Elderly people it seems are more susceptible to contracting the coronavirus as well as it being potentially more fatal for them owing to old age and its attendant underlying health issues. In all their lives, they have never had to deal with such a crisis and because of its frightening nature, they take all necessary precautions when stepping out.
One Canal Number Two pensioner, sixty-seven-year-old Parbatee Udit shared her life as a pensioner during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the times, she said, she stays at home, having nowhere to go. The few times she heads out is to purchase groceries, uplift her pension, visit the doctor, or sometimes check-in on the next door neighbour.
Speaking of her pension, Udit shared that she uplifts her pension at the Vreed-en-Hoop Post Office. Though the Wales Post Office is closer, the woman’s prefers to travel to Vreed-en-Hoop as the market is right there and she can purchase her groceries while she is out. She explained that the crowd at the office from the 1st to 5th of every month is often huge, so to avoid being among too many people, she waits until after the first week before heading to the post office. Sometimes she added, when things are financially difficult at home, she has no other choice but to go during the first part of the month.
“If you visit the post office from the 1st to the 5th, people would be line up from the post office and along the road. Last month when I went, we had to be on the road but they does work quick. I does go early so that I can finish quick and come back. Once the post office open at 8, they would take like about forty-five minutes to an hour to look after me. It got three or four of them [staff] at the counter and they seeing you quick. I wear my mask every time I go. They would space us out at the post office and sanitise our hands and check temperature,” said the woman.
Udit who lives alone spoke about how difficult it is to pay her utility bills when she has no one else supporting her financially. Every now and again, a daughter living abroad will send her some money but the woman said she cannot depend on that as her daughter has her own family to take care of also. She noted that she has been hearing rumours that the old-age pension will increase and hopes it turns out to be true. “Twenty thousand is nah no money when you got to buy medication…watch right now I owe the pharmacy for medication. I have to pay light bill and water bill. Many days I does deh in here, I does cry. I don’t ask nobody for nothing”, she shared.
Temple
Except for visiting the previously mentioned places, Udit said she otherwise stays in her house. The pandemic she added has prevented her from going to the temple as well.
“I don’t really go about the place because of the pandemic and also since my husband died last year November, I would stay in the house now”, said sixty-seven-year-old Janet Ramotar.
Ramotar sat in her verandah enjoying the afternoon breeze. Her daughter who lives next door would assist the woman by providing her meals and taking care of any chores in the house that need to be done. “I look forward to going to church since I don’t really go anywhere but because of the pandemic, the church close and I can’t go anywhere. The sisters them from the church does still come and visit me,” she said.
A diabetic, Ramotar is expected to use insulin but the health centre in the area doesn’t provide it. She therefore has to purchase her insulin and explained that by the time she gets her pension, half of the money is finished.
The doctor who was stationed at the Belle West Health Centre is currently working at the West Demerara Regional Hospital as result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A medic is now at the health centre filling in for her. The pensioner explained that at the time she was attending clinic, the pandemic hadn’t yet been confirmed here. Then following her doctor leaving and being replaced by the medic, Ramotar said she wore her mask once to the clinic to see the medic but when she realised there were no medications available at the health centre, she stopped going. In addition to being a diabetic, Ramotar also has issues using her right hand. Following her husband’s death a little more than half a year ago, she suffered a mini stroke. At first she was visiting a private doctor but the doctor’s consultation fee along with the medication and taxi works up to $15,000 per visit. It is cheaper to just purchase the serum prescribed. Three times a week she is given injections by a nurse from the health centre in the area. One injection costs $2,500.
“This is a scary thing [the pandemic]. I never, never had to deal with anything like this. I said like God putting an end to everything. Just imagine is China it come from and just shut down the whole world like that; my grandchildren them can’t even get to go to school,” said Ramotar.
While her daughter takes care of her utility bills, the woman said that her daughter doesn’t work but relies on her husband to provide for the family. However, the man who has been laid off from his job has now resorted to doing odd jobs. The family, Ramotar said, also are farming cash crops. Even though she doesn’t pay utility bills, she wishes that the current administration would bring back subsidised utility bills which would ease the financial burden on her daughter.
Garden
Adia Mangri, a sixty-seven-year-old woman was busy in her garden watering her plants when this newspaper reached out to her. Mangri is another pensioner who lives alone. Just recently she was the victim of a robbery. While she was out, thieves broke into her home and made off with several household appliances.
Mangri collects her pension at the Agricola Post Office. “Here they don’t have plenty crowd; I does take less than half an hour there. We sit far away from one another. They would test our temperature and provide sanitisers for us to sanitise our hands,” the woman said.
