although they don’t need hospital care, they can’t be discharged. Every month this Senior is in the hospital costs $34,000. FutureCare pays 20% of that, or $6,800, but Hospital Subsidy pays the other 80%, or $27,200.
I don’t have to remind you, Mr. Speaker, that the Hospital Subsidy comes out of the Consolidated Fund which means that the taxpayer is paying $27,200 for every month that any Senior over the age of 74 is in the Hospital. That is a real unnecessary cost to the public purse.
Mr. Speaker, if we can find a way for just a few of those thousands of dollars that pay for in-hospital care to follow the senior home to provide for in-home caregiver support, I feel that we would realize significant savings on the bottom line.
Mr. Speaker, the Hospital is at the point now where they are having to cancel elective surgery because of a bed shortage. That’s right, surgeries are being cancelled because there are a large number of people in the Hospital who do not need to be there – who cannot be discharged.
Mr. Speaker, I brought this subject to the House today so that the public will be aware of the issues that we are facing. I don’t have the answers right now, but I am asking my new Seniors Advisory Council to look into the problem on my behalf.
I recognize that in many cases funding, or a lack of funding, is the issue. And I recognize that there are patients who are in long stay beds at the hospital because, while they don’t need hospital care, they need more care than they can easily get at home.
We want to find ways to ensure that our seniors can age well and age at home for as long as possible, but it’s clear that money and services may be an impediment to ageing at home.
We, as Members of this Honourable House are often focused on legislation. But I don’t know if legislation is the answer for this problem……there has to be a better way to address this than by trying to legislate caring.
For those Bermudians who have relatives in the Hospital, I implore you to visit with them. Let them know that you are thinking about them and that you care. Talk to the Hospital staff, meet with the physician team and the medical social workers, and work with them to develop a plan to have your loved one return home.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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Name and shame.
Look after your family members! Shameful.
Sadly enough, what the minister is saying is true. It is amazing how so many people take advantage and tear the hell out of so many things.
The minister, and you as well, assume that families won’t take their relatives! If she gets more nursing homes with proper equipment and adequate staff up and running in Bermuda, then the hospital wouldn’t have this issue.
She’s wagging the dog’s tail with this decree. “Look over here! It’s the families fault!” “Pay no attention to the nursing home issues that are contributing to this situation!”
If families won’t take care of their seniors in hospital then makes you think that they will care for them in a nursing home. The first line of care starts at home not a nursing care facility.
People have very little time to take care of kids. adding an old person into the mix. its RAT RACE
Your understanding of nursing homes is strange. Families help their elderly by placing them in nursing homes that can care for them better than they can.
However, there is no space in nursing homes. There is a long waiting list for the decent ones.
Thats a form of neglect. They would want to take their family member back home before things get worse. Next thing you kno people gonna b marching again.
How sick that the families wont pick up their parent. What has Bermudian society become when families abandon their parents.
I bet you the families are enjoying the properties of these parents.
Time to name and shame them, especially where thy are living in that parents house or benefiting for their parents property.
I know each case insn’t the same, but come on people.
There are elder care homes that will take care of them for $5k a month but Derrick Burgess and Planning give these people such a hard time they want no part of it. Let the taxpayer keep paying $27k a month for them to stay in the Ritz.
Quo Fata Ferunt
Them all give the Ritz a hard time too, but if they do what they’re suppose to do they have nothing to worry about. $10,000 per room should cover it you think?
Purely a question this.
What resources exist to support and protect carers to facilitate residential care of seniors such as those involved?
Is there room at the old hospital that would accommodate seniors whose families are unable to care for them?
NO, the article says, no room at the INN
If beds are full, where are new patients going?
To overflow wards.
Where?
I had to stay over night for a surgery I had recently and had to stay in the childrens ward
that’s the problem. If you are scheduled for a stable surgery (i.e., joint replacement) then you are being cancelled and your surgery will need to be rescheduled (even if you had to wait months just to get your surgery date).
There will be many people on stretchers in the emergency room waiting for beds if they can’t get people discharged that don’t need to be there.
This is not a new problem by the way – these “bed fillers” have been a historical problem at KEMH and families have often not wanted to take them home claiming lack of resources, not safe at home, etc…. this is not a new issue at all, but now surgeries which can make money for the hospital are being cancelled and these patients are thus making them lose money which is the issue.
