Staff reporter Arlene Martin-Wilkins – under the guise of a potential client shopping around for a nursing home to place a relative – made unannounced visits to three golden age homes in the corporate area. This is what she found.

IT is midday and 84 year-old Everard Dyce and two of his grey-haired colleagues are idling under two huge mango trees near the gate to his place of residence, the Vineyard Town Golden Age Home.

Dyce’s friendly face, which features an almost permanent smile, gives little indication of his feelings of being separated from his family for more than a decade.

He is active, and stands ready to point visitors in the right direction around the facility. After all, he has called the infirmary home for the past 13 years.

“I have three children but was never married, and that is why I am here,” he said.

“I am happy, though,” he added.

A few metres away from Dyce, his tall, stern-looking, time-conscious colleague keeps check on the time of day, for no apparent reason, since he has no appointments pending.

“Do you have any idea what is the time?” he asks at regular intervals.

Upstairs a nearby building, in a not-so-modern but well-kept administrative office, a handful of clerks tap away on computer keyboards, while finding time to give valuable information about how one becomes a resident at the infirmary.

“The process starts at Poor Relief,” a clerk advised. That’s the public agency responsible for government-sponsored homes.

A few metres away, in a garden encircled by two small buildings, two female staff members play a game of dominoes under the shade of a huge almond tree.

Inside a well-decorated room, outfitted with a fridge, microwave, a combi-robe, bouquets and baskets of fruits, a 93 year-old woman listens to a day-time talk show. She’s half-blind but alert and readily declares that she is well cared for.

A year and six months ago, Vineyards had made headlines after one of its charges was found dead, savaged by dogs. The horrid event sparked much discussions and incited calls for investigations into the management of old people’s homes.

Amy Murphy, 82, was reportedly attacked and bitten to death by a pack of stray dogs, said initial reports, but it was later confirmed by post mortem that the golden-ager had died hours before the dogs got to her body.

Nonetheless the incident changed the whole face of local infirmaries. They still face financial challenges, but the complaints about the quality of care are few.

Vineyards, a 20-year-old facility, was transformed into showpiece model for state-run nursing homes, to replace the Eventide Home where 150 seniors died in a fire in 1980.

On Tuesday, the home was living up to its motto “A home away from home”.

The facility which consists of eight clusters, now houses 334 seniors, some of whom were former residents at the Slipe Pen Road based Eventide.

It’s a quiet, clean facility. There were no unpleasant smells, no old equipment.

“It is this quiet, because we have decent adults here,” said Ouida Martin, who has been working at the facility for 20 years.

Martin, a ward assistant, seemed loved by her old friends. And she readily returns the favour.

Though the Sunday Observer had dropped in unannounced, the staff at the home unreservedly gave a tour of the facility. The bathrooms were clean, the dining areas inviting.

Residents, we were told, are taken out on occasion and those who are able and alert are allowed to leave the facility unsupervised.

The Sunday Observer also popped in at the Denham Town Golden Age Home Wednesday. There ‘Miss Lucey’ was being tended to by the home’s caregiver – a petite woman who wears a warm smile.

Miss Lucey can do little for herself, having lost both her legs to diabetes.

“Mi handicap,” she said “So they have to look after me.”

For Miss Lucey, the infirmary is “home” and its staff her closest friends.

The Denham Town home can be best described as a small community.

The sparsely furnished but clean housing units there, some boasting fresh coats of paint, provide shelter for 64 seniors but has the capacity for 90.

The remaining space, according to head matron Jacinth Bonner, is reserved for those seniors who will be displaced as a result of the inner city housing project.

Most of the residents at that home have illnesses of some kind; some are blind others deaf, and some are just ‘infirm’.

None complained of ill treatment. Instead, there were hugs and kisses for Patricia Pious, the chief launderer, as she moved around d the facility – her job for the past 16 years.

The situation at the George Abrahams home in August Town was just a bit different.

Its residents are mostly independent. They do their own laundry, cook and clean for themselves. Each resident has his/her own kitchen. The only shared space are the bathrooms – one per two residents – washing and recreational areas.

“We only take able-bodied people – those who can help themselves,” said social worker Donnette Perry, who was making one of her routine checks at the facility on Wednesday.

“When they get very shaky we transfer them to Vineyard Town; that has nurses and 24-hour supervision,” added Perry, who was advised by the Sunday Observer of the unscheduled home visits and their purpose.

On Wednesday, the strong aroma of Soflan filled the air as Miss Maud gave her bed linens the final rinse before hanging them out to dry.

She is one of the nine residents at the facility and occupies a room all by herself that is cluttered with her life’s possessions, among them a whatnot and a cabinet with her dining wares and kitchen utensils.

Outside, another female with a make-shift broom rakes fallen leaves in the backyard. Her frame is bent, but she carries on for the sake of keeping her surroundings clean.

According to Perry, the George Abrahams home is subject only to routine checks. The Poor Relief office tends to residents’ needs, such as food and medical care.

martina@jamaicaobserver.com