Pensioners’ fall blamed on municipality

85-year-old Juana Maria Old Age Home resident Mrs Dora Smith had a very bad fall just outside the Spar parking area in Francis Road on Thursday last week. The elderly lady was walking down Francis Road to get back to the old age home at the time. Community members witnessed the fall and rushed to help, together with staff from Juana Maria.

Mrs Smith is badly shaken after the fall, in which she broke her left arm and sustained a painful gash to her eye which required stitches.

Old age home management have been complaining about the shocking state of the pavement outside the home, all the way up to De Franca’s Spar. Many of the senior citizens walk to Spar to do their grocery shopping. Management believe that the ‘oldies’ have to endure the dangerously uneven pavement due to the municipality’s  lack of interest in the matter.

Some of the senior citizens who are residents at the home use ‘walkers’ to get around, and they opt to walk in the road rather than battle the potholes and bumps on the pavement.

Di Williams from the home says she has contacted the municipality to try and get the pavement fixed, but nothing has been done about it.

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