What would you do if the patient had no family? Do that for these seniors. Their families are not obligated to take them in.
Keep them in the hospital but when a parent or other has family it is the responsibility of them to care for that loved one Bet you they are waiting in the shadows for that person or persons to decease than you will see the true people they are WILL PROPERTY BANK ACCOUNTS seen it and its true
Are you kidding me. Are you truly saying that families are not obliged but the tax payer is. The family is first to care for our seniors. Why is this even a question. If we took care of our own then the burden of care on all of us would be easier. We look for and love one another but it starts at home. Family first.
Yes families should take care of their own, But!!!! families were broken up and set against each other through our very own system.. The reason for elderly facilities is because some people don’t have family here(there are a number of foreigners who married here that also got ill and had no immediate family here, so Bermuda was obliged to take care of them because they married into the family) also some family members are not working that would put the burden on those working, plus their own families.. Bermudians are the first to be laid off, NOT FOREIGNERS who continue to send money home comfortably with local approval..so are able to provide for their families.. Meantime the sicnesses that have plagued our island are new to most and therefore they are not trained to take care of their own relatives,,.. try running after an 80 year old mobile person who is confused and four of your own children plus husband… Or even having to renovate home to accomodate parents when Bermudians are not secure in their jobs.. Govenrment is shirking their responsiblity as the Village raising us, clearing pointing out that we have been used(sweat acquity) abused and thrown away…NO THANK, apology or even raparations for work of former generations that built up Bermuda to where it is today so OTHER people are benefitiing without problem.. I don’t hear any recent complaints from the uyghurs, I guess they are quite comfortable, especially since the governor announced the appointment of a young lady who champinoned their cause in Us, she has been appointed as PATI head.. hmmmm but our elderly should just go home.. THEY ARE HOME!!!!!!Anywhere in Bermuda!!!!They should be first, they delivered us and suffered before us, far worse than we could imagine… they were victims under an unfair system and were strong enough to make it this far, they continue to be ridiculed as we see by the above post…
Sad to say I have seen this so many times. Sometimes they drop them to emergency and let them know that they cannot take them home. Wow…. can’t talk specifics, but one man could take care of himself! Got showers everyday, dressed and went for walks around the ward And he wasn’t confused. For a family member to day that they can’t cope with that is BS. Please Bermuda, take care of our Seniors!
Selfish and wicked. They brought you into this world and you leave them to rot. No excuses. Disgrace. God don’t like UGLY!!!
That $20m overspend on the golf course could have looked after quiet a few seniors, couldn’t it.
Or the $10m a year in fictitious “sick days” for government employees.
Or the $60m wasted on Grand Atlantic.
Or the $24m spent on the swimming pool.
Yes many of us can conveniently forget that stuff and then yell at the OBA when we don’t get what we think we are entitled to.
This does not absolve the families of it’s duties. The government is not your family. If we as family took care of our own then we would not need them. As it stands because we as families don’t do our part the government will have to step in. Now some money that was slated for other things will have to go here. Not because it is governments fault but because the fault lies with us. We fail to care for each other. If we cannot see ourselves in this then shame on us.
Perhaps direct billing at BMD 200 a day for every day a cleared patient is left there.
Bermuda has lost sight in many areas of it’s heritage.
We were not dropped off from a boat nor swam here nor came in hundreds on rafts and makeshift vessels.
Our great great great grand parents brought us here.
Materialism has taken over.
Rather have that new dress and shoes and a new shirt and watch and spend time out on weekends and dinner and club crawl.
Give me flowers whilst I am alive my Mother said. No need for the funeral.
Flowers.
Quo Fata Furunt is null and void.
We are already there.
Shalom.
My grandma was brough over here during the War!!!!Some were innitially brought over as indentured servants until they classified ALL blacks as slaves,.. And yes we were brought over to Work and were called slaves because we were NOT allowed to benefit from the rpofit of our labour!!!!!Wo in affect quite a number of our relatives were brought over by boat and sold!! thats were the STOCK MARKET came from.. We were shocked an appalled that we had become slaves and tried to escape, some even comitted suicide rather thatn be a slave, because we were educators!!! We were supposed to work and get paid as indentured servants but we were tricked bamboozled and subtley introduced to slavery conditions, even though we fouhg tagainst it, we were tortured branded and forced to take on other religions and practices under threat of death constantly, we couldn’t even walk in public without permission or laugh out loud, we had to laugh in a barrel, hence the term “a barrel of laughs” so i don’t know about your relatives but my grandma told me about how she got here!!!!
