CARE HOMES AND REGULATIONS

This is my snippet for today. I have an old friend, Valerie, she is the same age as me, ninety three. About twelve, thirteen years ago she contracted leukaemia, and probably about nine years ago she went into a care home. Her illness affected her immune system and so today she is walking with a zimmer frame, is losing her eyesight and hearing, as well as having other problems. Nonetheless she has survived and is still in the care home.

I have to say that, as I have no family members, I have not been affected by any of the problems brought about by Covid on so many others. However, today I have been affected.

I had not contacted Valerie for a little while and, feeling a little guilty about it, recently rang her. Having rung three times and not had a reply, I rang the care home. The lady I spoke to regretted she could not give me any information about my friend Valerie. I realised, of course, that as I was not a relative, she could not do so. I felt very frustrated and, of course, somewhat upset.

This really brought me up short. Rules and regulations. What could I do? Naturally I feared the worst. Fortunately I had her son’s phone number. He told me that Valerie had contracted Covid on the 9th of January, but that she had recovered and was still in hospital. He gave me the name of the ward. I was amazed. Valerie really was a survivor!

I rang the hospital, waited patiently for a reply, finally someone answered and they put me through to the ward. I waited for several minutes for a reply and finally gave up.

I thought of walking over to the hospital, set out and realised I could not do it. I then rang the hospital again, spoke to another lady and explained my predicament. She gave me two direct numbers for the ward. My first attempt was unsuccessful. I tried again later and finally I reached a living being. It seemed my friend could not receive visits at the present time but he agreed to pass on a message to her.

I was greatly relieved to feel that at at least she would receive my message.

This is a only a very minor episode in the overall picture of what is going on at the moment.

I can accept that there have to be certain rules, but I do question the humanity of them, and whether it is sometimes permissible to break the rules. But that would have to be up to the judgment of the person concerned. Should we slavishly adhere to the rules?

This raises another question, I guess, about individual liberty which is raging at the moment. It probably also raises the question of what is going on for most of us and for those in high places.

I would love to hear what others think about this.