Hospital Residents Living in Filth

Details

Health News

Monday, 06 February 2012 02:30

By caribarena news

Antigua St John's - Staff at the Clarevue Hospital have said they are somewhat satisfied that officials are beginning to address their concerns.

The only hiccup so far has been the bureaucracy involved. Their issues, which include risk allowance and overtime pay, are to be discussed by the Cabinet shortly.

A senior employee told Caribarena, “We have to wait for this period (March) to play out, and if necessary take it up again."

Their concerns also include the infrastructure that houses the approximately 145 patients, including leaky roofs, and poor circulation. But more importantly, they want the attention of the families of most of these residents who have “deposited” them at Clarevue with no intention of taking them home.

Reportedly, only 20 of the residents at Clarevue still need to be there, as the others have all been observed, and treated, and are ready for release.

The facility, it was said, was intended to treat roughly 100 patients, but not to have them live there. And as far as the management is concerned, the hospital should not have anyone living there.

“They should come and get treated and when they are better they are to go home," a senior staff member said. "But there are people living here because the family doesn’t want them." This was largely attributed to misunderstanding and fear among families who choose to divorce themselves from members who display signs of mental instability. As such, most refuse to accept their relatives even after they have been medicated.

“Sometimes they would bring them and ask us to take them for a week or two while they go on vacation, and years later, they don't come back for them,” the staff said. “Every time you call them, there is an excuse, but they still look to collect the people’s social security and come for our signatures.”

When Caribarena.com visited the hospital, a new patient who had been checked in the night before was asleep in a urine-covered bathroom in the maximum security ward, with his lunch scattered everywhere. The hospital had not yet found a room or bed for him because all of the spaces were full.

The other patients in the area were being entertained by a movie playing on a laptop computer on a table outside a locked gate.

At least three of the residents in maximum security, which also functions as an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), are accused murderers whom the court have deemed unfit to stand trial.

Other patients have jobs, but return to Clarevue at the end of the workday. Residents range in age between 18 and 80 years.


Clarevue was once the facility of choice for patients from across the OECS, with some coming from Anguilla, St Kitts, Montserrat, the BVI, Barbados, Dominica, and elsewhere.

“What is embarrassing for us is that obviously these people needed our help and expertise, but now these countries have built their own, and their structures are better than ours. We have done nothing to improve ours. We had set a trend and have now fallen behind,” the staff said.

Reportedly, at least one building has been condemned, but there are still at least 20 people, mostly elderly, living in it. Another building is being renovated near the entrance of the facility that should house these residents by the end of February.

Meanwhile, the "convalescent room" was recently adopted by a local telecommunications company and  renovations are expected soon. In this area, Caribarena found a man who was said to have grown up at Clarevue. He was naked, and slept on a weathered mattress within a cage-like structure with one door and one window. The floor was covered in excrement, and the stench was unbearable.

An outdoor bathroom nearby had toilets overflowing with waste, and walls smeared with faeces.

A cistern had become a garbage-filled hole, with trees and other bush growing out of it.

“It is our fault. It is our family members," the staff said. "Yes there are infrastructural issues. Yes, things need to be done. It is easy

for us to talk about how bad things are, and government needs to deal with it. But we need to take our family home. This is a hospital and it needs to function like one."

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