Ultimately they need removed from the hospital, if they have no way of supporting themselves, or no family, then they need to go to the Shelter at the back of town or be delivered to the family at their place of work. With them told to sort it out. Unethical in personal life = more than likely unethical in work life. Employee no longer seen as promotable. Career over.
Those who disliked…Go get your parents from the hospital !
Some people do not want to care of think about their parents. They want to live their own lives. What they forget is that “what comes around, goes around”. Their day will come too.
I know of one guy that he has not spoken to his parents for 10 years and yet wants to stay at the parents’ house and when they pass away, he and his wife will be looking forward to collecting from the properties that his parents worked so hard to have. God don’t like ugly.
Hopefully he has the property sold and the monies given to charity instead.
He is not that time of person. They like to take and give nothing back to his parents.
that is very sad
Not every parent was a good one. Some were abusive or abandoned the kid, and now that they are old the person is expected to put their life on hold for someone that wasn’t even there. Nobdody ever thinks of that side of it. You only deserve care later in life if you gave it earlier in life.
Then why did they take them to the hospital?
@ hmmm so that somebody else could look after them????
So if you were abused by a parent you take them to the hospital because you care…so take them home.
Hospital…please get social services invetigate the families for any fraudulent activity…Who’s house they are living in, who last accessed the parents bank accounts.
If the family won’t look out for them, then let’s find out why. Someone has to look out for these people.
Dumping them like trash at the hospital is disgusting.
I want these dumpers to be outed !
its not illegal to take seniors to the bank if they agree to it. No law against it.
no matter still their parent forgiveness is a hard bill to swallow or a heck of a bullet to dodge you carry it around it affects you sometimes worse than cancer eating at every fibre of your life let it go people let it go look after your parents
So all the people are bad people at the hosital???? Yeah right !!!
Why can’t the churches help look after them…people pay the church, the church is mean’t to care..About time the church stopped it’s chatter and did something useful.
If people need help looking after someone, then perhaps the church can give that support.
How about the unions, why can’t they have a retired workers home paid out of the dues…what is the union spending all that money on…about time they gave back to the working man who needs someone to look after parents whilst working to pay dues.
Take some responsibility Church and Unions.
stupid remark
I reckon that many of those poor old souls worked hard all of their lives and most likely didn’t receive a pension . Before we ask the Unions and Churches , we should seek out the former employers and determine whether or not Mr.Jones or Mrs.Cooper actually received the earned benefit !
Idiot!!!! You go take them all in
many people have a sad story about their childhood. some have horrendous stories of abuse and neglect. still do not leave your parents on the street like a dog when they are old and weak. Have a heart and do what you can, anything to help. Forgiveness is a very powerful tool.
Based on the above, the cost to government is $27,200 a month for each senior over 74… wow!
Take this a step further and lets assume that there are 10 people that fit this description. That’s a whopping $3,264,000 a year!!
Lets assume that it costs $5,000 a month to house these ppl in a nursing home. That will cost $600,000, yielding a net cost savings of $2,664,000 a year. That’s only for 10 people.
Amazing that little has been done in this area for financial results that have such a significant impact.
The costs in nursing homes range anywhere from $7-$10,000 per month depending on the level of care that they need.
We have some empty beds at the government nursing homes, but no staff to allow patients to move into those beds. There have been nursing positions advertised all the time for the government nursing homes.
So there are nurse and caring jobs but no Bermudians to fill them…interesting.
Alicia, be quiet you know nothing about hospital costs…where did you get those figures???
She didn’t say anything about hospital costs. She infcated nursing home costs, and she is right. It’s easy to spend $10k a month in a nursing home.
That’s PLP maths. These folks should be with family, their pension covering their needs. The shortfall should be covered by family.
I still think the Union and the Churches owe these people their service to set up a facility. They’ve been paying you both all these years and giving you their time.
