Madge and Jeanie
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.
‘Even though she's so mentally ill, right, she's a real sweetie. So who’s to advocate for her if I'm not? Because nobody else is, right?’
Jeanie is in her 80s and the mother of Madge, who lives with schizophrenia.
‘She needs to have an advocate because, you can probably tell from my voice or whatever, I'm getting on,’ Jeanie told the Royal Commission. ‘I'm not going to be around too much longer.’
Madge lives in supported independent living accommodation and in recent years put on a lot of weight.
‘When she was slimmer she had friends and boyfriends. Even when she was ill, right, she still had the friends. But now this huge weight gain and she doesn't dress appropriately.’
Jeanie blames Madge’s service provider for giving her poor food.
‘I think she's prediabetic and she will end up in a wheelchair … And if she does it means then the expense of a wheelchair [and] special living quarters.’
Jeanie said Madge’s home doesn’t have a proper kitchen.
‘Any cooked food is fried … A few weeks ago I went there with some meat and some veggies, ready to microwave the veggies and ready to grill the meat. Well, you can't grill. There's no way of grilling anything.’
Jeanie bought some fruit for the residents and put it in the fridge ‘assuming that it would be used’.
‘Well it wasn't, right? Because the next time I went there and looked in the fridge there was this fresh food rotting, rotting in the fridge.’
Jeanie said nothing changed even after dieticians came into the home to teach the staff how to prepare healthy meals.
‘The support staff, to be honest I don't think they have enough time and I don't think they have enough money there to do the right thing … I mean, oh please, can we have the dietician more interventionist?’
Jeanie said the service provider also seems reluctant to repair things that break, such as the blind in Madge’s room.
‘It was 10 weeks, 10 weeks before that blind was fixed. And then it was the manager of the agency … came out and he fixed it himself.’
Jeanie said when vaccines became available during the COVID-19 pandemic, she had to arrange Madge’s vaccination herself.
‘She has a mental health nurse, she has a psychiatrist … at least six people hovering around. Not one of them, to my knowledge, made any inquiry about a vaccination for [Madge]. Not one of them … and nor the GP. So in the end I set about it.’
Jeanie said the service provider only acts when she complains, but she’s had to get so many things fixed she’s now worried about repercussions.
‘I try to sort of not complain too much because I'm concerned that, oh, they won't be kind enough with [Madge], right? Their little ways of cutting her out or ignoring her or whatever if there's too many complaints.’
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.