BETHAL – With temperatures reaching below zero and into the minuses, most people are keeping warm with electric blankets, hot water bottles and heaters; however this was not the case for most Bethal residents – especially elderly and vulnerable residents of the Residentia Palm-oord retirement home.
Besides load shedding, residents had to endure being without electricity for several days. This was because of a transformer in Tsibitsi Sibanyoni Street near Laerskool HM Swart that exploded and caught fire on 8 June.
With Covid-19 that is fast spreading, government made it clear at the beginning of the pandemic that the elderly would be among those that would be the most vulnerable to this unforgiving disease.
However, the elderly at Residentia Palmoord are being exposed to the possibility of colds and flues, as well as stomach bugs due to not being able to keep warm or being able to boil water.
Also read: Resident of old-age home in Bethal tests positive for Covid-19
Ridge Times has been in contact with residents and their concerned family members who have voiced their anger regarding the lack of electricity in Bethal and eMzinoni.
Mr Willem du Plooy whose parents-in-law are residents of Residentia Palmoord raised his concerns when his mother-in-law had fallen in the dark.
“She fell and my father-in-law tried to help her, but in return fell himself. This all happened in the dark and with no electricity late at night,” said Mr Du Plooy.
He said his father-in-law tried to activate a panic button, but the panic button only works if there is electricity.
“They all have a panic button. If anything happens they activate the button, but due to no electricity, nothing is working. This is what happened in this case.”
Mr Du Plooy received a call nearly 40 minutes after the incident.
Another resident who wishes to remain anonymous, said by the time the residents receive their meals it is cold, bearing in mind it is winter and things cool down much faster.
“We are unable to warm up our food in a microwave because there is no electricity.
“I normally boil my tap water, because I am scared of bacteria or viruses. I can’t boil any water either because there is no electricity. I can’t even make myself a simple cup of tea or heat up the kettle for water for a hot water bottle. It gets extremely cold here,” said the resident.
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The Ridge Times spoke to Ms Ilse Haasbroek, National Manager Care – Residentia, who said the ongoing electricity issues have been very challenging and cause huge concern for the well-being of the residents.
She went on saying the elderly have to resort to bathing from a bucket or basin because there is no hot water for a bath or shower.
She said their emergency bell and emergency system does not operate when there is no power.
“This is a huge problem, because we don’t know when there are emergencies or if someone needs help, because everything runs on electricity which most of the time, we do not have.”
Ms Haasbroek said it has since been suggested for residents of Residentia Palmoord to equip themselves with whistles in case of an emergency. This will hopefully alert neighbours who in return can alert management.
She said they are very suspicious of the water in the district with the sewerage infrastructure not being up to standards. With the coronavirus pandemic, getting an infection caused by diarrhoea would be very concerning especially for an elderly person. Water is therefore always boiled first before being used.
“It is quite challenging to help 90 residents with no electricity. Our care workers have been doing the best they can, they have been checking up on residents to make sure they have all they need in this trying time,” ended Ms Haasbroek.
A request to the public has been made for any help of donations of hot water bottles, hot water flasks, gas bottles, gas stoves, whistles, thermal mugs, scarves, torches, knee blankets, wool for the elderly to knit blankets or scarves. If you want to donate any of these items, contact Ms Ilse Haasbroek at 082 887 2056.
Also read: Elderly suffer because of load shedding in Bethal