What does the Union and church spend their money on??????
You don’t even go to church to talk like that. If you went, you would know what they spend it on. Dopey!
I am sure it is difficult to find somewhere for an older loved-one to reside where there is full-time nursing care. Can there be a part of the cost payable by the family?
What if there is a situation where the elderly person is physically ill and not able to be at home because they require 24hour nursing care? There are not many facilities on the island that provide that service/care. I happen to work everyday and cannot be up all through the night tending to the needs and requirements of my elderly relative, nor am i qualified to do so when it pertains to certain issues. However, when she was displaced and had nowhere to go, I took her into my home and cared for her until she was hospitalized. I am now searching for a comfortable and proper facility to have her placed in so that she can leave the hospital….a rest home is not a nursing home and there are not that many on the island. So before you all go off on a tangent and call relatives of the elderley all sorts of dispicable names, perhaps the individual circumstances may vary and it is not that they have just been left in the hospital. To the Minister I would say that before she steps on the floor of the House of Assembly, she may want to first ensure that there are proper facilities available for some of those elderly in the hospital before the families are cast with blame and shame.
Exactly!
Then in the meantime, you really need to reimburse the hospital until you find a suitable facility.
where have you looked and why weren’t they suitable?
So you haven’t tried…………excuses.
Been under a rock lately? There aren’t enough facilities on the island to care for everyone properly. Social workers actually deem a place unsuitable, like the place that let that man get those horrible sores.
Bravo! Now that’s the truth!! What is this Atherden woman thinking?? She’s just bringing to light the despicable level of services and assistance available to the elderly, and the quandary that families are left in. As the saying goes…before you judge, walk a mile in my shoes. This Government is well aware of the understaffing and under funding of the National Office for Seniors – just ridiculous that she wants to try to put it back on the people of Bermuda. Without resources, what’s a family to do???
If anyone visits the rest homes they will see healthy seniors being cared for by very attentive caring staff. Many of the same nurses assistants at the hospital.. I have seen for myself so stop with the excuses. And tax payers pay for them if they qualify for lack of funds and the DESERVE IT.
Financial assistance doesn’t cover all expenses. You know nothing about what you type here.
Entitlement is constantly being used within Bermuda. We paid into the system, now it is time to collect. Where is my time share at the hospital.
This is a good move on the part of the Minister and the OBA to highlight this in the House of Assembly instead of the PLP doing it first.
OK – but will the Minister inform the House and the Public of those enormous salaries and other benefits the BHB Executives are receiving, as promised by a previous Minister and the Board? Further, will the Minister in all clarity and honesty, inform the House how much the building of the new ACW actually cost (Contract Price – guaranteed – $247m!) and the total annual repayments over the 30 year repayment period inclusive of professional fees and equipment. How about $890m? where does the excess of the $247m come from. The Minister must know the answers surely!
Why don’t you ask Zane? He set the whole thing up, didn’t he?
Will the PLP leader kindly comment…(name & shame
Shamefully government won’t financially help a family to keep momma at home, but are quite happy to pay 5-10k to put mamma in a home.
It will only get worse when the PRC’s and more Status Bermudians show up , this problem has no demographic boundaries !
Really? Your disgusting
Every Bermudian is a ‘paper/status Bermudian’. There is no indigenous population, this was a barren rock in 1609.There is nothing that defines what kind of Bermudian you are by law – get over yourself already. Everyone entitled to being Bermudian has to apply for it in some way but it’s still the same ‘Bermudian’ at the end of the day. Bermudian is Bermudian and we ‘Bermudians’ should be proud of that no matter what.
Bermudians born here are not paper status Bermudians. You would like to merge the two so that it’s nothing when the status is given away to the highest bidder.
By your flawed reasoning Every white American , Canadian , Brazilian,South African are paper citizens as well ? Now , there is a fair chance that in the future we will see a fair number of foreign born indigent patients residing permanently at the extended care unit !
There were people in the Americas prior to settlers.
You defeated your own point.
Any WHITE PEOPLE ?
By this logic, if world population began with Adam and Eve, every last person on planet earth is a paper/status Nationality….
Then again, Adam and Eve were put in the Garden of Eden, so essentially , even they are paper imports.
