A residential home for seniors in Bermuda is alleged to be at the core of three separate alleged cases of elder neglect. Meanwhile Caribbean Medical News understands that a home in Barbados is also facing accusations from a woman who says that her mother who was in an eldercare facility in the island was riddled with bedsores that her surgeon claimed to be “the worse he had ever seen”.
The Sunny Vale Rest Home on St Michael’s Road says that it offers “outstanding” care but a former resident told Bermuda’s The Royal Gazette that he was very disturbed with the way he was treated and refused to be returned there after developing severe bedsores there. He was recently discharged from discharged from hospital after his leg was amputated. The elderly man’s leg was amputated at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital after he allegedly contracted an infection while at Sunny Vale home.
Reports from the Gazette also indicate that another man died in hospital while yet another died from “severe malnutrition” according to the death certificate as obtained by the Gazette (as one of the causes of death).
The public and Derrick Burgess, the Shadow Minister for Seniors want to know why the home has not been closed.
“I want to warn all the rest homes that hereon in, from this day, if I get any complaints about abuse and the food that they serve, I will reveal who they are publicly,” said Burgess.
According to the Gazette, Carolman “Joe” Williams, 69, lived at Sunny Vale for several years until he moved to a different rest home last year after having his left leg amputated. In addition, he had an operation on his eyes and since he was unmarried and had no children, he could not live alone and instead resided at Sunny Vale.
Mad house
“It’s a madhouse,” he alleged. “It’s untidy. The food was bad every day; nothing hot. The food is outrageous. It was like a concentration camp, really. All they (the staff) do all day is mop floors.” His niece also supported his claims but the adamant Sunny Vale owner Dorrie Bennett strongly denied the allegation suggesting she offers the best of care and recreation.
Mrs Bennett said that relatives of Mr Williams refused to look after him and her respite home, which is not obligated to offer nursing services, had looked after him for nine years. She add that Williams had problems with poor circulation and was also a victim of stroke and that his amputation was nothing to do with neglect at her establishment.
“Miserable”
Mrs Bennett said to the Gazette: “This gentleman was miserable.
But Mr. Burgess said that he wanted to know why the senior developed severe malnutrition severe malnutrition and said the National Office for Seniors and the Physically Challenged (NOSPC) should conduct a thorough investigation into the Sunny Vale as well as the “food on offer”.
A man who died at Sunny Vale was in the care of Sunny Vale for a week, said Bennett and in fact, she contends, she sent him back to the hospital and he was non-resident of her home.
Sunny Vale has been open for 18 years and is inspected annually Bennett said. According to Bennett, Sunny Vale provides rest-home care and offers nutritious meals to ten residents. She stated that she was in compliance with the Residential Care Homes and Nursing Homes Act 1999. Registered rest homes are not required to provide nursing services.
The Ministry of Health did not comment according to the Gazette.
(Source Royal Gazette – Bermuda)
