- CLAUDINE HOUSEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Craft Instructor at the St. James National Council for Senior Citizens Day Activity Centre, in Montego Bay, Essie Roberts (right) assists Berril Smith, an 80-year-old participant, as she embroiders a pattern unto a hand towel.SUPPOSE you had to live off your pension alone. Not a bad thing if you had worked a job that you were able to save a lot from and at the same time contribute a substantial amount to a pension fund.
But if you are like Louise Morgan, who served Glenmuir High as an auxiliary worker for a number of years, the little money coming in by way of pension is merely a drop in the bucket.
"You have to be very good to survive on it," remarked her care-giver Joan Nembhard.
In March, the Government announced an increase in pension benefits for people who have contributed to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). The announcement meant that Old Age benefit moved from $900 to $1,500 per fortnight.
Ms. Morgan is among the approximately 56,000 Jamaicans who receive a $1,500 per fortnight pension from the NIS. She also receives $8,800 monthly from the school's pension fund. But when one considers the fact that she is bedridden, and that she has to pay a substantial portion for helper care, not much is left for food and medication.
Like Ms. Morgan, Martha Thorpe is a pensioner. She is older though - sitting in an elite club of centenarians. In her brighter days, Nana, as Ms. Thorpe is called, cut and tied sugar cane for a living. She retired in the 1970s and today, she is at home in Flankers, Montego Bay, St. James, doing her best to live off her pension.
Her grandson, Collin controls her finances and he says that if she were to depend on the pension alone life would be uncomfortable. "The money is not enough. Whenever she has to go to the doctor you have to pay taxi fare, buy medication and at home you have to buy food, cooking gas and pay bills," he relates.
A MERE DROP IN THE BUCKET
Collin collects a pension book on behalf of Ms. Thorpe. The book, he says, has nine vouchers all valued at $900 each. Although the money is a marked improvement from the $200 she first got in 1992, Collin has described it as a mere drop in the bucket. On average it takes $3,600 per month to buy food and medication for Nana.
No wonder Cedric Daley, a 50-year-old postal worker in Kingston is not enthused about retirement.
"I have not saved enough as yet to take care of myself when I am retired. And from what I hear, a government pension is not something to look forward to after retirement," he said.
- D.L.
Elderly abuse alertNagra Plunkett, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
HUMAN RIGHTS activist, Dr. Lloyd Barnett, wants the Government to provide stricter measures to monitor the country's elderly population in families and nursing homes.
"We have some concerns (about elder abuse). If we are to look at say, the inspections and the setting of standards for nursing homes, they are non-existent," said the immediate past chairman of the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights (IJCHR).
"We can also consider the number of old persons who have died in fire, some because they have no one to care for them," he said.
The Ministries of Local Government and Health are charged with monitoring care for the island's rapidly expanding elderly population. Except for incidents of sexual violence and deaths caused by fires, there have been no widespread reports of elder abuse cases. It is thus no surprise that World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, which was commemorated on June 15, came and went without much fanfare.
Classified as an act or lack of appropriate action, which causes harm or distress to an older person, elder abuse includes physical, psychological, financial, sexual, neglect and family abuse.
Mrs. Molly McGann, Registrar of Health Institutions and Facilities at the Ministry of Health (MOH) explained that there are about 120 nursing homes listed under its purview.
"Our Investigations and Enforcement Unit do investigations when we get reports of abuse. Often it is something other than the original complaint.
"Our investigations have to be very thorough. In the past year we have had two complaints and they both have been investigated. There was one with some evidence there. There is now a third that is being investigated ... under-reporting is a possibility."
A NEW PHENOMENON
Professor Denise Eldemire-Shearer, Chairman of the National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC) says the reality of elderly abuse is a new phenomenon to Jamaica.
"I suspect that you will find that the cases of abuse are mainly in the financial area of young people mismanaging money, and taking advantage of the emotions of the older person. I think that Jamaicans care about the elderly and cases of abuse are generally isolated," she said.
Other authorities on senior citizens care have indicated that often times abuse goes unreported, as the perpetrators are relatives.
Recently released police statistics indicate that for 2004, the 55 and over age group registered 22 cases of rape compared to 16 for last year. For murders, 105 males and 18 females were murdered in the same demographic. In 2005, 81 males and 16 females were killed.
While reports of rape and other violent acts against the age group appear to be going down, the issue of whether or not such crimes are under-reported remains a cause for concern.
