Social Protection Ministry to expend $60M on ‘Palms’

Jan 06, 2017 News

-Plans apace to introduce home care initiative

Some $60 million will be expended this year to do improvement works at the Palms Geriatric Home.
This is according to former Minister of Social Protection, Ms. Volda Lawrence.

Former Minister of Social Protection, Ms. Volda Lawrence

Lawrence, during a recent interview disclosed that among the improvement measures that will be undertaken will be the inclusion of elevators at the Brickdam, Georgetown facility.
The three-flat edifice is one that serves as a residence for elders, some of whom are barely mobile independently. For this reason, the Minister said that it was seen as imperative for the elevator system to be put in place.
“We have seniors there, some of whom are unable to move as quickly as we can,” said Lawrence as she pointed out that staffers will benefit considerably from this system too.
“There are staffers there who must fetch laundry up the stairs (and) the breakfast and lunch (too) (for the seniors) and so on, and by the time they get up (the stairs) these are cold.”
“We are going to put in these lifts and it will cost us around $60 million, but it is a worthwhile investment so that all of these can be taken care of,” said Minister Lawrence.
The Minister had also revealed that efforts were also being made for a change in the space at the facility in order to set up an infirmary. Once in place, the Minister said the residents will not have to be taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation for medical attention.
Currently the seniors are taken to the public hospital to access needed health care.
The institution, according to Minister Lawrence, currently has two doctors assigned to it who will be able to better render care to the residents in the infirmary.

$60 million will be expended this year on the Palms Geriatric Home.

Meanwhile, during the course of this year too, the Social Protection Ministry will be seeking to pilot a home care project. And according to Minister Lawrence, this ambitious project will target senior citizens. This is in light of the fact she noted that over the years there has been an increase in the number of individuals who have been asking for their elderly relatives to be taken into the Palms or the Night Shelter.
“We recognise that there is a crisis out there and we have a lot of persons who are even abandoned at the Georgetown Hospital to take up a lot of bed space, and so we want to assist the Ministry of Public Health to remove those persons,” said Minister Lawrence.
It is against this background, the Minister said, that moves were made to conceptualise the home care initiative. According to Lawrence, there have been a number of individuals who have been suitably trained and are therefore experienced enough to cater to the needs of the many individuals who have retired or are otherwise forced to reside alone but cannot care for themselves adequately.
“So we are going to start this pilot project to see how we can work with these seniors,” said the Minister, as she disclosed plans for the Ministry to work with two Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in particular to get the project going. The NGOs will be specifically tasked with providing home care services in various communities where seniors reside alone. It is expected that the trained persons will attend to the needs of these elders on an hourly basis or as the need arises.

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