Old and alone in Johor Baru nursing home

[Karu]

 

 

Wah KHAW!!!

 

So who gave the family the idea to dump their mother at JB?? At JB, the social welfare group or whatever u call it, cannot do anything to the family but in S'pore, they have some laws on this, right??

 

http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews...2-292240/2.html

 

Old and alone in Johor Baru nursing home

 

IN A nursing home in Johor Baru, a 90-year-old woman waits patiently for a visit from her family. Her memory isn't the sharpest.

 

When asked if she has had visitors in the year since she moved into City Heart Care nursing home, she was silent.

 

The assistant admin manager of the home, known only as Ms Abi, shook her head in response to this reporter's question.

 

Madam Kong A W is one of 14 Singaporeans who live at the nursing home, said the owner of the home, Mr Jeremy Yeo.

 

Most enjoy visits from their families who live across the Causeway. The nursing home is a 30-minute drive from the Woodlands Checkpoint.

 

A typical nursing home in Singapore charges about $1,000 a month for each patient.

 

A check with four JB nursing homes indicated monthly fees ranging between $610 and $800 for a month's stay.

 

Mr Yeo, a Malaysian in his late fifties, claimed that Madam Kong's family stopped paying for her nursing home bills after her son died.

 

Said Ms Abi: "She (Madam Kong) has not asked about her family, and we have not told her. To her, we (the nurses and caregivers) are her family."

 

When The New Paper on Sunday visited the nursing home two weeks ago, Madam Kong was chattering incoherently to nurses in a mixture of Malay and Hokkien.

 

Around her in the room, other patients watched TV from their beds.

 

Outside the window in the yard, a visitor, a woman in her 60s, was feeding a patient.

 

Madam Kong's face lit up when she was offered some traditional Chinese New Year peanut cookies from a roommate, a Chinese Malaysian in her sixties.

 

"Kamsia, kamsia (thank you in Hokkien)," she said.

 

Said Mr Yeo: "I cannot put her out on the streets, can I? It's not right to throw her out."

 

While he said that her case is exceptional, he also revealed that he has "two or three" other similar cases involving patients whose relatives stop paying for them to be kept in the nursing home. These other patients are Malaysian, he added.

 

Mr Yeo said Madam Kong was first admitted to the nursing home on June 29 last year.

 

As she is bedridden and requires a higher level of care, her stay at the home should cost $800 a month.

 

He said that Madam Kong's son and daughter-in-law paid $900 for her first month's stay there, and then only $400 the following month.

 

But soon after, Madam Kong's daughter-in-law called the home to inform Mr Yeo that Madam Kong's son had died.

 

He said: "The only time I saw her and her husband was when Madam Kong was first admitted.

 

"She called some time later to say that her husband had died, and that she had no money to make any further payments."

 

So Madam Kong has been staying at the home for free since August last year. This arrangement is set to continue until she dies, said Mr Yeo.

 

He added: "We tried to contact her family many times, but were not successful. They also have not come to visit since admitting her.

 

"So we just take care of her...As long as we can cover costs, I will take care of her."

 

TNPS tried calling Madam Kong's daughter-in-law with the contact numbers Mr Yeo gave, but the calls went unanswered.

 

Ms Abi said the home does not stint on the services Madam Kong receives, including food and diapers.

 

"There is no difference in the way she is treated (as compared to the others in the home)," she said.

 

City Heart Care is made up of nine bungalows situated within walking distance of each other.

 

Five of the bungalows are owned by Mr Yeo, while the other four are rentals.

 

The home employs a total of 40 staff, made up of nurses, cooks, and caregivers.

 

A doctor and physiotherapist also makes house calls when necessary.

 

Of the home's 125 residents, 14 are Singaporeans.

 

Mr Yeo said that Singaporean residents began arriving at the home one year after it opened in 1993.

 

The longest-staying Singaporean is a woman who has lived there since 1994. Her family pays $550 a month of nursing home bills, he said.

 

Said Mr Yeo: "For the first few years after we opened, we had about two to three Singaporean residents check in each year.

 

"Nowadays, we get at least five a year...We also receive enquiries over the phone frequently."

 

The high demand for beds at the home has prompted Mr Yeo to buy and develop a tenth bungalow.

 

"The renovations will be done in about three months and, by then, we will be able to accommodate a maximum of 140 residents," he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Joseph22]

so touching.

 

if only our nursing home are like this.

[Jman888]

so touching.

 

if only our nursing home are like this.

 

 

there are some not many, a lot of administrative work that has taken most of their time. My wife said some philippino also very caring

[Zanter]

Not a easy choice to place parents in nursing home esp in JB but what has KBW or Govt to do with it? Dump there & dont pay the bill is downright unfilial. Good thing about being old is that you dont when remember you are being dumped by own children. At least the home didn't just dump her back to the streets of Singapore.

[Karu]

so touching.

 

if only our nursing home are like this.

 

If all do that, many will follow this family's example of not paying up & disappearing...

 

Now it only happens in JB, so not really our govt's prob...

 

[Sdf5725]

at least it is fortunate that madam kong is still being taken care of. if it was in singapore, then the consequences afterwards may be very serious.

[LoverofCar]

This is the sad thing to hear...citizen had to died away from home..

[ChickenMob]

At least good to know that kind people still exist.

[Doosan]

If all do that, many will follow this family's example of not paying up & disappearing...

 

Now it only happens in JB, so not really our govt's prob...

 

 

[Doosan]

At least good to know that kind people still exist.

 

yes, in bolehland infact

[Lala81]

There are such abandonment cases in almost every VNH in singapore.

NH usually don't throw out patients.