Ballymote Community Nursing Unit hoping for water delivery
LINDA Hannon who runs the Community Nursing Unit in Ballymote, a busy environment at the best of times, feels like she’s operating “in the dark” regarding the boil water notice.
They have 24 residents and 20 clients that go in every day for their dinner and meals.
Since the Monday evening 5 th February they’ve been busy: “It’s really added work. We had to close off everything, such as our water fountain and different things,” Linda tells The Sligo Champion in her office inside the front door.
She is warm, energetic and clearly holds the welfare of her clients as her top priority.
“It was just all very quick. I got on to the local councillors to see if they could get a delivery of water to us but so far nothing has come back from Irish Water to get us water from other sources and maybe get a delivery to the unit to help us stop boiling,” she said.
She says her staff are doing their best but “Irish Water has given us no official confirmation that we’re going to get anything, a container or a delivery of water just to help us out.
“For older people, if they got what Cryptosporidium can bring it would be devastating for them because they’re already immuno-compromised,” she said.
They haven’t had any clients fall ill in the last week said Linda.
“We’re always alert for the spread of the winter vomiting bug so it’s something we’d be highlighting anyway but so far thank God we haven’t had anyone showing any symptoms of Cryptosporidium, touch wood,” she said.
“It’s an added workload in an already busy environment. We got a delivery of water here today ourselves, we just went out and bought it. Hydration is so important but it’s not just that, it’s oral care, you’re using drinks for a lot of your treatments, for giving medication or mixing medication. It’s not just a case of having a drink.
“Every night it’s taking out their dentures and leaving them soak - they have to be in the boiled water as well. It’s not just a case of boiling water for their eating and drinking, it’s their whole health regime,” said Linda.
“It’s been constant trying to keep it flowing. Not only that, we’re in a place with elderly (people) - we have a lot of people with dementia. You’re advising them but it’s a case of upping that supervision.
“No matter how many times you tell, they might just forget so you’re going around making sure their not brushing their teeth or taking out their dentures and rinsing them with the tap water - just something simple like that,” she said.
Staff members are constantly changing jugs of water. An older person might spill a jug of water and that’s another jug of water that has to be boiled again.
“Big pots, they’re heavy and it’s work and you’re waiting for them to cool. It’s not like at home where you can wait or you can buy a bottle. You just have to be ready here,” she said.
The unit resorted to ordering their own delivery of water last Wednesday just to cut down on time spent boiling water.
“It’s difficult to keep the supply of boiled water coming all the time. It’s a tough one. It’s an extra workload on everyone, from the kitchen up to the care workers on the floor trying to make sure the residents are OK and they’re safe because that’s the most important thing,” she said.
Like others, Linda shares concerns about how long the boil water notice will be in place in Ballymote.
“We’re all very much in the dark. No one seems to know. I’ve tried to ask. I saw on one of the notices that Irish Water would hope to have a clear sample in a couple of weeks and I’m thinking ‘is this going on weeks, not days?”
“We’ve been given no information. There was no contact made. The first I heard of it was on Twitter. We weren’t given any instructions. It’s very much on your own bat. I just thought if there were a few simple notices for the older people, like a PDF I could print off. The Irish Water notice is not suitable for older people. They just need pointers,” she said.
Linda took it upon herself to print out large signs alerting residents and visitors to the dangers. “We didn’t get any official signs about it. Even if we had got a simple leaflet to explain to the older person about Cryptosporidium.
“It’s not just a case of not drinking the water. We even had people coming down from the Cluain Iosa houses - they’re not affiliated with us - asking us ‘can we wash the dishes?’,” she added.
“For older people it would be devastating ”