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Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2021-04-26 18:25
Last update date: 2021-04-26 18:28
The common homicide case of the North Point Shuang Lao Lun revealed last Saturday (24th) has once again aroused social concern for the caregivers to "care for the elderly with the elderly" and "care for the elderly with the disabled", which brings heavy physical and mental pressure.
The case of a caregiver killing a patient and then committing suicide is by no means an isolated incident, reflecting that there is still a shortage of support for caregivers in the society.
The government must examine the loopholes in the system from this case and other cases, including regularizing caregiver allowances and increasing the number of day care centers and home care services.
The old woman in the case suffered from Parkinson’s disease ten years ago. The children moved out at an early age and were taken care of by her husband alone. However, at the end of last year, her husband's health deteriorated and his mobility was inconvenient. One of the sons moved back to his parents’ home to assist in the care. Unfortunately, the son went out. As soon as he returned home, he found that his father was hanging and his mother was unconscious. As a result, the two died.
After the incident, the police found the suicide note of the two elders and are investigating the case following the direction of murder and suicide.
The neighbourhood pointed out that the two have a loving relationship, but recently saw her husband languish, and saw old women and young children go out.
The outside world therefore estimated that the murder was due to the husband's gradual weakness, and it was difficult to withstand the pressure of taking care of the old wife for a long time, so the torture ended by killing his wife and then committing suicide.
A couple at Wai Man Building in North Point were found unconscious at home.
(Photo by Wang Yiyang)
Caregiver killing relatives of sick patients happened repeatedly
Parkinson's disease is a chronic disease, and the condition will get worse over the years. The caregiver must push the wheelchair for the patient, hold it from the side, and even feed. It requires considerable physical strength and endurance.
According to the available information, the husband involved in the case has already fulfilled the responsibility of caring for his sick wife, and his family is willing to take over. The problem is that the caregiver has lost all his thoughts and refused his family’s kindness by suicide.
In fact, similar cases are not uncommon in recent years. For example, last year there were at least two cases where caregivers killed sick family members and then committed suicide or surrendered. There were at least one case each in 2017 and 2018.
In order to prevent similar tragedies from happening again, outsiders should help caregivers avoid accumulating stress and intervene in the care work as soon as possible to provide them with breathing space.
These interventions cannot only be as simple as asking for help from relatives, friends and neighbors. Rather, they can delegate the responsibility of caring for the sick to a trustworthy person when needed. To do this naturally involves the allocation of social service resources.
To fully implement support for caregivers, we must first implement the "carer-oriented" caregiver policy.
Provide caregiver allowance
The quickest way to achieve results will naturally be for the government to provide subsidies to these caregivers.
Allowances can support them to purchase care services from outside, in exchange for a little time and space for rest. It can also make caregivers feel rewarded and respected, and slow down the accumulation of negative emotions in their hearts.
In the process of accepting applications and following up cases, the department can also have a better understanding of the current situation of caregivers and provide timely support.
However, the current government's caregiver allowance has a high threshold and a small amount, and a large number of families cannot benefit.
Since 2014, the SWD has introduced subsidies for carers and carers of the disabled on a trial basis, but by the end of 2019, there were only more than 4,300 applicants in the two groups, which only reached about half of the beneficiary quota, and it was difficult to satisfy the eagerness of community carers Demand.
Furthermore, the caregiver is only paid out 2,400 yuan per month, which can barely cover the three-hour home care or escort service twice a week, and its functions are quite limited.
Therefore, it is necessary to relax and regularize such plans so that more families of caregivers can receive assistance.
Although the Department stated that the trial is for non-CSSA and elderly living allowance families, there is no overlap between family care and daily living expenses, and the caregiver allowance is not intended to alleviate the poor. Therefore, the authorities use double benefits to refuse to expand the allowance. inappropriate.
The Hong Kong Women’s Center Association investigated earlier women’s problems as family caregivers under the epidemic and their expectations for epidemic prevention policies.
(Photo by Lao Minyi)
Development of day and accommodation services
Of course, compared with money, adequate, high-quality and affordable care services can relieve caregivers in the long run.
In addition to the construction of residential care homes for the elderly, it is also important to increase day care and short-term residential services. Many families always hope that patients stay in the family and the community to reunite.
However, as we all know, it takes a long time to wait for subsidized care services. Integrated home care services or improved home and community care services take an average of nine months, and it takes 13 months to wait for services in day care centres for the elderly.
In the eastern district where this case occurred, the elderly population reached 17.9%, ranking among the forefront of the 18 districts, and there were only three day care services. The supply obviously lags behind the demand.
Since 2018, the government has purchased additional residential respite places from private nursing homes, but the total number is only more than 300, and the geographical distribution is uneven. Unless the elderly family members are willing to use them across districts, they are still useless.
Since the current government has promised to build more elderly care facilities, including the use of 20 billion yuan of public funds to purchase a part of the field to provide day care centers, it must be implemented as soon as possible.
Elderly caregivers cannot bear the pressure of caring and the family members of the patients are on a dead end, so society must not remain indifferent.
More importantly, as the population ages, the number and needs of caregivers will only increase in number in the future.
The government should use public money to improve the quality of life of patients and their families, so that they have hope.
Officials must prove their willingness to share their worries with caregivers through actions. The first priority is to implement caregivers' allowances, and the funds are sufficient to constantly purchase care services in the private market.
For carers living in the same room, the government must speed up the increase in day care and respite places at the same time, so as to really give the family room to breathe and avoid the recurrence of common tragedies.
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