Me thinkest your post has ulterior motives.
Coffee go **** yourself you sorry sight!
If you said what I think you said, then I wholeheartedly agree!
Could I retract that post ? I’m afraid that I spoke out of turn . They’re already done there ! I should have known instead of assuming differently !
i couldn’t care who raised the issue first. i do know that this is a serious issue and when Minister Louise Jackson then Opposition was alive and championing the cause of the Seniors, she was derided and disrespected by the now plp oppositon who went as far as calling her ‘Aunt Louise” in the House of Parliament as a show of their immaturity.
I would give anything to have my parents ! They gave me life , i would give them all of me !
Where I come from there isn’t a welfare state to take care of the elderly and a “reciprocal duty of care” under the law between parent and child. So, of the means exist, the adult child is liable. It’s not just a moral duty. In the absence of proper taxation and a wlefare state this needs to be developed here.
Here’s a thought — how about closing the Urgent Care Center in St. David’s so we can all dump our elderlies in KEMH? The Government mandated for it to remain open but the Hospital is paying for it’s operations. Save KEMH!
Another thing, let’s all go the the ER since we are not required to pay $50 up front compared to going to my GP’s office!
This is a very shameful situation in so many ways, and I would hate to be just basically sitting around in a hospital waiting for my date to be called, lonely and lacking the love and support after working hard for so many years.. Empathy is in short supply. People are so pressed to make a living and neglecting their moral and ethical duties, very shameful.
On a different level, why build a huge hospital with only 90 beds? After walking around the building, and although I am not an architect, it certainly seems like that could have made better use of the space.. The atrium for example and the huge hallways seem over the top in my opinion.
So let’s have these families named, shamed and investigated.
agree, but we are still waiting for a sex offender’s register, we all know how long that’s taking, but I live in hope.
so what i’m getting out of these comments is that these seniors should be sent home to an unknown quality of life care…send them home to an empty house..? not all of us are living large…struggling to survive…little dollars from week to week…have you ever tried hiring a nurse or even seen what Westmeath charges for a patient that may need 24hr availability..? well i have…i suggest you do too before you talk loud but say nothing…BY all means i’m not advocating fraudulent behavior or just plain nasty leeches…i’m speaking for the HARD WORKING HAVE NOTS so…It is the COST of health care which needs to be addressed and NOT be just accepted. A Govt.should take care of the very young AND the very old…all of you in between…it’s all on you brah!…if you can survive to become old ,then you deserve to be cared for.
I think the article said there are social workers at the hospital who can help you figure out how to look after you family member. I imagine they have helped many families.
It’s NEGLECT,the immediate next of kin should be Charged and brought before a Judge.
I bet my last dollar these families are living in fancy houses their parents built and it’s costing them nothing too,bill everything to the parent’s bank account.
Does the minister know this for a fact that every senior’s family refuses to take them home? I know that my family member was kept there because the social worker wouldn’t release them to anyone, even though they appeared healthy enough to leave.
We were unable to care for them at home because they needed nursing assistance and a lift, which very few nursing homes have, etc. Is home a viable option for all of the seniors taking up bed space? I highly doubt it, or they wouldn’t be in the hospital!
This is truly heartbreaking. I could not imagine me leaving my parents at the hospital. I definitely wouldn’t want my son to do that to me. These families need to realize they are going to be old as well.
EVIL PEOPLE
No, broke people.
Bermuda could use more Nursing Homes to help with the problem.
Ive always believed that at the heart of the “BERMUDIAN” is EVIL AND SELFISHNISH
This confirms it; you better beleive these bermudians will be waiting for their inheritance after the sick parent dies
FEEL THE LOVE – bermuda asks
WHAT A JOKE and no love in these families
It’s your opinion that’s evil , it’s not a Bermudian thing , it’s a generational thing , it’s a phenom that’s occurring in every developed jurisdiction . Go back home and you will see , you won’t have to look hard or long .
Don’t make excuses for it. We live on a tiny rock.
If any of these people left in the hospital have assets such as homes, land, bank accounts, etc, then their estates should have to reimburse for these expenses. Why should relatives be allowed to abandon love ones then benefit after they die?
I bet this will change the minds of a lot of people who just dump their parents there at the hospital for the country to take care of.
