Vagrants, abandoned persons commanding space at GPHC

Jun 25, 2017 News, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....nding-space-at-gphc/

• Officials appeal for relatives to “do the right thing”

 By Sharmain Grainger

A relatively new phenomenon has been unfolding at the country’s premier public health facility – the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC]. The situation is one that seems to have evolved from the abandonment dilemma that the hospital has been plagued with for some years.

Over the years, the hospital has had to accommodate a number of mainly elderly individuals, several of whom were admitted with various conditions, but upon their discharge, family members refused to accept them. The hospital has moreover been forced to continue to house these individuals, some of them until death, or find alternative accommodation for them.

According to Ms. Fiona McKoy, who is tasked with the supervision of Social Workers at the hospital, in addition to the abandonment situation, the hospital is now faced with an even more challenging predicament. This latest situation, she explained, translates to vagrants leaving the streets of Georgetown to seek refuge at the health facility.

This publication was informed that once the vagrants enter the compound they are given medical attention, but if there is no reason for them to be hospitalised they are sent away.

But herein lies the prevailing problem.

Kaieteur News was informed that once the medical staffers make it clear that there is no need for the vagrants to be admitted, the case becomes one for the hospital’s Social Work department. Social Workers at the hospital are essentially tasked with finding alternative accommodation for these individuals [both vagrants and those abandoned] if they are discharged and have no place to go.

This is in light of the fact that the hospital sometimes has no information about these individuals, and therefore returning them to their families is often a very difficult task.

The Social Workers have already been working tediously to remove a number of abandoned patients from the hospital, but according to reports, the influx of vagrants to the institution has compounded these efforts.

A number of vagrants, over the past few weeks, have turned up at the hospital purportedly seeking medical attention, but have since refused to leave – they have opted to remain in order to have ready access, not only to medical attention, but food, clothing and shelter too.

“We have quite a number of vagrants who are just lodging in the hospital’s compound now,” McKoy acknowledged.

But the situation has been casting a negative light on the image of the hospital. This publication was reliably informed that many persons seeking medical attention were forced to leave in disdain, even before accessing treatment, because of the presence of unkempt vagrants.

“It doesn’t look good for the image of the hospital and we are appealing to the relatives and family members of these persons [vagrants] out there, to do what is right and take care of them. They might have served you in some way or the other, so we are making an appeal for them [family members and/or relatives] to do what is morally correct,” McKoy urged.

According to McKoy, the hospital is urgently reaching out to relatives, since it is oftentimes in dire straits to accommodate those who are ailing, and therefore does not have the ability to cater to those who aren’t.

Hospital security, this publication was told, has been dissuaded from removing the vagrants, since the facility has a policy to not refuse care to anyone.

But there are reports that suggest that there are some individuals who have been advising the vagrants to seek refuge at the hospital.

According to Medical Social Worker, Mr. Clayton Newman, while the hospital does not turn these vagrants away, it is particularly difficult to sustain this practice, since some of them choose to remain unkempt even after they would have been catered to by hospital staff.

“Some of them would defecate and urinate wherever they are…some of them would do this just after they would have been cleaned, and they do not make it easy for the staff,” said Newman.

He spoke of one vagrant, Christopher Bruce, believed to be in his 60s, who arrived at the hospital a few weeks ago suffering from generalised weakness. Although he was discharged and even left the compound, the man has since returned with very little clothing covering his anatomy.

This publication was able to witness first-hand the half-naked vagrant taking up a place under a waiting area in the compound of the Georgetown Hospital, just outside the emergency unit. The vagrant could be heard calling to hospital staffers to bring him something to eat.

Yet another vagrant who was examined and continues to be accommodated in the Emergency Unit of the hospital, is 27-year-old Delon Simpson. Although Simpson suffers from a mental disability, the hospital was able to find out that he has an address somewhere in Thomas Street, not far from the very hospital where he is being accommodated. However, his relatives have not been coming forward to help care for the young man, Newman divulged.

Several other male patients who have been discharged from the hospital have also been left at the hospital, since those who would have brought them there would have left no address or have not opted to reach out since they were admitted.

