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The retired retiree has been living unwashed for three months. After joining the quarantine, she and more people with a similar fate were restricted from social assistance at home: social workers did not come to bathe, tidy the house, or prepare lunch or laundry.
B. Rapševičienė has been using the home help services of the Panevėžys Social Services Center for five years. A disabled woman in a wheelchair cannot take care of her home or take a bath due to health problems. They left her alone when she buried her son three years ago. He also needed social assistance.
“A social worker visited me twice a week. I cannot say anything bad about them. These are not human, but angels. The social worker orders the house, buys what he needs and listens and communicates. When her son died, she even attended his funeral during his vacation, “says B. Rapševičienė.
That welfare costs him 93 cents an hour.
However, this Panevėžys’ close friendship with the Panevėžys Social Services Center employee has been frozen for three months. The disabled person and his assistant are separated by a door.
“During quarantine, the social worker has the right to buy me only food and leave it at the door. We call, we list what goods are needed, we agree on how much money I will help behind the door and how much return I will receive,” says B. Rapševičienė.
According to her, the quarantine adjustment and such purchasing habits, which further emptied the pocket of the disabled.
B. Rapševičienė, who did not get up from her home, used to ask social workers to buy products only on certain days, when promotions are applied to the elderly in a favorite pharmacy and store. A specific day has now been set aside for the social worker to visit her neighborhood. And on that day, discounts don’t apply to seniors.
Until Everest
But the most difficult thing for B. Rapševičienė is due to the maintenance and washing services at the end of the house. Trash in the rooms was collected by an old neighbor, but the last time Bronislava was washed before quarantine.
“Everything is starting to work, the cafes are opening and social assistance is not yet available: they left the grandparents to die within the four walls.” I even tried to call the Ministry of Social Security and Labor, but here, to the point of justice, as before Everest, humanity ends where indifference begins, “comforts B. Rapševičienė.
Panevėžys is certainly an exception: hundreds of unhappy people were left without help.
“It just came to our attention then. Of course, this woman will be said to have senile dementia or full moon, but how calmly can we cry alone, who is here through the new Auschwitz system?” Panevėžys complains.
Aid is very expensive.
B. Rapševičienė is also supported by her sister Monika, 80, from Panevėžys. She got a social worker who came to clean the house for the first time during quarantine this week. This one after a long time in the retirement home plowed for 3 hours.
“It is good that a relative from Vilnius came to visit me, fixed my house, helped me wash, bought food for a month,” Monika spoke about the difficult daily life during the quarantine.
She had completely given up on social services in the past few months because the only purchases left at a distance had been too expensive for her.
“Without us, seniors, discount cards, and medications and food are more expensive. I do not need such help to get a pension of 300 euros. I have heard from others that social workers are buying so much that the whole euro of butter is more expensive. So far, I have stopped all aid, “says the eighty year old.
Previously, I bought those services twice a week and paid about 90 cents an hour. Monica says it is becoming increasingly expensive to invite a state aide to her home.
“It costs 4 euros an hour to wash the curtains. I can no longer afford three hours of such aid, so my windows have been dusty. You can see the old age we have been earning for the rest of our lives: we gave away the apartment for taxes, medicine and nothing from retirement. Only a modern retiree has to live next to the containers, “said Monika.
After burying her husband, son, the woman was left alone, and her only remaining daughter lives in England.
Bans are decreasing
Lina Kazokienė, director of the Panevėžys Social Services Center, admits that the institution under her leadership now receives a number of complaints from seniors regarding restricted social assistance in the home during quarantine. According to the director, the institution was powerless in this case, such recommendations from the Minister of Health regarding the threat of COVID-19 and have to wait for the end of the quarantine.
However, according to L. Kazokienė, bans on welfare are already loosening.
“It just came to our attention then. We still can’t help in this way, like before, but we already have the right to help some. I understand that people are tired of such conditions, work has accumulated in their homes, but it’s like is, “says the head of the institution.
The laundry services will be renewed from June 1st. The cleaning service is not considered a priority social service, so it will not be provided so free yet. Indoor assistance will not last more than 2 hours, security measures must be applied.
“The services are intensive and I cannot say anything else: we all want a normal life,” says L. Kazokienė.
Aid refused
Since January 1 of this year, when the basic amount of state social benefits has changed, social benefits, welfare pensions, and other benefits have increased for many, and at the same time, social services for these residents have been become more expensive.
“The social service tax for each recipient depends on their income. The benefits increased: the help of a social worker also became more expensive, ”explained L. Kazokienė.
According to her, 306 people now receive help at home from the Panevėžys Social Services Center. They are assisted by 40 social workers who still work remotely and other jobs, transporting food through quarantine to isolated populations.
“Some recipients of home welfare rejected such services during quarantine. For a month, we ask you to pay for services provided by online transfer, and not all pay to do so. As a result, the debt of some of our neighborhoods it has accumulated, “admitted L. Kazokien admit.
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