By Bill W. Cooper
The Antoinette Tubman Cheshire home (ATCH) in Monrovia is said to be rejecting new patients due to limited resources to maintain and respond to the many challenges confronting the facility.
From March to now, we have turned down over 17 patients because we are incapacitated to cater for them. We are not getting support from anyway; we depend squarely on our board members and goodwill individuals and organization to run the home,” Bilweh Nyema, Manager of ATCH told a fund-raising gathering over the weekend.
ATCH, catering to the needs of vulnerable people, is a charitable and non-profit organization in Liberia. It caters to individuals with cerebral palsy, especially children, and any other with physical and mental disabilities.
Established in 1985, the home is named in honor of Antoinette Louise Padmore Tubman, wife of former Liberian head of state, Williams V.S. Tubman and has been catering to the less fortunate in society, the majority of whom were abandoned by their parents due to their deformity.
The home at the time was heavily supported by the office of the former first lady of Liberia as well as the government in the past, but that has changed with time as the home is being operated at the mercy of the public.
At the movement, the home housed 15 residents with a total of 17 staff members, but compensation to employees is unthinkable due to the lack of support by government, something which has contributed to their recent action.
He explained, “We continue to knock on the doors of the Legislature to see reason to include us in the national budget; in that way, it will help us meet the many needs of residents at the home.”
The Ministry of Gender and John F. Kennedy are the two major institutions that transferred deformed and abandoned babies to the home and Nyema disclosed that limited support is given by the institution to upkeep residents at the home leaving them to survive at the mercy of God.
“I do not get anything from the government to run the home; everything is being done by friends, donors, and goodwill citizens. We have engaged the Ministry of Gender because we were told that they were supposed to provide welfare for the home, but to no avail,” he added.
Disclosing the many challenges facing its operation, the home secretary, Robert Cassell said, “As we speak, we are now rallying the support of the government, humanitarians, and the general public in keeping this dream alive.”
He outlined the growing need to rehabilitate the facility, hire specialized doctors, salary incentives for workers, security, cooking, provision of food, and sanitary materials among others as some of the major constraints the home is confronted with.
Cassell said the home is the oldest disability home in the country, but wonders why the government chose to abandon people at the home at the same time supporting similar organizations.
He indicated that residents at the home are people with special needs, hence, the need for government to give attention to the home cannot be overstated.
Speaking over the weekend, Dr. Amelia Weah Liberty said the event also marks an annual year-end Christmas party for people at the home.
At the ATCH Family, a fun-filled opening to the Christmas Season some staff were honored for their longstanding services, commitment, and delegation to the home.
Dr. Liberty said the workers are the ones on the ground implementing all the plans while the board is out noting, “Taking care of people with special needs is a very difficult task for anyone to perform, but these people took on the challenges to do this.”
One of the longest stay-in residents of the home is George Hassan. Like many of the residents, Hassan was abandoned by his family due to his condition and taken to home. The 65 years old man thanked the board and staff for all the sacrifices to ensure they are cared for.
“Just as we have dedicated staff, we do have one of the best and dedicated boards; had it not been so, we could have been abandoned by now as our family did. But these people are our mothers, fathers, and the only ones we can call family and they make us to feel a part of them,” Hassan told the gathering.
