Man let down by caregiving service
The loved ones of a severely disabled Invercargill man are upset he has been removed from his caregiver and may have to spend the rest of his life in a hospital.
Blake McMath, 22, who is totally dependent on others for his care, has spent the last decade living in the home of caregiver Karen McIlhone, who does contract work for Idea Services.
Idea Services, the support arm of IHC, provides support to people with intellectual disabilities.
Blake suffers from drome, a progressively worsening metabolism disorder which has seen him lose his ability to speak and walk. Sufferers do not normally live beyond their early 20s.
McIlhone and Blake’s father, Bill McMath, wanted Blake to remain living at McIlhone’s place, which they said was a loving home environment where he was part of the household and taken on regular outings in his wheelchair.
McIlhone said she could continue looking after Blake if Idea Services continued to provide a staff member to help her get him into the shower and into bed each day.
However, Idea Services took Blake out of McIlhone’s care a month ago and put Sanfilippo syn- him into the Calvary Hospital/rest home fulltime, she said.
An Idea Services spokeswoman said they could not discuss individual cases.
However, in situations such as Blake’s, where people were unable to make decisions for themselves, some people made decisions in the best interests of the individual, including family and medical experts.
‘‘We support any decision that is in the best interests of the individual.’’
Bill McMath said he had told Idea Services he did not want his son moved away from McIlhone and into the hospital and he was unimpressed how the organisation had handled the issue.
If Blake had to go to hospital it should have been done slowly, over a period of time, rather than suddenly, he said.
‘‘He may be handicapped and crippled but he is a human being. They should treat him with respect and not dump him like that.’’
Idea Services had told him Blake needed more care; and it couldn’t continue providing staff to go into McIlhone’s home on a daily basis to help put him in the shower and into bed, he said.
McIlhone said Blake had lived with her for the last decade, apart from four days each month, which he spent at Calvary Hospital/rest home.
She was upset he had gone and wanted him back at her place.
Idea Services had told her Blake’s needs had changed and he needed more help and they didn’t have the staff to help her, she said. She disagreed his needs had changed. Blake was ‘‘like a son’’ to her because she had cared for him since he was 12.
‘‘He is just an amazing young man,’’ she said.
‘‘He goes through so much but he just takes it in his stride.’’
She had no concerns with the professional care he was receiving at Calvary Hospital, but believed he would not receive the emotional care he was used to.
‘‘I believe Blake will get the basic care [at Calvary Hospital] but he won’t get the time where we sit with him and hold his hand and stroke his hair and talk to him.
‘‘I just want him home because he is better off in a family environment. And that was the plan, that he would die here. I talked to [Blake’s father] about it and Blake was going to be here until he passed.’’
Margaret Brown, manager of Calvary Hospital, confirmed Blake had been at the hospital fulltime for the past month.
Blake received good nursing care at the hospital, was well looked after and taken out twice a week to a ‘‘day base’’ in the city, she said. Idea Services had asked the hospital if it would have Blake permanently and they had agreed, but Brown said she had not yet received a letter confirming the arrangement.
"He may be handicapped and crippled but he is a human being. They should treat him with respect and not dump him like that." Bill McMath on his son Blake