Midlands woman and her carer son seeking more support from HSE

AN elderly Midlands woman and her carer son are seeking more support from the HSE but are feeling a sense of despair because their pleas are not being listened to.

Mary and Declan Finnerty live in Finian’s Park housing estate in the village of Kinnitty and Mary’s health has not been good for several years. Declan has been her carer for the last eight years.

He told the Tribune that his mother’s mobility is not great and she requires the use of a walker. For this reason he feels that they would qualify for a Carer’s Allowance.

“I am the only thing between my mother and a nursing home,” said Declan. “We are getting some help from the system, which is very welcome and essential, but we definitely need more assistance than that, and it’s not forthcoming. I have applied three times for a Carer’s Allowance and each time it has been rejected. It’s rejected because they say my mother is mobile.

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"She is suffering from really bad arthritis, high blood pressure and an irregular heart beat. She is on a walker. Their definition of the word ‘mobile’ is a very strange definition of the word. They don’t see what I see on a daily basis. They don’t see her daily struggles. We have asked for a wheelchair for her as well but the HSE won’t give her a wheelchair because they say she is too heavy for it and she would need a special wheelchair. However, whenever she has been in hospital there has been no problem with her using regular wheelchairs. Having a wheelchair would mean she could use the local buses and take trips to Birr Nursing Unit. It would mean I could wheel her to her friends’ houses in the village and take her out into the fresh air.”

Mary also finds negotiating the steps outside the house extremely difficult, but the HSE refuses to install a ramp.

Declan is 41 years of age and previously worked as a Security Officer in Tullamore, for a period of four years. He left his job eight years ago because he needed to be a full-time carer for Mary.

He points out that he knows someone who is caring for a relative that suffers from epilepsy.

“The person who is suffering from epilepsy is very mobile, much more mobile than my mother is, and yet her carer is getting a Carer’s Allowance. It doesn’t make sense to us.”

Declan is currently participating in a Tús scheme which entails work in the village’s catholic church. However, this scheme only lasts a year and his future is uncertain after that.

“If I was to get the Carer’s Allowance then it would mean I would be able to be a full-time carer for my mother and there won’t be any compulsion on me to do anything else,” he said.

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Declan has contacted politicians several times about his case but nothing has come of it.

“I also spoke to Citizens Information and MABS and they both said that, in their view, we are entitled to a Carer’s Allowance.”

He adds that a home help nurse visits their home every day.

“She is brilliant and her help is invaluable, but she will be on holidays soon, for a week, and we’ve been told there is no replacement for her for that week. It’s another example of how we are getting some assistance but not enough.”