Callen
Content Warning: These stories are about violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation and may include references to suicide or self-harming behaviours. They may contain graphic descriptions and strong language and may be distressing. Some narratives may be about First Nations people who have passed away. If you need support, please see Contact & support.
Callen has multiple sclerosis (MS), and has had a stroke. She told the Royal Commission she lives independently and is completely reliant on support workers, who come from two different disability providers.
Ana usually supports Callen in the morning and afternoon but on this occasion she was away and Callen was expecting a replacement.
No-one arrived.
So Callen called the provider and continued to wait.
‘They weren’t here at 8.30 am. They weren’t here at 9.30, not 10.30, not even 11.30.’
By this time, Callen had been in bed for more than 13 hours. The bed was soaked, she was cold and her skin burned.
‘I had even done a bowel motion in the bed, which is a first for me.’
Callen said she felt humiliated.
She rang the provider again and was told her situation had been escalated to someone she’d never heard of.
This person told Callen she wasn’t on their roster and every time Callen asked a question she kept repeating, ‘“You’re not on our roster”, parrot fashion’.
‘I said, “As one human being to another can’t you at least try and get someone?” And the answer was a curt, “No”.’
Eventually the woman stopped taking Callen’s calls.
Callen rang the other provider who said she wasn’t on their roster either but would try to get someone.
In the meantime, Callen pressed her personal emergency alarm and a person from another provider arrived.
However they had no experience working with someone with a profound physical disability. The worker had never used a standing machine before and was unable to help Callen.
‘Eventually at 12.30 pm – yes 12.30 – someone from [the second provider] came – 14 hours not turned, not toileted, not ANYTHING!’
Callen said the emergency worker ‘was appalled and disgusted’ she had been left in that state for so long. The worker who eventually arrived from the second provider was also disgusted.
Callen wants a written apology from the first provider.
‘This isn’t an isolated incident.’
Callen was given 24 hours’ notice she wouldn’t have a support worker on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.
Panicked, Callen called the hospital and a community nurse but neither could help. Eventually she rang an MS organisation who contacted Callen’s two providers and brainstormed a solution.
Callen wants providers to ‘think outside the box’ when it comes to after-hours rostering.
‘In an emergency it is not good enough to say, “It’s not our problem”. It is your problem – it’s what you get paid for!’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.