Latest update September 12th, 2026 10:20 AM
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The Palms Elderly Care Facility is in distress and a mess.
Dear Editor,
Last evening, I received an email from a concerned citizen of Guyana in relation to the horrific condition, uncaring and unprofessional attitude of staff employed at the The Palms Elderly Care Facility in Georgetown.
As a preamble, the Palms was established in 1874 under British colonial rule and was called “The Alms House.”
In 1974, a century later, it was renamed “The Palms Elderly Care Facility” and is allegedly fully funded by the Government of Guyana. The mandate for the facility is to provide efficient and adequate 24 hour nursing care for the elderly residents, as well as, free services to destitute Guyanese senior citizens.
The content of the email was quite disturbing and begs for the proper authorities to look into the matter. Noteworthy, the Palms jurisdiction comes under the Ministry of Social Protection.
What I’m about to share contextually comes directly from the source who has requested not the divulge the author. See below. “Good morning Lloyd, Happy Emancipation… I need to have someone visit the Palms. It is in a ridiculous state. I have a family member there, so I visit regularly. The ward she is in, the bathroom needs tearing down and rebuilding. The water from the drainage is backing up into the bathroom area. There are some huge rats in the compound. I saw one come into the ward a few days ago! The food is horrible… For a country which has a sound Agriculture base. They have a contract with a bakery to take bread everyday for those residents, regardless of their health condition.
Why aren’t they providing provisions, and vegetables for those patients. The nurses staff is severely limited. Many times I go there, and no nurse is in attendance. One of the residents usually share the meals to the patients in the most crude way. Some of the beds have no sheets. It is difficult for me to call these people out because I work with the (name removed). I do point out certain things to the admin department, but I cannot bring certain other things to the awareness of the public, for my identity will be known. I am also cognizant that my relative can be affected if I do. The Social Workers are either incompetent, do not care or are intimidated by some senior person/s, because they are not advocating on the residents behalf and do not care to do so. There are mattresses on beds with many holes. When question about the terrible condition of the beds, we are told that they tell that are waiting on new beds and mattresses which are expected next year. The odor is nauseating. The treatment of those residents at the Palms is heartbreaking.
If we didn’t take an interest in my relative welfare, I don’t know what would have happened. It is really troubling given the millions of USD the Government claims to invest in the healthcare system. Don’t talk about the public hospital where patients have to pay to get X-rays, and other treatment. I had to pay for an X-ray for my relative a few weeks ago. Drugs are unavailable, so patients have to try to purchase it at Pharmacies or do without. Please don’t mention my name.” With the substantial amount of monetary resources gained from oil and other investment, it is ridiculous that the government has not invested properly in the care of its senior citizens. Hopefully, with this exposure, the ministry and government will make the necessary adjustments in order to clean up the mess and implement proper care and facilitation of needed medication and professional training for the staff. It is also my intention to have this matter looked into by a few prominent individuals who can highlight and share the disturbing inadequacies to the proper authorities for remediation.
Regards,
Lloyd Phillips
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