Old
man needs
a roof

ALL JACK GRIFFITH WANTS before he leaves Barbados next week is for his uncle Cleveland Cox to be given institutional care.

Griffith, who resides overseas, says he was shocked to see the living conditions of his 82-year-old uncle when he visited him as soon as he arrived here late last month.

The angry and upset man said his uncle's home was now a dilapidated, collapsing shell in 4th Avenue, Goodland, St Michael.

The helpless old man spends his days in what is supposed to be a bedroom. It contains an old bed and a chair. On the floor is a bowl and a cup. The side of the room is collapsing and the sun's rays flash through the rotten ceiling.

A frail Cox sits on a chair and gazes helplessly around, seemingly unable to comprehend his dire surroundings.

Griffith takes up a plastic bag on the floor next to where the old man is sitting. He holds his nose and squirms as he points to its contents: old clothes, garbage and faeces.

"Someone cleaned him and left everything in this bag next to him," Griffth says angrily, as he asks his uncle if he was okay. The old man just looks at him with a blank stare.

He bends down and grabs his uncle's foot. "Look," he says, "he weighs about 50 pounds."

At the entrance to the room there is an old, battered, unused refrigerator. It is being used to block the door to prevent his uncle from leaving the room and wandering.

There is no furniture in the living room. An old gas stove perched on a table is the only thing that adorns the dining room.

The house has no electricity, no water and no telephone service.

"This is a man who is getting $2 500 a month from two pensions and this is the state he is living in. I am hurt and angry to see my uncle living like this. Anytime soon this house can blow down on top of him. When it rains he gets soaked. He is sick. He needs urgent care," Griffith cried.

He said when his uncle could no longer care for himself, he gave a female friend power of attorney to collect his pension.

"I don't know who the person is. All I hear is that people come here and give him food, but you mean to tell me with all the money he is getting, they could not pay to put him in a home and let him be cared for?"

After seeing how his uncle was living, Griffith said he contacted the National Assistance Board (NAB) and pleaded with them to get his uncle help.

"I was hurt when they told me that somebody had made a complaint about a month ago about my uncle. They said they visited the house but they could not get in. I don't know if they saw the door closed, but all they had to do was push it because it can't lock. I don't care where they put him as long as he is not in this position," he said.

He said his uncle had been good to him over the years.

"I remember the nights when I use to sit with him and drink and play cards," Griffith stated, adding Cox's wife predeceased him several years ago. He had one daughter who lived overseas all her life.

Griffith said he did not have the means to get his uncle out of his present condition, neither did his uncle have a close relationship with other family members.

He said while he was not relying solely on Government to help, he wanted the person who was "drawing" his uncle's money to put him in a home.

"He has worked hard all of his life. That is a lot of money that he is getting; the least they can do is put him in a home so that he can spend the rest of his days in comfort."

When contacted, NAB director Clayton Springer said while he was not aware of the situation, he would have the matter investigated.

However, he stated that the NAB usually conducted assessments with other agencies before making such decisions to institutionalise elderly people.

Springer added though there was a shortage of space at the institutions and such a process could take time.