By:
Patricia Thangaraj
By Patricia Thangaraj
Incidences of elderly abuse occur more frequently than most people think.
According to Pastor and Co-Founder of Restoration Ministries International, Senator David Durant, he gets many calls a week regarding cases of elderly abuse.
“There are still quite a lot of cases of them. Elderly abuse is almost on a daily basis. Throughout the week, you can get several calls. Even today as we speak, I have already gotten two calls and I am sure that before the night is over, I may get another one.”
This form of abuse can range from physical and emotional abuse to stealing seniors’ pension cheques and when the church gets phone calls of these incidences, they contact the relevant authorities and work with them to get these elderly persons out of their current situation.
Speaking with the Barbados Advocate recently in his office, he said that working with this group of people is therefore one of his and the church’s goals for 2017.
“I have a lot of work with the elderly and I want this year to continue to reach more elderly persons who are very vulnerable…. So I want to continue to reach them and help them to enjoy a better life.”
In this regard, his church continues to partner with such organizations as the Urban Development Commission (UDC) to assist these persons whenever and wherever they need help, says Pastor Durant.
“If they have to be removed from where they are because of the conditions, then we have to ask the UDC and so forth to help do repairs to their house. If they have to have homecare, then we have to send homecare workers to their place to help bathe them and feed them. We do things like that. If they need medication and so forth, we would go and get that for them … so there are many ways in which we are seeking to help the elderly communities.”
The Senator added that in this regard, he would like to see Barbadians showing more love and respect for the elderly.
“There are challenging times out there. We need to treat our old people better. I would like our people to have a greater love, sensitivity, compassion and care for the elderly in our communities. Many of them are getting older, they are becoming more frail and also they are getting early signs of dementia [in some cases] and what they need from us is an understanding heart, a caring spirit, patience and they need to trust us as well. That is an important thing – trust and they need to know that they are safe with you. That is important too and I think that once elderly people feel a sense of safety, it helps them.”
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