Woman (47) with MS was put into nursing home after her care pulled
:: She isolated in her room in ‘nightmare’ situation as residents at facility died
A 47-YEAR-OLD woman was put in a nursing home for eight weeks during the height of the Covid-19 outbreak, because the HSE would not cover the cost of her home care.
Joanne Mulligan, who lives in Co Kildare, said she went through a “nightmare” as she tried to isolate herself from the virus, which infected at least 28 residents in the same nursing home.
The Irish Independent understands at least six people at the same nursing home passed away from Covid-19.
Ms Mulligan said she had been in tears most of the time and became depressed. She has now lost faith in the HSE after she was moved from her home to one of the most dangerous settings for Covid-19.
Ms Mulligan is originally from New Zealand but has lived in Ireland for 18 years. She lives alone with her dog and has no family in Ireland.
She has lived with MS for 25 years, is in a wheelchair, has limited use of her left arm and needs significant home care.
In March, the HSE disability services for Kildare and West Wicklow told her it could not cover the cost of her home care due to Covid-19. As the pandemic hit Ireland, the HSE started to write to a number of people across the country to warn that non-essential home care was being withdrawn.
Because she had no family to stay with, the HSE decided to cover the cost of admitting Ms Mulligan to a private nursing home. At the time, Ms Mulligan’s carers were strongly advocating for her to stay at home. When she arrived, she was assured that there was “no Covid” at the nursing home.
But within weeks, Ms Mulligan found out that 28 residents had tested positive for Covid-19.
She was never explicitly told whether anyone had died with Covid-19 at the home, but in the space of two weeks before testing was carried out 11 people passed away. In one night, four people died.
“That was at the point where I started to get quite scared about where I was, and what effect it could have on me,” Ms Mulligan said. She spent all of her time isolating in her room to try to protect herself.
“I felt so unsafe,” Ms Mulligan. Eventually, she started fighting to get out.
She got back in touch with the agency where her carers worked, and managed to get her home care reinstated. “If I hadn’t fought so hard, I’d still be there,” she said. Ms Mulligan has asked the
Irish Independent not to name the nursing home, because she said she didn’t blame it. She said there were some “very sweet souls” who helped her get through the experience.
She has called for all home carers to get a raise, because they “put their lives at risk” to help others.
Ava Battles, the chief executive of MS Ireland, said the pandemic had had a significant impact on people living with MS. Today is World MS Day. Ms Battles said access to timely health services was critical to ensuring people “can continue to carry out their activities of daily living and reduce the risk of secondary complications”.
The HSE referred the Irish Independent to the Kildare and West Wicklow HSE community team. It did not clarify if it was common practice during Covid-19 to accommodate people whose home care had been withdrawn in a nursing home.
The Kildare and West Wicklow HSE community team said it did not comment on individual cases. “HSE Social Care Services will follow up directly with Ms Mulligan,” a spokeswoman said.