Broken dreams

By Melissa Meehan
ADVENTURE turned to heartache when a holiday in Alice Springs soured for Pakenham couple Sylvia and George Fielding.
The couple had longed to travel on The Ghan from Adelaide to Darwin and decided George’s 80th birthday was as good as time as ever to do so.
They described the first four days of their tour as amazing, but excitement turned to disbelief.
“Our first stop was Alice Springs,” Sylvia said.
“It was a lovely day, we saw Ayers Rock and went to bed after a long day.
“I got up in the middle of the night and that’s when it went all wrong.”
Sylvia slipped on the wet floor in the bathroom, fell backwards, split her head open and broke her hip.
“That was the end of our holiday – five days into a 12 day trip,” she said.
“It was so disappointing.”
Sylvia was taken to hospital, had a hip operation and spent 12 days in hospital.
Luckily for George, the hotel they were staying in offered to let him stay for free in a smaller room while his wife recovered.
Unfortunately, the hospitality the couple received in Alice Springs was not replicated once they returned home.
Despite numerous calls for help, George and Sylvia were left to fend for themselves.
“George is hard of hearing, he has problems after having heart surgery years ago and he has very limited use of one of his hands,” Sylvia said.
“But he was left to care for me 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“I couldn’t get in and out of bed, I couldn’t go to the toilet and I couldn’t shower without help.”
Tired of pleading for help from hospitals and care services, George wrote to the Minister for Health Bronwyn Pike and MacMillan MP Russell Broadbent.
After returning from Alice Springs, Sylvia went four days without showering – she needed someone to help.
“The Minister for Health replied saying she had passed on my letter to Community Services Minister Lisa Neville,” George said.
“Over two weeks later Russell’s secretary got back to me and tried her best to help.
“But why is it so hard to get someone to help us?”
Upon hearing of their struggle, Sylvia’s doctor had her admitted to Kooweerup Hospital – a godsend for stressed out George.
“I was telling him to lie down because he was so stressed about me,” Sylvia said.
“I felt like I wanted to break down and cry sometimes, and other times I almost picked up the phone to call triple-0,” George said.
Sylvia is now home and on the road to recovery, but says she doesn’t want anyone else to suffer the same ordeal she has.
“Services need to be better,” she said. “They want us to stay in our homes for longer, but don’t make it any easier for us.”