– The stairs were real hell for me. Here it becomes easier to live.
That’s what Sverre Hermansen (71) says, as two days after that The daily newspaper told about his situation received a phone call from Indre Østfold municipality. He had been allocated a care home.
Nursing home after a few days
Severely visually impaired, hip surgery and many stairs up to the apartment made life difficult for Hermansen in Indre Østfold. He himself felt trapped in his own home, and feared for his own safety if a fire were to break out in the housing complex.
When Hermansen asked the municipality how he was going to arrange the purchase of food, he was mildly surprised by the answer.
– I was told to order groceries online, says the severely visually impaired Hermansen.
Wednesday 23 October Dagsavisen published the case – on Friday 25 October the phone came from Indre Østfold municipality – on Wednesday 30 October he took a closer look at the care home and signed a contract.
Dagsavisen meets Sverre Hermansen in his new care home. Of course, the home has a life course standard and is arranged for round-the-clock care, if necessary. The care homes are located close to the Løkentunet nursing home in Askim.
– I didn’t think it would happen so quickly. This will be good, he says happily in the middle of the living room floor in his new, so far empty, home.
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Wheelchair ramp and terrace
This summer, Hermansen underwent a major hip operation. It was after a check-up at Moss hospital that the ambulance workers notified him and thought he should not be taken back to the apartment with difficult access and many stairs.
For one day, he was placed at Sykehuset Østfold Kalnes, where Hermansen perceived that it was waiting for Indre Østfold municipality to offer temporary housing. Adapted to his disabilities. It didn’t happen. Hermansen was driven home. After Dagsavisen’s visit to Sverre Hermansen in Mysen, he also asked the fire service for an assessment of his own safety, should a fire occur.
Hermansen got to know the challenges of several flights of stairs in the Mysen apartment when he went to see his new care home. Several people had to help him down all the stairs to the backyard. Then drive to Askim and contract writing in the care home.
– Since the major hip operation this summer, I have not been outside the door. Apart from when paramedics have carried me down and I have been taken to the hospital for a check-up, he says and adds:
– It was tiring to get down the stairs today and to the screening.
Hermansen’s new care home is equipped with a wheelchair ramp. In future, it gives him the opportunity to make his own purchases, all year round.
– As soon as I get help with packing and moving, I will install myself here, he says – at the same time, with humor in his voice, he wonders if he will have space for the sound system and eight banana boxes of LP records. 50s and 60s music is the passion.
– We get to stack up high, grins the relative who has assisted at the viewing – and several times spent the night in Hermansen’s former apartment to help him on weekdays.
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