Locust crisis picture nominated for photography award
Scottish Government’s records department should be compelled to release data showing how many residents diedineachcarehome. National Records of Scotland (NRS) has refused to provide a breakdown of deaths by care home but the Scottish Information Commissioner has confirmed an ongoing probe into that decision. A ruling could be made this week. One of Balhousie’s worst outbreaks came at its Lisden home in Kirriemuir where nine residents died. One carer at that home admitted working through the crisis left her with anxiety and depression.
The staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I am seeking mental health counselling to help with continuing night terrors and stress. “It was emotional coming home after work. I was scared for my family and felt I was putting them at risk being around them andworkinginthecarehome. “But the hardest thing was the decline in the residents after contracting the virus. It was like a domino effect.” A care home manager, who also asked to remain anonymous, said: “Caring for dementia patients who were Covidpositive was horrific. It was just so difficult. You could say a hundred times: ‘Let’s get you back to your room’ to keep them away from other residents. But it was very difficult.”
Balhousie chief executive Jill Kerr said the pandemic has had a devastating impact on staff, residents and their relatives: “The emotional toll has been huge. I couldn’t be more proud of how staff have stepped up to the enormous stress, extra work and responsibilities thrown at them.
“The last year has seen staff have to expand their skill-sets to get to grips with new practices, from wading through extra paperwork and gathering statistics to getting to grips with ever-changing infection prevention and control protocols.
“To date, 10 out of our 26 homes have had positive cases, five of these in the last month. Every day we live with the danger of the virus entering one of our homes. This last wave has been particularly virulent and we are under no illusion as to how quickly it can bring a care home almost to its knees. “Staff are absent, the remaining staff are caring for residents and supporting each other, and there is still a home to be run.”
As well as the emotional toll, the pandemic has had a huge financial impact on the care home company. Almost £250,000 was spent on personal protective equipment and additional cleaning measures, state-of-the-art thermal imaging equipment to take temperatures cost £170,000, and £100,000 was spent on sick pay. Kerr said: “Although our business has been damaged both emotionally and financially, we will recover. The sad fact is that many of our fellow care providers won’t. We already know of smaller providers who simply don’t have the capacity or financial leverage to cope with the additional pressures that have been put on the care sector.” Balhousie chairman Tony Banks said public confidence in the care sector was at an all-time low. He said: “We completely accept that the coronavirus crisis has put massive extra pressure on the NHS and that they deserve all the praise and support they’ve had. But some words and actions of support from politicians for care homes is needed too. “Our reputations have suffered hugely this last year. It’s time for the governments, both Scottish and UK, to invest in a campaign to boost public confidence in care homes, much as they have done with their campaign to promote the NHS.” Covid-19 deaths in care homes must be reported to the Care Inspectorate and that data is shared with the Scottish Government. The National Records of Scotland collects its own data from death certificates but neither the Inspectorate nor NRS publishes statistics that show the number of deaths in each care home. The Care Inspectorate said: “Where publication could substantially prejudice the health and safety of care service employees and residents, the commercial viability of care services and their ability to care for people we have a duty to take this into account.” Alan Wightman, of pressure group Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice, said: “Commercial confidentiality is no reason for not publishing Covid death rates. In reality, those seeking a care home have very little choice. It depends on which homes in the vicinity have a vacant room and, to a lesser extent, on who is paying the fees.” NRS said: “We have no current plans to release Covid related mortality data for individual care homes.”
The Scottish Government said: “Data on deaths in individual care homes are collected and held by National Records of Scotland not the Scottish Government. Any decision on the release of these data is therefore for NRS.”
I am seeking mental health counselling to help with continuing night terrors and stress. It was emotional coming home after work. I was scared for my family and felt I was putting them at risk being around them and working in the care home. But the hardest thing was the decline in the residents after contracting the virus. It was like a domino effect
Photographer Luis Tato’s stunning picture for the Washington Post – now nominated in the Sony World Photography Awards 2021 – illuminates why desert locusts are the most destructive migratory pests in the world with Covid slowing the fight to control them. Billions of locusts have been feeding throughout East Africa, devouring everything in their path, and posing a huge threat to the food supply and livelihoods of millions of people.
Farmers stand by as armies of ravenous insects eat their crops; meanwhile, herders watch the rangelands stripped bare before their livestock can get to them. Extreme rainfall events and severe weather anomalies have created ideal conditions for locust breeding and feeding. Swarms of desert locusts from the Arabian Peninsula began rampaging across East Africa in early 2020, devouring crop and vegetation. The crisis reached historic proportions, with 10 countries in the Greater Horn of Africa and Yemen experiencing infestations. Some areas of East Africa, such as Kenya, had not seen such severe desert locust outbreaks in more than 70 years.
He was one of the finest actors of a generation and was famed for playing misfits and troubled souls before his death at just 46.
Now Philip Seymour Hoffman is to be immortalised in his home city of New York thanks to an artwork created by one of Scotland’s leading sculptors. David Annand, noted for his lifesize bronzes and public art displayed around Britain and Ireland, told The Sunday Post he was thrilled to have received such a “superb commission”. It’s hoped the piece will be completed later this year.
He said the idea for the piece came from film producer James Declan Tobin, a close friend of the Hoffman family, who hopes the tribute will become a major attraction in New York. David, who is working on the statue at his studio in Fife, said: “James got in touch just under a year ago as he wanted to commission a memorial to Philip and we went from there. Philip’s mother’s family were from Ireland and
I’ve had a lot of work there, including a Rory Gallagher tribute in his home town of Ballyshannon, and James identified me from this. He had an idea for a statue and we decided to do the head first to see how it went.
“We got approval and a copy of this was going to go on exhibition with the Scottish Portrait Awards before things went on hold because of Covid.
“The full figure is about 110% life-size. I have been carrying out various adjustments and I hope it will be completed within a few months. James has been great to work with and it has been a really superb commission as it has evolved.”
David, who also sculpted a statue of comedians Billy Connolly and Chic Murray, which we revealed last month has lain in storage for more than 10 years amid an ongoing planning wrangle, said: “We want to capture Philip in the appropriate way. He is something of a chameleon in his films so it has been challenging but that’s what has made it such a rewarding commission. It will be cast this year and then we can look at exporting it to the US.”
Hoffman, a character actor who won a string of awards including the best actor Oscar for the title role in the 2005 film Capote, was hugely indemand thanks to his versatility, yet made a name playing offbeat types.
His credits also included Almost Famous, in which he played music critic Lester Bangs, as well as Moneyball and the Hunger Games series. A dad of three, he had been sober for 23 years before relapsing into drug misuse in 2013. He died following an overdose a year later.
Producer Tobin, originally from Waterford, Ireland, but who moved to the US in the 1990s, said: “I got to know the family via Phil’s brother Gordy a number of years ago and became friends also with their mum Marilyn, a remarkable woman who raised her children then retrained as a lawyer and became a judge. Her grandparents came from Cork and, although I was something of a more recent immigrant, we shared that bond.
“Phil’s death was a terrible time for them but his career and his achievements were a great source of pride and solace for his family. After he died there was a lot of shock but I didn’t want silence to eventually prevail. “I began looking for a sculptor outside the US and was drawn to David’s work of Rory Gallagher and got in touch. He has to be one of Europe’s finest sculptors and is a great match for what I am trying to do.
“Phil really left his mark and I thought it would be great if we could get him back to his family and back to the people of New York City.
“It’s David’s first US statue and it has been a privilege to work with him. We are looking for a home for it in New York and it would be a fitting tribute to Phil if it could become a landmark in the city.”