Elderly abuse no private matter
6/21/2009
By Jenique Millington
Some of this country’s elderly are being tied up in homes or placed in abandoned buildings by their families who do not want the responsibility of dealing with them.
Speaking to the Barbados Advocate about a few of these disturbing occurrences, Acting Senior Welfare Officer James Cummins said that while abuse of the elderly is a very real occurrence requiring urgent action from the nation, persons viewed it as a private matter to be dealt with by families.
“In most countries, it is shown that many people do not realise that elderly abuse is an issue because most people see it as a private matter in the same way they view domestic violence as a private matter. But there really is an issue because what we are doing is denying people who have contributed to our country their rights to express themselves, and their right to a freedom of movement,” he said.
“We find there are a lot of cases where because persons do not want to be bothered by [the] elderly, they want to restrain them at home, leaving them at home tied. Some persons put them in the back of old abandoned buildings to live because we don’t want to put them in our nice houses. We have to go in and investigate those matters,” Cummins added.
According to him, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Transformation are aiming to de-institutionalise the elderly “as we have to bring this awareness to the people that we need as individuals and family to care for our own”.
6/21/2009
By Jenique Millington
Some of this country’s elderly are being tied up in homes or placed in abandoned buildings by their families who do not want the responsibility of dealing with them.
Speaking to the Barbados Advocate about a few of these disturbing occurrences, Acting Senior Welfare Officer James Cummins said that while abuse of the elderly is a very real occurrence requiring urgent action from the nation, persons viewed it as a private matter to be dealt with by families.
“In most countries, it is shown that many people do not realise that elderly abuse is an issue because most people see it as a private matter in the same way they view domestic violence as a private matter. But there really is an issue because what we are doing is denying people who have contributed to our country their rights to express themselves, and their right to a freedom of movement,” he said.
“We find there are a lot of cases where because persons do not want to be bothered by [the] elderly, they want to restrain them at home, leaving them at home tied. Some persons put them in the back of old abandoned buildings to live because we don’t want to put them in our nice houses. We have to go in and investigate those matters,” Cummins added.
According to him, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Transformation are aiming to de-institutionalise the elderly “as we have to bring this awareness to the people that we need as individuals and family to care for our own”.
Abridged
SOURCE: Barbados Advocate - Barbados
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