A tragic event took place in a sanatorium in Odessa region. 74 years old IDP with disability from Donetsk committed a suicide by hanging himself in a shower cabin. Other IDPs with disabilities suppose that it happened because of terrible conditions of their lives in Odessa health institutions. Volunteers say that it was not the first suicidal case among IDPs with disabilities and we have to be prepared for similar cases in future if conditions of such people’s lives will not improve.

Home for disabled citizens would have had him back on his feet

“According to a medical nurse Petr Vasilievich hung himself in a common bathroom, — assistant of the President of European Association of Persons with Disabilities Nataliya Uvarova tells. – He came from Donetsk and was 74 years old. He walked with two canes. He was talking about a suicide for a long time. Neighbors say that he was looking for a rope but no one thought why he needed it. It is a second case of suicide among IDPs with disabilities. In different sanatorium a man drowned himself despite the fact that he had a wife and daughter. In most cases people die not because of a suicide but because of bad health conditions. Even healthy people feel themselves worse because of a moving. If we will count all cases in all sanatoriums it will be about 15-20 deaths. Mostly old people died”.

President of the European Association of Persons with Disabilities Oleg Dryuma supposes that those suicides were cause by bad conditions in sanatoriums.

“He was lonely, without money, without meds, without home and with bad nutrition. He couldn’t get to Belgorod to a hospital, doctors didn’t come from there, social workers didn’t come too – that is why he couldn’t bare it anymore. He should have been taken to a specialized home for disabled persons with better conditions. But we had no money to send him to private homes and state homes for disabled persons don’t take loners. We didn’t manage to send anyone to such home because they demand a pile of documents from relatives, which those patients cannot provide” – a volunteer tells.

The state suggests … to take meds from volunteers

According to Oleg Dryuma 1170 IDPs with disabilities and members of their families live in boarding houses in Odessa region.

“IDPs live in sanatorium “Kuyalnik” in Odessa and three sanatoriums in Sergeevka village. There was an agreement with government about compensations for municipal services and food, but they didn’t prolong that decision and now a debt for municipal services is about 70 millions. People don’t pay for food and accommodation, administrations of sanatoriums and volunteers collect food products for them. It is hard to provide 1170 people with food that is why nutrition in sanatoriums is very bad. People eat water and cereals. They haven’t seen meat for a long time” – Oleg Dryuma tells.

Situation with medicines is not better.

“Because of lack of money volunteers stopped buying medicines. People buy meds themselves for their pensions and social benefits. But they cannot provide themselves with all needed meds because they are very expensive. The state provides a part of disabled persons with meds, but the most part – 800 people are not included into the register. We have official letter from authorities where they suggest us to take medicines from volunteers”, — Oleg Dryuma complains.

There is also a psychological pressure because of unclear future of IDPs with disabilities.

“Representatives of the administration of sanatorium or someone from local authorities come sometimes and say that people will be evicted soon or there will be no food tomorrow. The state doesn’t pay for accommodation and people live in a constant fear surrounded by rumors about eviction”, — Oleg Dryuma explains.

Between past and future

IDPs with disabilities describe the same picture.

“It is summer now and we eat well. But it is just in our sanatorium – “Kuyalnik”. In other sanatoriums people get cereals with water and thin soup. That is because our sanatorium is in the city and there are guests. In autumn we will also switch to cereals, — Elena IDP from Makeevka tells. – We buy medicines for our money, but it is not the main problem. The main problem is that we don’t know what will happen to us tomorrow. Many disabled persons will never return to their homes. We want and ready to stay on Ukrainian territory. We are helpful here. Sanatorium receives wheelchair-bound invalids and we consult workers. We organize sports contest, chess and draughts championships, disco. Disabled people showed how they can dance. Tomorrow we will play pool. People like entertainments. But the question is for how long will “Kuyalnik” keep us?

Elena supposes that life in sanatoriums put a psychological pressure upon people with disabilities.

“It is like we are in capsule. We escaped the war but our lives have stopped. We don’t live. We cannot cook here. At home I always baked for my son and now I can only go to canteen and bring him something from there, because he works and doesn’t go to canteen. Here is a good borsch, but I want boiled potatoes, for example, but I cannot cook here. Nothing happens in our lives. We left our houses and everything in there. People gave us clothes, shoes, place to live and food, but we don’t have peace of mind. Even photo pictures of my parents were left there, everything was left in the past. Now we have no past, no future. We left the past behind, but still don’t have a future here. The man, who hung himself — just couldn’t bare it anymore and many people feel the same way. We don’t want to kill ourselves but we feel like have turned to grass – someone pours us, feeds us … I cannot get sick, cannot forget about canteen, cannot go to visit my friends because they can evict me and give my room to someone else. And I have no place to come back”, — Elena tells.

It cannot be this way

President of the European Association of Persons with Disabilities supposes that we have to take complex actions on socialization of IDPs with disabilities or it would be not last case of suicide.

“To avoid such situations in the future the Cabinet of Ministers has to take decision on financing of those four sanatoriums, — Oleg Dryuma supposes. – We have to find out for how long people will live in sanatoriums – it cannot be made on regional level. Regional authorities have to plan the future of those people. Help to build a special home for them, provide others with dormitories. Now we are trying to find money to build a village for people with disabilities. We have already got a land, but all potential donors demand serious documents, for example, memorandum of Odessa Regional State Administration about their support. We have just started a dialogue with new authorities and they have to help us. To achieve our goals we want to go to Kiev, organize pickets and press conferences. Because people cannot live the way they live now”.

Denis Matsola for the Informator.lg.ua