La Gratitude Home for the Aged, a sanctuary for the elderly in Newcastle, is facing a critical situation. This is as approximately 70 of its residents urgently require community support due to a shortage of chronic medication.
These residents, who have found solace in La Gratitude during their golden years, now find themselves in a precarious position.
From heart conditions to Alzheimer’s, their well-being heavily relies on access to essential chronic medication.
Jomari Batista, CEO of La Gratitude, shed light on the issue, attributing it to logistics and a medication shortage. “The residents, being state pensioners, receive their medication from Madadeni Hospital, which is doing its utmost to arrange emergency supplies of the chronic medication,” Batista explained. However, due to the shortage, only certain medications are available while others remain unavailable.
Batista emphasised that this predicament is not limited to La Gratitude alone, as various retirement homes across the country are grappling with similar challenges arising from suppliers failing to deliver the full quantities of medication on time.
Compounding the issue, the elderly residents, being state pensioners, lack the financial means to independently procure their required medication.
Furthermore, La Gratitude is also unable to afford the purchase of the medication that these vulnerable residents desperately need.
Consequently, the home is actively seeking innovative ways to care for its elderly inhabitants. However, the pressing need for a solution becomes increasingly urgent as the medication shortage persists.
In light of this situation, Newcastle’s elderly now appeals to the wider community for assistance in overcoming this obstacle.
Jomari Batista emphasised that any support for La Gratitude’s residents would be greatly appreciated. This includes monetary donations enabling them to consult local doctors and obtain the necessary chronic medication from nearby pharmacies.
Additionally, over-the-counter medications such as cough mixtures, dry Aspirin, Panados, and similar remedies would be valuable in maintaining the health of the residents.
To extend a helping hand to these elderly residents, please contact La Gratitude Home for the Aged at 034 315 5466.
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Comments 2
It’s always the elderly and the animal that suffer its so wrong
Many of us are struggling with shortage of chronic medication. Maybe we aren’t all pensioners but we too can’t afford to buy the medicine the department of health cannot provide us with. My neighbour goes straight to the district pharmacy manager’s office in Voortrekker street, when his medication is short, very quickly he makes a plan to find the medication, even delivering it to his house at times. Maybe we should all start doing this? Or is this priviledge only for certain people?? Let us stop cursing and swearing at the people who serve us at the health facilities, they just work for the health department and only have available what gets supplied to them. Let us start making the ones in their cushy offices start running around to help us.