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Cullinan Rehabilitation Centre
| Date: |
22 April 2007 12:00 |
| Producer: |
Wynand Grobler
Amalia Christoforou
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| Show: | Carte Blanche |
A mere 50km east of Pretoria lies the quaint diamond-mining town of Cullinan. On weekends this popular getaway draws locals and tourists to its B&Bs, coffee shops and galleries.
Ruda Landman (Carte Blanche presenter): 'Tucked away on the outskirts of the town lies a facility that few tourists or visitors ever pay any attention to - the Cullinan Care and Rehabilitation Centre.'
It's a government run centre for people with varying degrees of intellectual and physical disability. At the moment there are about 230 patients ranging in age from under 10 to over 70.
Ruda: 'Over the last year or so we received numerous desperate pleas from people concerned about their loved ones' welfare at the Cullinan care centre. About six months ago we decided it was time to investigate what was going on behind those brick walls. What we found was shocking.'
Patients were seen eating off the floor in full view of staff. We found people with seeping wounds in desperate need of medical attention. Patients were forced to use filthy toilets in a state of appalling neglect. But, most disconcerting, was the discovery of prison-like cages in which nurses placed patients.
Nurse: 'Come, that child, come.'
Journalist: 'He runs ... this one?'
Nurse: 'We don't like running...'
Patient: 'Hello Tannie.'
Journalist: 'And this one too. Does he run too?'
Nurse: 'Mmm, dear child.'
Journalist: 'He can't walk normally, but can he run?'
Nurse: 'Yes, that's for sure. He can run.'
A patient helped to lock smaller patients away. The nurse then left. Most cages contained nothing at all, while others had only a steel bed frame or a torn piece of foam mattress.
Urine and faeces were seen on the floor and patients were caged in these fouled facilities. On the ceilings were splattered faeces.
The only toilet facilities were outside the cages, and were clogged with filth.
Journalist: 'But where's your cleaners?'
Nurse: 'I don't know. They say they are busy. They can't clean.'
Over the months we visited Cullinan we saw the same patients in these rooms every time, without a nurse in sight.
Margaret Niemand (Former employee): 'The children are never supervised. Nobody cares, nothing, nothing. Those children are so neglected.'
Margaret Niemand did her psychiatric nursing training at the Centre in 1985. Over the last few years she has run the tuckshop, which was recently closed.
Margaret: 'The children lie around everywhere in their own faeces and urine. There is nobody to help them. If you find a child who suffers from epileptic fits staff say 'don't worry, it happens a lot ... just take her off the veranda and put her on the grass'.'
Margaret: 'Who hit you like that?'
A patient came to Margaret crying in pain with what appeared to be a bite mark on his face while just around the corner a staff member sat fast asleep.
Amelia Grobler worked as a physiotherapist at the centre from 1986, but left last year.
Amelia Grobler (Physiotherapist): 'Whenever you go into the ward there was nobody present, nobody, nobody.'
Ruda: 'How did that differ from when you first started?'
Amelia: 'When I first started the patients had to be attended. There was no way any patient would be unattended., never ever.'
Amelia was appalled by what she saw as neglect of the patients.
Amelia: 'I noticed that they didn't bath the children. They would all lie in the beds. They (staff) never helped them out of those beds.'
Our hidden camera footage found several people lying in bed during the day.
Margaret: 'Tomorrow, three, four or five days later, children are still wearing the same clothes. Some of the adults wear nappies. Why do adults who can walk wear nappies? They can be taught to use the toilet. Some of those nappies are so soiled it runs down their legs. Some walk around naked ... women and there are many of them who often walk around like that.'
Margaret believed this increased the chance of sexual encounters between patients.
Seventeen-year-old JC Fraser was at Cullinan for two years. JC's mother was very upset when she found out that as a minor he had been having sex, even though he claimed it was consensual.
JC's Mother: 'When he phoned me one night he said he was having sex. I asked him with whom he was having sex? He said another woman. I was very upset and I phoned the centre and asked the nurse. Where are you when patients are having sex? He had sex with a 37-year old woman and he was only 15.'
Ruda: 'But you did sleep with some of the girls?'
JC Fraser (Former patient): 'Yes, with some of the girls, but not a lot of them.'
