\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMinister Falzon replied that during the past year 31 complaints were submitted about the government-run residences. The majority were about the quality of the food and maintenance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMinister Falzon said, in Parliament, that the complaints concerned the residential homes in Mellie\u0127a, Mosta, Imtarfa and Bormla. He added that when the Department of Active Ageing and Care in the Community receives complaints, immediate action is taken against the contractor or members of staff concerned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIn reaction to what was said in Parliament, the carer who spoke to this portal expressed his concern that the government residences that are currently being used were designed to house elderly people who were quite independent. \u201cWhen elderly people who were bedridden started to come in, everything fell on our shoulders, the houses became very small, we lacked the appropriate equipment and maintenance was inexistent\u201d, the carer said. He said that the furniture was showing signs of wear and tear and more modern equipment was needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe employee who spoke to us explained what his and his colleagues\u2019 working day was like. He was frustrated because the ratio of workers to wards was not as it should be. \u201cSometimes there are seven of us available to give the residents a wash but there are days where two of us have to accompany residents to hospital for appointments \u2026 so we end up with two fewer carers and the work that is usually done by seven people has to be done by five \u2026 this cannot carry on\u201d, the carer went on to say.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHe said that he has done this work for 20 years and, in spite of the stress that is part and parcel of this vocation, he is still happy to work with the elderly. However, a number of things are lacking that are adding to the pressures of this job \u2013 issues that, unfortunately, are creating unnecessary burdens.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWe do not even have a decent place in which to spend our break!\u201d, the worker complained, adding that, together with his colleagues he has been asking for a new uniform for months. \u201cWe have been waiting for it for nine months and we are given one excuse after another \u2026 that is how it goes\u201d, said this carer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSpeaking about the available equipment, this worker criticised the condition of the beds and the wheelchairs. \u201cNo maintenance of the beds and the wheelchairs is being carried out so it is becoming quite difficult for us to handle them, especially with the residents on them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cOur work is very stressful\u201d, said the carer, adding that \u201cmany of the elderly residents are constantly calling for us and the buzzer never stops \u2026 sometimes, when I am sleeping at home, I\u2019m jerked awake by a sudden noise thinking it\u2019s the buzzer \u2026 this is because I am constantly hearing it\u201d, said this worker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHaving said this, working with the elderly provides this carer and his colleague with a great deal of satisfaction. \u201cWhen you hear the elderly say \u2018thank you\u2019 or you see them smile, we feel a sense of satisfaction.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIt is not the first time that we go out of our way to help them. We come across elderly people who are never visited by family members. Sometimes they need something but they do not have the money to pay for it so we buy it for them \u2026 in some cases we see their children pick up the pension cheques and leave \u2026 they do not even stop to talk to them!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIn the meantime, the Opposition Speaker on Health, Stephen Spiteri, said in a comment to this portal that the limited number of residences for the care of the elderly is troubling and if we do not come up with alternative types of accommodation the quality of care of the elderly is going to go down.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe Opposition Speaker on Health is often at these homes visiting some of the elderly in his capacity as a doctor. Stephen Spiteri said that these people \u201cwould have worked their whole lives, brought up a family and, at their age, they deserve the right care\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nDr Spiteri also remarked on the workers who are being put under great pressure at work. \u201cThis situation is affecting them mentally \u2026 let us not forget that all work with the elderly is delicate and has a vocational element,\u201d said the Nationalist MP, adding that \u201cthe pressures they are facing is affecting their performance at work.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIn light of all this, Voice of the Workers would like to refer to the statistics which clearly show that our population is getting older. The fact that we are living longer is creating other problems such as dementia. It appears that this condition is neither being addressed in the short term nor in the long term. The number of older people with dementia is increasing and the only ward that houses elderly with this condition is the one located at the St Vincent de Paul Residence. Therefore, social housing for these elderly people needs to be increased and made available while the quality of care needs to be strengthened without creating more burdens for the workers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cTake care of your elderly relatives \u2026 visit them often and do not abandon them\u201d.\u00a0 This was an emotional appeal made by a carer, who wished to remain anonymous, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":963,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":""},"issuem_issue":[44],"issuem_issue_categories":[9],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.8.8","language":"en","enabled_languages":["mt","en"],"languages":{"mt":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/961"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=961"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":979,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/961\/revisions\/979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue?post=961"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_categories?post=961"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_tags?post=961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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