CASE STUDY: GERALDINE DOLAN:AFTER A lifetime in institutional care, life is beginning to change for Geraldine Dolan.
She was just 16 years old when she arrived at St Peter’s. A grey institution at the end of a long driveway in Castlepollard, Co Westmeath, it was a mother-and-baby home until it was converted into a residential centre for people with disabilities almost half a century ago.
Even then the building, with its open wards and draughty windows, was considered far from ideal.
By the time Geraldine reached her mid-30s, health authorities were finally beginning to acknowledge it was time to close the main building and place patients in more appropriate, community-based care.
“St Peter’s is neglected and rundown. The widows needed replacing, the showers needed to be overhauled. It just wasn’t suitable,” says her sister, Bernadette Dolan, a Dublin-based primary school teacher.
“The place was understaffed. There weren’t really any services in evenings or at weekends. She was lucky to enough to have a day service at the local resource centre, but that was it.”
Health authorities moved to purchase a number of bungalows. Residents would be relocated to these smaller, family-type settings and would have better access to activities to help them meet their full potential.
That was 10 years ago. Geraldine, now in her mid-40s, has aged and stiffened significantly in the meantime. But it was only three months ago that she finally moved to a bungalow, following an intensive lobbying campaign by her sisters.
The move from institutional care to a house in the community, which she shares with five others, has made a world of difference.
“She’s been out bowling, swimming. They’re able to do the things they’re interested in. It’s normal living; what the rest of us take for granted,” says Bernadette.
“Geraldine has her own room, and there’s a lovely sitting room and kitchen. There’s a nice back garden, too. It’s a family-type unit. And for those who are able, there’s a bit of extra independence. It’s the opposite to institutional living.”
She was one of 17 residents who have been able to move to three houses in the community – but there are still about 50 residents still living in St Peter’s.
Given the long battle to open these houses, and difficulties with the public finances, there is little sign that any others will be moving any time soon.
“These houses opened because of public pressure,” says Bernadette.
“Disabled people are at the back of the queue. They don’t have a voice. They’re forgotten about. They don’t belong to pressure group like trade unions. And they have no political clout – when you don’t have that, nothing happens quickly.”
