I'm sure many of you have heard me talk about my smelly neighbour, who's been living in squalor for years since the death of her husband. She had gradually been getting worse with her drinking, smoking and of course personal hygiene (mainly due to having no hot water). She has had regular falls in the home which have resulted in ambulances being called and a couple of brief stays in hospital. The most recent fall was very dramatic. We'd not heard from her for a few days which is not like her, so I called her and the phone went to voicemail. So I went across the road and banged on the window (doorbell doesn't work) and I thought I could hear her groaning. I decided I'd have to go in and see what was going on as she has a key-safe of which I know the number. She was laying on the floor surrounded by about a hundred empty wine bottles, spilled ashtrays, all the other junk and the smell was so horrific, I did well not to vomit. I realised that she needed an ambulance as she could hardly speak, looked really unwell and was lying in excrement.
To cut a long story short, the ambulance arrived and took her to hospital where she stayed for a few weeks, we visited her a few times and were eventually told she'd be able to go back home in a few days. I actually took a nurse aside and said do you know anything about this lady's living conditions, because there's no way she can go back to that place. The nurse said that she didn't know, so I explained that she was under social services, who haven't actually done very much - I was able to tell her the name of her social worker as she often talks about him and left it at that. I gave them my phone number in case anyone wanted to speak to me in more depth.
To cut a long story short I received a phone call from one of the hospital social workers where I explained everything - She was moved to a local rehabilitation unit and a local charity that's connected to the hospital cleaned up her home from top to bottom, gave her a brand new bed, complete with bedding and spare bedding, reinstated the hot water, fixed the leak that was causing problems with her next door neighbour. Via zoom meetings they were able to ascertain what she was happy with them to get rid of and what she definitely wanted to keep. They were unable to fix her central heating but provided her with some brand new halogen heaters, arranged food parcels and are in the process of finding her someone to come in and do some housework for her on a weekly basis.
She's back home now, and seriously I've never known anyone to be so bloody ungrateful. Bed's too hard and too high (imo it isn't), they've got rid of stuff she said she wanted to keep, she moaned that they'd put all her clothes which had been all over the floor into large laundry bags, but as they're not clear, she can't see what's in them at a glance - she reckons they've nicked a valuable fleetwood mac album and replaced it with an album of tv themes that she definitely never bought. After everything, she's starting to smell again. I was hoping that maybe with the big clean up, she'd invite us over, but no. She phoned the other day to ask whether I was having trouble with my tv signal, I was not, so I offered to come over to have a look at hers, she vehemently refused my offer which makes me think she's letting rubbish pile up again. Can't do any more!!!!
To cut a long story short, the ambulance arrived and took her to hospital where she stayed for a few weeks, we visited her a few times and were eventually told she'd be able to go back home in a few days. I actually took a nurse aside and said do you know anything about this lady's living conditions, because there's no way she can go back to that place. The nurse said that she didn't know, so I explained that she was under social services, who haven't actually done very much - I was able to tell her the name of her social worker as she often talks about him and left it at that. I gave them my phone number in case anyone wanted to speak to me in more depth.
To cut a long story short I received a phone call from one of the hospital social workers where I explained everything - She was moved to a local rehabilitation unit and a local charity that's connected to the hospital cleaned up her home from top to bottom, gave her a brand new bed, complete with bedding and spare bedding, reinstated the hot water, fixed the leak that was causing problems with her next door neighbour. Via zoom meetings they were able to ascertain what she was happy with them to get rid of and what she definitely wanted to keep. They were unable to fix her central heating but provided her with some brand new halogen heaters, arranged food parcels and are in the process of finding her someone to come in and do some housework for her on a weekly basis.
She's back home now, and seriously I've never known anyone to be so bloody ungrateful. Bed's too hard and too high (imo it isn't), they've got rid of stuff she said she wanted to keep, she moaned that they'd put all her clothes which had been all over the floor into large laundry bags, but as they're not clear, she can't see what's in them at a glance - she reckons they've nicked a valuable fleetwood mac album and replaced it with an album of tv themes that she definitely never bought. After everything, she's starting to smell again. I was hoping that maybe with the big clean up, she'd invite us over, but no. She phoned the other day to ask whether I was having trouble with my tv signal, I was not, so I offered to come over to have a look at hers, she vehemently refused my offer which makes me think she's letting rubbish pile up again. Can't do any more!!!!
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