Johanne’s horror at the treatment of family carers
AS A carer for 36 years, Johanne Powell is painfully aware of how hard family carers have to battle for support services.
The Fethard-on-Sea woman sees the failure to prioritise carers in the vaccination programme as further proof that carers are being discriminated against.
Johanne’s daughter Siobhan died last August leaving a huge void in her and her husband Alan’s lives.
‘I have watched in horror at the present debacle around the Minister for Health and vaccination of carers. Our daughter Siobhan died in August. She was 37 and severely disabled, both physically and intellectually. We are of course heartbroken, but the continued help and support from all the carers across the country has been a great comfort and help,’ Johanne said.
Johanne said as her husband Alan is now over 70, he will probably be vaccinated early, adding ‘since I’m over 65, I should not be too far behind’.
‘What I find really horrible is that the two of us, in very reasonable health, thank you very much; will be vaccinated before our fellow carers (after 36 and a half years as a carer, I still identify as one). We should not be a priority. People who are locked up at home trying to cope with children and adults and old people in a lockdown should be prioritised.’
She said the Minister of Health seems to have no understanding of what family carers are. ‘We do not all care for old people, so when he says the people we care for will be vaccinated before us, that is simply not true. Children under 16 will not be vaccinated at all, and as far as I am aware, people with disabilities are not a priority group in itself, and actually for people with very complicated diagnosis vaccination may be contraindicated.
‘Carers are being discriminated against in many ways. Pay and conditions and pensions, and now we are being ignored again. Paid carers are being prioritised. So is there any other reason that we are cheap, and presumably expendable?
‘If my carer friends get Covid-19, there are no plans for how the people they care for will be minded and if the people they care for catch Covid-19, there are no plans for how they will be treated.’
Some of Johanne’s friends are caring for more than one person and she posed the question: ‘if one of them catches Covid 19, what happens to the other one? You can’t practise isolation in a home with a person with disabilities, you cannot leave them at home while you spend the days and nights with the infected person in hospital. You can’t leave them alone in hospital, especially not if they have communication difficulties or moderate, severe or profound intellectual disabilities. From the very start of this crisis, the state has totally ignored the very real need of the disability society and the people who care for them. We have been taken for granted, the state is very well aware that we love the people we care for and they are taking full advantage of this.’
PEOPLE WHO ARE LOCKED UP AT HOME TRYING TO COPE WITH CHILDREN AND ADULTS AND OLD PEOPLE IN A LOCKDOWN SHOULD BE PRIORITISED