Palms allegedly refuses to admit an elderly homeless woman

Nov 29, 2010 News

Joseph Stephen, 85, of Newsettlers Arcade, Mocha East Bank Demerara, yesterday claimed that he along with fellow villagers have been trying for the past two months to have a gravely ill, elderly woman admitted to the Palms but was only greeted with hostility from the staff there.
According to Stephen, the woman whose name is Olive King is 76-years-old, has no known relative, and is currently bedridden and needs urgent medical attention.

Concerned resident Joseph Stephen who is pleading for King’s admission to the Palms

Stephen explained that during last September, he visited the Human Service Ministry to acquire assistance to place the ailing woman into a home for the elderly.
After speaking to a social worker, he was given a letter to be taken to the Palms.
At the Palms, he was allegedly told by an official there that the facility is out of space to accommodate King.
Stephen lamented that the official also informed him that she would let him know when a space is available.
“The official tell me that when someone dies then the home will get space”.
Most persons in the community who are aware of King’s plight voiced their frustration over the way the Palms administration has been handling her admission.
A resident, Shelly Smith reported that it is very unfair to the woman who has no family to look after her.
Smith related that the situation has become out of hand for persons in the community to handle.
“We been doing whatever little we can but times hard and we get we own problems…the Ministry should put her in a home,” the agitated woman added.
The bedridden woman’s situation, according to residents, needs the intervention of the Human Service Ministry. King was reportedly hospitalised recently with various complications and has a huge ulcer which is becoming worse, causing her agonising pain.
Residents claimed that last Wednesday they took the woman to the community health center for her wounds to be cleaned but were told by a nurse that the center only does such service once weekly and that day had already passed.
As it is, the Palms provides services which are free to destitute Guyanese seniors.
The facility admits persons on two main criteria, ‘age and indigence’.
The home has a policy that before anyone can be admitted, their case must be investigated by social workers and an assessment by the administrator, the ward sister, the medex and the director of social services must be done.
Attempts to reach officials from the home up press time were unsuccessful.