Nappies in Malta

Was on a bus in Malta heading from the University to Sliema and happened to sit beside a rather talkative Maltese lady.  When you are new to a place even such mundane conversations become frissons of excitement as they become a window to this totally new culture you find yourself in. 

She was middle-aged and was coming from visiting her mother-in-law who was in an institution for the elderly on the island.  As her mother in law is in her nineties and very confused much has to be done for her.  The Maltese government has a scheme to help those looking after elderly parents, but it has, she told me, many restrictions.  For example, they only pay for some of the incontinence pads, or nappies and the family have to supplement for the rest.  She said as a nurse herself she was horrified to find that the home where her mother-in-law is kept puts three nappies on at once.  This is very uncomfortable for the patient she said and is laziness on the part of the staff.  They also don’t use the lifting device provided but merely haul out her mother–in-law from her chair when changing her.  This drags her heels on the ground and causes ulcers.  With daily visits and nursing she told me she had managed to almost cure the ulcers but was incensed to discover that yesterday they had again not used the lifting device and pulled her out of the chair with the result the skin was now broken and raw.  She sighed her disappointment, “They just won’t listen, they must do it their way!”  I sympathised, it seems the world is having to cope with an aging population everywhere and is woefully prepared for the task. 

We both agreed that in the future those looking after the vulnerable in our society should be the very best of us.  Those with high moral principles and integrity alone should be in such places of responsibility.  Then we both sighed as we pondered the impossibility of finding such paragons.   She then whispered that in her ward the other nurses always called her if someone was dying.  She prayed with them and kept them company in their last minutes as others were often either too busy or too distressed for this task.  She sighed again and then got out at the next stop.  A rather drab, women with bags of shopping under each arm and wearing slippers well worn at the heel.   She joked with the bus driver as she swung out of the bus and I hugged myself at glee that she exists, that I met her and dare to hope more like her are out there everywhere.