Staff and families hold vigil to keep Cork care home open

Catherine Cummins, Dripsey and Frank O Flaherty, with Georgina Flavin at the vigil held as part of the campaign to prevent the closure of Cara House which is due to close this month.Picture: Damian Coleman

Cara House, also known as Mount Cara, on Redemption Rd, is a 25-bed home to 15 current residents, opened more than 30 years ago.

The board of management has said that due to Covid-19 and a reduction in occupancy that it will be closed.

Staff gathered at the vigil insisted they had been told in early June that the facility would stay open, only for a reversal last month.

They had been told it would close in late August, staff claimed, but that deadline is now believed to be uncertain.

Families and staff have called on the HSE to step in and save the facility, which the health body says it cannot do.

According to company accounts for 2019, with statements approved by the board of directors on April 28, Cara House saw a surplus of €22,467 for the financial year. 

It is in receipt of funding from Cork City Council, the HSE, and residents' fees, on which it says it is "fully reliant".

Staff member Majella Lynch told the Irish Examiner that closure will effectively mean eviction of old people from their homes during a pandemic.

"We have been Covid-19 free through the pandemic. Why would you take elderly people out of such a safe environment, especially when you hear what has been happening elsewhere? I am working here for four years, my mother is here for 18 years — we are their friends, residents feel safe and secure with us. It feels heartless to make them go elsewhere, especially at the moment."

Long-time activist for older people's rights, Paddy O'Brien, said he is heartbroken.

"I'm here at a vigil, not a protest, where people are exceptionally sad that is has come to this. I am making a very personal appeal to the HSE to take it over. The greatest problem is a shortage of beds everywhere for long term care. Closure now makes little sense."

The HSE said it is not possible for it to take over Mount Cara in its entirety as it understands that the building is not suitable for the type and level of residential care which is required into the future.