It has just become a convenience to let the hospital take care of their responsibility until their parents are deceased.
A shame really.
You are all bashing the people that left their parents there…. so what…. how much does it cost to put your parent in an old folks home? How many people in this economic time can afford that as well as pay their household bills and take care of their own kids? Government has all the taxpayers money they should stop spending as they like, stop taking trips that isn’t being paid for out of pocket, stop having the need for fancy mid-life crisis cars, stop having to live in big oversized expensive houses and rent a normal apartment like a normal person and TAKE A DAMN PAY CUT….. taxpayers money is there to pick up the slack and support those in need… HAVE YOU EVER SEEN AN MP IN NEED? No! Why? Point is old folks homes cost to damn much. Its no way in hell most people can afford them and keep themselves afloat. Most old people have worked years government needs to create senior housing that they can afford to live in with only their pension.
Some of the reluctance/inability of the families may well be financial. How about the families get financial support from the Government and free provision of equipment (hospital bed, daily visits by a nurse etc) to help them make it work. If we gave an allowance (say $5,000 per month) that would be far cheaper for the taxpayer than the $27,000 cost to have them stay at the hospital.
There is no right and wrong here as most families are probably very torn. Let’s think about an alternative solution. I imagine many of the seniors do not need 24 hour care, they just cannot live alone.
Is this a stupid question? How about we use the old hospital if in fact there’s room there to create a place for those who cannot afford to pay the high prices of the nursing homes that do exist. Then see if we can get volunteers to work it along with a core of trained nurses of course that would be needed. Not sure how but maybe we as a community could help in some way, as for sure it’s not easy to find $5k or more to care for your parents when you are struggling yourself.
I do believe it’s something that the government going forward should put into place as there is such a need. Maybe a portion of the taxes on Gambling going forward could be earmarked towards Elderly Care….what say people?
Seniors in poor health deserve good care. Most families work two and three jobs, and those jobs are NOT high paying! They are just getting by. So those who “dump” their family member, coldly, and walk away with money to burn are NOT the norm!! Consider training home health aides IN BERMUDA who would then be able to stay with the person in need while the family is at work, or around the clock if needed. It is a win-win. The person receiving care could pay according to their income, and the government could pay the rest. Home health aides are not the highest paid, anyway, and it is MUCH cheaper than keeping folks in hospital or in nursing home. Just THINK, Bermuda!
Ok having worked in the health system here in Bermuda for almost 25 yrs, this is not a new problem what it does is raise an issue which has generally been denied, I have seen people drop of elderly relatives just left them in the ER while family members go on their cup match holiday or another oh we just fixing up grandma/pa house, then surprise oh we can’t take grandma/pa back can’t afford to , but u managed to fix up their house and now u living in it, I don’t think the general public would believe what goes on and it’s all races, rich poor it is not to one specific group. With an ageing population this is not going to get any better……..it is expensive to have a family member at home….perhaps instead of gov sub paying $30,000 a month for a patients stay at KEMH they pay a sixth of that as a monthly wage to an in home caregiver….just a suggestion also hats off to the Social Workers who work long and hard to try and help these patients…..another suggestion for the ones who won’t take their family member home start billing them for their stay….
But they want their money….parasites…I actually put my ma in Corannado Royal ,Corannado San Diago California,She had a balcony overlooking the park where they did fireworks,and had concerts,two dining rooms two elevators,and a tram that went Mexico daily,where she would dissapear to every now and then, the staff would kindly go accross the border and retrieve her from a canteena where she could be found with the tequila lined up in front of her and a joint in the ashtray….an Irish movie star was her room mate…it was expensive but ….this was my mama!
Families Refuse To Take Seniors Home ????
WOW _ So what happened to the moral compass of they “SEE US IN & WE SEE THEM OUT”.
It is shocking to see how many people are dumped off in old age care facilities and some family members never visit.
How could anyone walk away from their parents after they raised and nurtured you?
That is just cruel and unkind.
It’s a bit deceptive to say that 30 people are in beds in the new hospital when you know they have been moved to the old part and being looked after by the Extended care unit staff. I’m sure the number in the new part is smaller and yes you need to jump on those families to take their folks home We need more nursing homes in this island and we have all known this for years