It’s up to Shirland Murray to accept the terms that would get her out of her unsanitary living conditions in Harbour View, The Pine, St Michael.
The obese woman weighs around 500 pounds and scarcely moves from her filthy multi-mattress bed, her naked body covered with nothing but bed sheets. She said she had suffered a stroke last year which further impaired her movements and due to that inactivity she also has several bedsores.
Murray’s story has been highlighted several times over the years, as far back as 2003. Then, she was with her husband Louis Murray in Brittons Hill but after a series of misadventures, the couple was relocated to The Pine and subsequently Louis was moved to a care facility by the National Assistance Board (NAB) as he had become blind and was not being properly cared for.
The more recent stories were done late last year and highlighted the neighbours’ disgust with the smell from Murray’s home.
Health officials have reportedly gone to the house, but nothing has been done due to Murray’s apparent reluctance to cooperate.
On Tuesday, chairman of the NAB, Senator Dr David Durant, and welfare officer Theresa Hamilton visited Murray at her home and she told them she could no longer fit into her shower; no longer had any clothes which could fit nor could she cut her long toenails.
Durant asked Murray if she would consent to a physical and mental evaluation, which was necessary before they could legally relocate her, to which she replied yes. Durant told the WEEKEND NATION she had refused previous queries pertaining to such.
Afterwards, Hamilton outlined the next steps they were going to take.
“I’m going to speak to the senior health sister as her nails need cutting and she needs a bath. [Dr] Durant will get the Environmental Health Department to sanitise the house and [the] Urban [Development Commission] to widen the shower entrance. We also have to get material to get something made for her to wear,” she said. (CA)
