Online feedback

 Below are excerpted comments from readers of The Gleaner's website, www.jamaica-gleaner.com, to yesterday's exposé on the neglect of the elderly and disabled at the Golden Age Home in Kingston.

Shame on you!

Shame on you, workers. Remember what goes around comes around. No one deserves to be treated this way. So please don't abuse them. Show them love and you would be surprised how easy they are to work with.

- Bubsie

Fire the workers!

Jamaicans are their own worst enemies. If you are poor and happen to have the misfortune of seeking any form of service in Jamaica, be prepared to suffer at the hands of your own, who are sometimes only marginally better off than than you are.

We treat anyone who is disabled, young, old, or can barely take care of themselves, with contempt and utter disdain.

All the employees and management of the Golden Age Home need to be fired and never be allowed to operate in the private or public health-care system.

- Jayjayja

Deeply disturbing

It is very sad to hear about the treatment these people are receiving. It is very shameful to treat another human being in such a way. Anyone doing this should ask themselves: Would you like your mother, father, sister or brother to be treated like this?

- Elvanash

Do something

I am appalled at what is happening to our own disabled and elderly citizens. We all need to do something about this type of abuse these residents are facing.

- Islandqueen26

Embarrassing!

I would like to say thank you to the person or persons who took the time out to conduct this investigation. It is sad and embarrassing that such inhumane practice is meted out to the unfortunate in our society.

However, we all need to do something to assist the less fortunate.

- Nadale Anderson

Where is the church?

What has happened to the thousands of churches we have in Jamaica? The country has the unenviable reputation of producing more churches than goods and services.

We know it is the Government's job to take care of the institution, but we also know that the Government is impotent as a result of widespread corruption. Every Jamaican knows that we cannot rely on our Government anymore, whether it be PNP or JLP.

I'm calling on the churches to use some of the money they've extracted to render assistance. What a disgrace and corruption in Jamaica, land we love!

- Concerned Jamaican

Lack of accountability

There is a total lack of accountability by the person in charge and the government agency with oversight responsibility of these group homes. One would believe that after the tragic neglect and death of seven wards at Armadale less than two years ago, all of these homes would be inspected more frequently and managed more effectively.

How can we treat our most defenceless citizens so inhumanely? They are not animals! Some of these staff members should be investigated and, if warranted, be charged with criminal offences.

The moral test of a nation is how its people treat those who are in the dawn of life - the children; those who are in the twilight of life - the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life - the sick, the needy and the handicapped.

- Lewis

Serious neglect

Shame on you, Major Frank McCaulsky. You and the Government of Jamaica are to blame. This points to years of neglect.

Private homes are being checked quite regularly because the Government needs to see how it can secure some money from them, but the Government-run homes are neglected.

- Imyers49

Total disgrace

This is a total disgrace. The administrator and staff need to be sent to prison. How can a Government stand by and watch its citizens be treated worse than animals? Either close the facility or install new management.

- Positive Vibrations

Criminal behaviour

The conditions at this senior citizen and disabled home are totally revolting and nauseating! Surely, such conditions and the treatment of the residents in this home described by The Gleaner can only be classified as criminal! The Ministry of Local Government needs to clean up this deplorable, reprehensible and scandalous mess NOW!

Where is Minister Robert Montague in all of this?

- Estabanagostoreid777

PM, do something

I am a Jamaican nurse working with disabled people in the United States and I find this reprehensible. How could this be allowed to happen? There should be a thorough investigation. I am ashamed, hurt, and in disbelief that such a horrible thing is happening in my country of birth! Mr Prime Minister, we have got to do better.

- Caringchick

Overhaul this hellhole

This is heart-breaking and beyond comprehension. Thank you, Gleaner team, for uncovering this shameful situation. I think that everyone who raked in huge salaries for the Manatt-Dudus 'poppyshow' should donate the entire amount to the overhauling of this hellhole, the training of new, carefully screened staffers, and the establishment of a fund for its maintenance. Our society has sunk to a new low. Unbelievable.

- Wendy Lee

Treated like mongrels

This is very sad. When will our political leaders stand up for the rights of the people? Do we really have such low appreciation for human rights that even people who are helpless are treated like mongrels in our backyard?

- Jae Nelson

So unkind!

This made me cry. How can people be so unkind to a less-fortunate soul?

- Jammingjoe139me