Margaret: 'I was at the tuckshop when I saw an older man having sex with a younger girl. I called a nurse. She told him to go to his ward and that was the end of the story. There are three younger girls who are completely abused by older men. When I left, one of them was still coming to fetch those girls every day.'
And Margaret claims staff were complicit in the sexual activity
Margaret: 'There was the case of a down syndrome girl and her friend. Staff boasted that they locked her in a room with a man to have sex so that she could calm down,'
This patient told Margaret of his sexual assault by a staff member whose identity is known to Carte Blanche.
Patient: 'I went into the boiler room and then he calls me. And does aunty remember how he said I must masturbate? I didn't want to do it (again), but he insisted.'
Journalist: 'And then?'
Patient: 'And then 'dirt' came out of my 'bladder'.'
Journalist: 'Did you also have to 'bend' for him?'
Patient: 'Yes he asked me to 'bend'.'
Journalist: 'And then? Did he use a condom?'
Patient: 'No, without a condom.'
Journalist: 'Without a condom?'
Patient: 'Yes.'
Journalist: 'Did he hurt you?'
Patient: 'Yes, he made me very sore.'
There have also been several allegations of physical assault at Cullinan.
Andrew and Chadine Christians placed their 13-year-old son Allistair, who is autistic and hyperactive, in the Cullinan care centre in 2004.
Andrew Christians (Allistair's father): 'What they promised to me sounded like a good place. They told us he would receive stimulation such as occupational therapy, speech therapy and everything he might need, which I can't give him because I am not trained in that field. But they even took his laughter from him.'
Last year they removed Allistair from the centre.
Andrew: 'When we got there we found him drowsy. He'd lost weight and grabbed at food like somebody who'd never had any. He had numerous wounds and was tied to the bed.'
They repeatedly found injuries on their son.
Andrew: 'He had many bumps on his head. I asked him what these bumps were.'
Chadine Christians (Allistair's mother): 'Nobody ever told us what happened.'
In June last year Chadine had a feeling that something was wrong with her son. She called the centre and was told that Allistair had fallen during an epileptic fit.
Chadine: 'When she came closer I saw Oubaas (Allistair) walking behind her and when they came around the corner I burst into tears.'
Allistair had a bump on his forehead, his eyes were blue and swollen and he had bite marks on his arms and back.
Andrew: 'Then I asked: 'What happened here?' Nobody could tell me, but I was not surprised because nobody ever knew anything.'
The Christians called the police, laid a charge of child abuse against the centre and the centre laid a counter charge against Andrew saying that he'd assaulted a nurse.
Andrew: 'They laid a charge of assault against me.'
Ruda: 'Did you touch anybody?'
Andrew: 'No not at all. I entered raised my hands in the air and asked what was going on. I threw a table over to get rid of my anger.'
Then, Chadine got a call from a Cullinan staff member.
Chadine: 'She said: 'Madam, people are afraid to say what happened. Allistair didn't fall.' She told me that day that another patient slammed his head into the wall. There were four staff members on duty and all four went on tea at the same time. That's how Allistair got his injury.'
Amelia: 'Things happened there that I took note of ... patient's eyes have been removed physically.'
Ruda: 'How do you mean?'
Amelia: 'It was a very very fragile girl. She was lying in a pouffe, she couldn't move herself and her eye was physically removed.'
Ruda: 'From a ... from a?'
Amelia: 'No, the eye was taken out of the head.'
Ruda: 'What?'
An investigation concluded that another patient had been responsible.
Amelia: 'And within two months it happened again - so if there were people there who cared it couldn't have happened.'
Physical violence was not only from one patient on another.
Margaret: 'When certain staff came on shift and kids came to the door you saw an arm coming out holding a pan, hitting the child until he left.'
Ruda: Hit them on the hand?'
Margaret: 'No, on the head. Often there were open wounds. I brought this to the attention of the staff, but there was just no interest. They don't even ask what happened. Nothing, there was no interest.'
Ruda: 'Did you see it happen?'
Margaret: 'Yes.'
Ruda: 'Did you personally see that some staff hit patients on the head with pots or other instruments?'
Margaret: 'Yes, I saw this several times.'
Unaware of our hidden cameras two patients spoke about how they'd been hit with mops by staff.