Among those who have essentially been abandoned are 52-year-old Roy Ram who was hospitalised for alcohol withdrawal symptoms; 54-year-old David Bishop, who was admitted for renal failure; 79-year-old Melroy Caldira; 78-year-old Dex Barker and 72-year-old Vernon Hector. Hector was hospitalised for generalised weakness, but this publication was informed that he has since removed himself from the hospital.

According to Newman, while some of the males who have been abandoned were admitted to the hospital at the beginning of this year, a number of them turned up at the Emergency Department during the past few weeks. “They come here but we have no record of next of kin, no address, no telephone numbers. We have been getting quite a few of them with no fixed place of abode. Even though somebody might have brought them in, we have no record of anybody visiting after,” related Newman.

Added to this, Newman disclosed that a number of persons have been taking advantage of the ambulance service to aid their abandonment scheme.

“Some people call the ambulance and they always claim to not know the patient…many of them claim that the patient just fall down in front of them or they just happened to pass through their yard and fall down and that kind of thing. But what we are learning that sometimes these people who are calling are really a family member or relative,” Newman explained.

He further revealed, “You would be surprised that when these patients die, and some of them have died right here, these same people turn up for the death certificates, because they probably want to get what they can.”

Moreover, Newman said that the hospital is appealing to those who are desirous of utilising the ambulance service to ensure that they share some amount of information about the patients with the Emergency Medical Technicians [EMTs] who arrive on the scene.

According to Newman, sharing some amount of information about a patient will not only be useful to help health workers better treat that patient, but also to ensure that they are returned, as soon as it is possible, to their residence. Once patients are treated and returned home, it allows for space to be created for truly ill patients to be accommodated.

According to Marcia Fredericks, Medical Social Worker, who has responsibility for a number of female patients who are believed to be abandoned, patients on both the female medical and surgical wards have been classified as abandoned. This is due to the fact, Fredericks said, that their relatives are yet to accept them back home, although they have been informed that they have been discharged.

Fredericks said that, currently, at least five females on the two wards are also guests of the hospital. She disclosed that “I have been working overtime with family members [including various relatives and reputed husbands] for them to allow these patients to return home, because we have no reason to keep them here.”

Some family members have outrightly insisted that they are unwilling to accept these individuals, Fredericks said.

However, if all else fails, Fredericks informed that the hospital will have to continue to care for these patients or find accommodation for them at other facilities such as the Palms Geriatric Home, once they meet the requisite age. But gaining access at the Palms, currently, is not possible since, according to Fredericks, the institution is undergoing rehabilitation works.

A few other options for accommodation that fall under the purview of the Social Protection Ministry include the Night Shelter, but this too requires a process before patients can be accommodated there.

Among the females recorded at the hospital as abandoned are: 88-year-old Ellen Niles of Kuru Kuru, Soesdyke/Linden Highway; 79-year-old Surani Kissoon of Haslington, East Coast Demerara; 59-year-old Sarah Babb of Sam Hinds Drive, Pattensen, Sophia and 39-year-old Mezam Usman of East Ruimveldt, Georgetown. Another patient in her mid-20s is also believed to be abandoned, since her relatives have failed to turn up for her, although they too were informed that she was discharged since last week.

A half-naked Christopher Bruce has been demanding regular service at the hospital despite having been discharged.

Staff at the Social Work department do have challenging tasks.

Sad state of affairs here. No hope for these people.
What can be done. Where can they go.

Two years and Guyana gone from the Mountain Top to deep into a pile of RAW SEWAGE. !!  Tek am in al yuk Baxside DUMB, STUPID Guyanese!!! Well, I will not even go to the SLOP CAN FILTH HEAD crew!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why can the government provide a shelter for these people whos family refused to accept them? The hospital should be exclusively for sick people and not for the homeless. The social service ministry needs to step in and do something. A problem usually gets worse when you don't stop it in its track.  

Where is keffer the retard and his box of dry goods. This is the type of people he should be helping.

Pnc time, this is a reflection of the deterioration of the nation brought on by the mismanagement by the jackasses in power. Now the people can't take care of their elderly/handicapped relatives and they dumping them on Granger fuh tek care of. 

I can't wait to see how the voting public will react to Granger/Nagamootoo ticket at the next election cycle, through I always fear the PNC get some big surprises in store. 

As the issues are progressing, there will be no Granger + Nagamootoo.

In 2020, one will see Granger+PNC alone in the elections against each other political organization.