BBC Africa has exposed the ill-treatment elderly people at Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) Thogoto Care Home for the Aged in Kiambu County are subjected to.
BBC undercover reporters who posed as employees at the facility for two weeks revealed staff members at the care home mercilessly beat the elderly, starve them and leave their medical conditions unattended.
Secret filming by BBC recorded some staff admitting to physically abusing the elderly. One of the staff said they cane the residents to calm them down since some are violent when left alone.
The staff were also reported to dump food on the table for those who could not feed themselves with spoons.
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A former caregiver revealed she was discouraged from helping the vulnerable with their meals by her colleagues, adding that many victims went days without food and some even starved to death.
“They told me not to help them today because no one would help them tomorrow… Many have died of hunger here. They [carers] deny them lunch, deny them dinner, all because they don’t want to make time to come and feed them.” The unidentified staff told BBC.
The staff further said that most of the food donated at the home was being stolen by staff. BBC journalists said on three occasions, they saw food being loaded into a senior staff member’s car.
“There was food there, but most of the food was stolen. They overload the car with food. They overload the car with so much food it tilts,” the former staff told BBC.
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BBC also reported that some elderly people at the care home were denied medical care. One elderly man was suffering from a serious skin problem, but he was left unattended despite paying the home care manager, identified as Jane Gaturu, to take him to the hospital.
“He gave money to Jane to take him to the hospital. He was not taken to hospital. And when he asked Jane, Jane was very angry with him. And she even told him: ‘Your home is just around the corner, and your people have given up on you. Do you think I will be able to help you?” said a BBC reporter.
The manager declined to comment on whether she was given money for medical treatment and then did nothing.
PCEA Thogoto Care Home for the Aged was set up by the Women’s Guild of the local PCEA church but is now managed independently. It is home to around 50 elderly women and men.