Patient 1: 'That nurse there by us hit me on the head with a mop. Here's a bump ... feel here.'
Patient 2: 'She also hit me.'
Ruda: 'Did you see some staff hitting patients?'
JC: 'Yes.'
Ruda: 'What happened? What did you see?'
JC: 'The staff hit them with sticks, fists and they (patients) were punished.'
Ruda: 'Your mother said sometimes you were asked to discipline patients.'
JC: 'Yes, it is true. I did it, but then I decided not to do it again.'
Ruda: 'What did they say you should do?'
JC: 'I must hit them.'
Ruda: 'Why?'
JC: 'Some patients were aggressive with the staff and then I was told to hit them.'
Professor Melvyn Freeman is an expert adviser to the World Health Organisation and contributed to the Mental Health Care Act of 2002
Prof Melvyn Freeman (Expert Adviser to World Health Organisation): 'You know, if they are instructing him to be abusing other people then the person doing the instructing is liable for that abuse and the law clearly states that you are not allowed to abuse people ... particularly in vulnerable situations. So that sounds like a shocking situation to me.'
We approached Chief Officer of the Cullinan care centre, Benedict Mashele, several times about these allegations.
Ruda: 'So we spoke to her on Tuesday. She said she would phone us back by noon on Wednesday ... that didn't happen. We tried again on Wednesday afternoon. Her phone was off. It is now Friday morning and she is in a meeting. Let's see what happens.'
In the end, we were referred to the Gauteng department of health and showed representatives our footage of neglect and abuse.
Mrs Johanna More is Regional Chief Director for Tshwane and Metsweding.
Ruda: 'Once again it points to a lack of supervision. It shouldn't be possible for that to happen on your watch.'
Johanna More (Regional Chief Director for Tshwane and Metsweding): 'Yes, I agree with you. We do have a challenge of a shortage of staff. If you look at the number of patients and the level you need to look after the patients and you find that we fall short.'
We also showed the deptartment our footage of the caged rooms. Dr Yusuf Moosa, Principal Psychiatrist for the Gauteng department of health, said that he was unaware that these cages were still in use.
Dr Yusuf Moosa (Principal Psychiatrist: Gauteng Department of Health): 'We were told that as of November those cages where no longer in use. Ideally...'
Ruda: 'But they are still very much in use. Those cages were in use a month ago.'
Dr Moosa: 'Those cages are not appropriate ... they should not be there. In fact, the last time we visited we instructed them to break them down ... don't even leave it there.'
Prof Freeman: 'It is illegal to have seclusion. There has to be good reason why they have to be in seclusion. It has to be for as short a time as possible. They have to be inspected every half hour.'
And Melvyn found the unhygienic conditions unacceptable.
Prof Freeman: 'But I think things like cleaning not happening is a management problem and I do think management have to take direct responsibility for that.'
The department of health did not disagree.
Johanna: 'The bottom line [is] our cleaners need to keep place clean ... irrespective of how patients behave.'
The department has committed itself to long term improvement of conditions at Cullinan.
Dr Moosa: 'The service it will provide will be different. It will be a proper rehabilitation centre which will serve for intellectually challenged patients to go there and undergo a process of rehabilitation to reintegrate either back into their societies or maybe some other facilities, which we are planning.'
The Cullinan centre is also taking action to address its staff shortages by employing 20 caregivers, to start in May.
Johanna: 'The staff can look after professional aspects of patients and caregivers will ensure patients shadowed most of time ... so that the current situation shouldn't prevail.'
But these planned improvements are little consolation for patients like Allistair who have already suffered at the hands of this state institution.
Chadine: 'Allistair's my child, not my animal. I wouldn't even treat my animal like that.'
Ruda: 'Can we go back to Cullinan in six months? And do you think that what we will find will be completely different?'
Johann: 'Yes, you can come back here in six months.'
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:While every attempt has been made to ensure this transcript or summary is accurate, Carte Blanche or its agents cannot be held liable for any claims arising out of inaccuracies caused by human error or electronic fault. This transcript was typed from a transcription recording unit and not from an original script, so due to the possibility of mishearing and the difficulty, in some cases, of identifying individual speakers, errors cannot be ruled out.
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