Her pension, she noted, is not enough to sustain her which has led to her planting cash crops. Currently, she only has okra to sell and had already put together some that she was preparing to go out and sell. She showed a face mask she had nearby that she promised she would use once she was outside.
Doodmatty Budhoo, a soft-spoken elderly woman lives with her daughter. A heart patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital as well as a diabetic and hypertensive case, she refrains from travelling anywhere unless it’s to the doctor. Sometimes she goes back and forth between two of her daughters.
The daughter she currently lives with, uplifts her pension for her to avoid her having to be in a crowd.
Budhoo visits the hospital once a month to see her doctor. However, medications for her are to be collected twice a month. When she visits her doctor, she picks up one set of her medications while her daughter picks up her medication the second time around. Most of the times however, she said, the hospital doesn’t have medications and she is required to purchase them. She began attending clinic following a heart operation in December of 2018.
According to the woman, the hospital staff will ensure that their hands are washed or hand sanitised, their temperatures are checked and that they are spaced three feet apart in the waiting area while waiting to see the doctor. Speaking of wearing the facemask, Budhoo said, “I would suffocate whenever I wear the mask. I would have to pull down the mask steady to breathe properly.”
The woman noted that while she has the help of her daughter to assist her with meals and other necessities, there isn’t anything she can assist with financially even if she wanted too, since her medication runs up to $12,000/$14,000 a month along with the cost of a taxi which is $3,000 one way.
Nine crabs
Dwarka Persaud had walked out of his yard to take a look at the nine crabs the crab vendor was selling for a thousand dollars. He left it up to his son to decide whether to make the purchase. He is a retired forklift operator for Guysons Engineering Ltd.
He is the patriarch of his family and his wife, three sons, and a daughter live with him.
Persaud put in twenty-three-years of unbroken service and was presented with a plaque in honour of his service. He began working at the company as a handyman, working the lowest wage at Guysons and later elevating himself to a working as a forklift operator. By the time he retired, he was working for $18,000 a week.
Currently, the man is looking forward to his payout of twelve weeks pay which is due to any worker of the company once they had worked fifteen years or more according to Persaud. The pensioner said that he has never had any problems with the owner of the company who after he told him he was planning on retiring as he was approaching sixty-five years of age, had encouraged him to go ahead and do so as well as filing for his benefits. Persaud said when he finally presented the boss with his letter, the man told him that it was up to him to give him whatever he wanted to give him. The pensioner said he never received any money and he is still waiting to be paid what he says is owed to him. “After a while, he tell me to give he two weeks then when I go back, he telling me, I can’t rush he, that he just trying to see with me. I said ‘boss, I working with you all these years and this is what you telling me’”, said Persaud.
The pensioner eventually went to the Ministry of Labour but nothing came of it. This is when he went to the then opposition, now the current administration. He spoke to attorney-at-law, Sonia Parag (now Minister of Public Service) who decided to look into the matter but owing to the elections, nothing was done. Two weeks ago, he tried reaching out to Parag through another colleague at the law office but was unable to. He intends trying again soon with hopes of her handing over his documents to now Minister of Labour, Joe Hamilton.
Along with his old-age pension, Persaud receives a NIS pension of $35,000 but this is not enough. Sadly, doctors have given up on Persaud’s wife who has been diagnosed with cancer. The man shared that he has depleted his savings having numerous tests done on his wife at the private and public hospitals. She is currently at home being cared for by him and a daughter while his youngest son takes him around with the family car whenever he needs to pay utility bills and to uplift his old-age and NIS pension.
According to the man he pays an average of $7,000 to $8,000 on light bill but for the month of June he was sent a bill totaling $16,000 plus and another bill for July at more than $15,000. Despite querying the bills, the Guyana Power and Light staff told him that those were the estimated amounts and he is expected to pay. Persaud noted that he would understand if he bought new electrical appliances that would possibly hike the bill but nothing has changed with regard to how much electricity is used and how many appliances are used also. The man further said that he has two sons who work at stores in Georgetown but their wages are not much.
While he waits and looks forward to receiving his remuneration, Persaud hopes the current administration will increase the old age pension which would surely ease expenses if only a little.
Speaking of the atmosphere and the manner in which COVID guidelines are followed when at the post office or NIS office, Persaud explained that because they have a family car, he does not have to take public transportation. Whenever he is about to leave the car, he takes care to put on his face mask. With the post office working via an alphabetical system, Persaud is required to go the first week in every month. If the place is too crowded, then he sits and waits in the car until the crowd lessens. Both these public places he noted are taking the necessary precautions to prevent the contracting of the virus.
Persaud also visits the supermarket whenever the family needs groceries but he added he is careful to wear his mask at all times.
