"If there is no sister (foreign domestic helper), I will take her and die together!" A 61-year-old wife with congenital poliomyelitis was taken care of by her husband Wu Bojun, a 66-year-old TVB artiste, for the first half of her life, but 4 After her husband was diagnosed with ALS a year ago, their roles and identities were reversed. The wife resigned to take care of her husband around the clock. Every day, she leaned on her petite and weak half to help her husband get in and out of bed for feeding, toileting and showering. She had to get up twice in the early morning. She helps her husband to reflex himself and is open all year round. Three years ago, she hired a foreign domestic helper to relieve the pressure of taking care of her. However, facing an additional monthly subsidy of more than 10,000 yuan to help her family expenses, she was worried that one day her savings would be exhausted, and the two veterans would not be able to face the difficulties.
The platform for carers of people with disabilities urges the government to strengthen assistance to the families of patients, so that the common tragedy of carers killing relatives will not happen again.
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The first half of life was taken care of by a healthy husband 4 years ago, the roles were reversed
The 61-year-old Mrs. Wu is only about 5 feet tall and relatively petite. She suffers from congenital poliomyelitis. She also suffers from blue and white eyes, cataracts, severe myopia and presbyopia. Not only is her vision unclear, she is also weak on one side of her body. , when going up and down the stairs, she stumbles, making her movement inconvenient. It is hard to imagine that she has to take care of her husband Wu Bojun, a 66-year-old, 1.77-meter-tall former TVB veteran artist.
"She likes to kick the waves. Before she got sick, she weighed 69 kilograms. It's important to be thin, but no matter how thin she is, she falls to the ground, and I am completely unable to help her get into bed or in a wheelchair."
The two couples have been married for many years and also have stable jobs. They live in a unit in Lijing without worry. Mrs. Wu said that she relied on her able-bodied husband for the first half of her life to take care of them, and their love was as good as ever.
At the beginning of 2018, my husband found that he could not do careful actions such as brushing his teeth, bending over and picking up his hands, and even fell out of balance. So he was admitted to the hospital for examination and was finally diagnosed with a motor nerve cell disease commonly known as "gradual freezing disease", and his body function would gradually decline to death. , is basically incurable.
In order to take care of her husband, Mrs. Wu decided to quit her job and stay at home to take care of each other. In the early stage of her illness, her husband could still take care of himself, such as walking slowly or moving his body. After that, his condition deteriorated. In the past two or three years, it has become 70% of the whole day. Time to lie on the bed, every hour she has to pick up her husband and put her on the sofa to stretch her muscles, and every hour she sits back on the bed, plus her neck and swallowing muscles are weak, she has to stir the porridge and minced meat into pieces. She feeds her in a paste form, inserts a urinal to urinate, and gets in and out of bed at least 6 to 7 times a day. Mrs. Wu's weak body is no longer able to take care of her alone. Three years ago, she had to hire a foreign domestic helper to reduce the pressure of taking care of her.
A 64-year-old patient with muscular dystrophy relies on a wheelchair to travel and hire a foreign domestic helper to take care of his daily life
Mrs. Wu made no secret that the arrival of the foreign domestic helper can assist at least 80-90% of the daily care work, but some must be done by her alone. For example, only one person can pass sideways in the toilet at home. Husband, "every time I finish my prostration." My husband only stays in one sleeping position after falling asleep, which may cause pressure sores or pressure on certain muscles for a long time. He has to get up twice in the early morning every day, and she helps him to bounce back. Over time, she has been taking care of her for a long time, and half of her expenses are subsidized by her savings. She is worried that one day she will run out of everything, and her mood breaks down intermittently.
"Actually, your husband's temper has been well controlled, but when you see that the health of the people around you is getting worse and worse, and you have no ability to change, you have to subsidize thousands of mosquitoes every month. Collapsed to the point of burying my head against the wall... If there is no sister (foreign domestic helper), I will hold her and die together!"
Another, 64-year-old Mr. Wan, was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when he was 10 years old. He was unable to move and relied on an electric wheelchair. For the past half century, he was cared for by his mother alone. Until his mother died of illness seven years ago, he hired a foreign domestic helper to take care of him. His daily life, but unfortunately the foreign domestic helper died suddenly at home in July this year, and the order of life was completely disrupted.
Since it took time to re-employ a foreign domestic helper and he was unable to live alone, he entrusted a social welfare agency to hire a private nurse to take care of him at home. Together with the daily living expenses, his expenses soared to 23,000 yuan in July, which is only for CSSA recipients. Mr. Wan was subsidized by more than 10,000 yuan of elderly service vouchers, and the remaining 12,000 yuan relied on him to borrow money from relatives and friends and pay for his own savings. , reduce daily expenses, and life will return to normal after the foreign helper arrives in Po next month.
In fact, your husband's temper has been well controlled, but when you see that the health of the people around you is getting worse and worse, and you have no ability to change, you have to subsidize tens of thousands of mosquitoes every month. To the point of burying my head against the wall... If there is no sister (foreign domestic helper), I will hold her and die together!
61-year-old polio patient Wu Tai
The Platform Concerning Carers of Persons with Disabilities looks forward to providing substantive assistance and support services to carers in the Policy Address in the coming year.
(Photo by Mo Jiawen)
Concerned organisations wish to provide support to carers in the Policy Address
Lai Peiwei, a member of the platform for carers of disabled people who takes care of a severely mentally handicapped son, Xixi, said that migrant workers can still rest on Sundays, but carers of disabled people are unpaid workers who work “247” hours, that is, every week 7 days, 24 hours a day, 24/7 care, without any personal rest time. She hopes that the government will recognize the efforts of all caregivers and provide substantive support.
Concerning the Carers of Persons with Disabilities Platform conducted a questionnaire on the expectations of carers of persons with disabilities on the Policy Address for the coming year from August to September this year. A total of 653 carers were successfully interviewed. The results showed that the top three wishes of the respondents were the most anticipated. Provide financial support for caregivers (94.5%); clearly implement the definition of caregivers to formulate relevant welfare policies (54.1%); strengthen breathing space such as adding respite services (42.4%).
The survey also wanted to understand the emotional needs of caregivers. 78.9% of the respondents hoped to provide case management services, and 51.1% hoped to provide caregivers emotional support groups to relieve psychological pressure.
The platform recommends that the government should maintain and optimize the carer allowance for persons with disabilities, such as removing the restriction that the carer allowance cannot apply for other subsidies; strengthening financial assistance, such as adding subsidies for non-CSSA patients to employ foreign domestic helpers, or setting up the purchase of private home care The number of service places and the amount of subsidy; strengthen support for caregivers and support services for respite, etc.
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