In a nursing home run by the local municipality, elderly residents have been served porridge without milk for breakfast. Meanwhile, the council managed to accomodate the illegal immigrants in hotels.

The residents of a home for elderly people with dementia in Eslov were served porridge for breakfast, without milk. This was done because the municipality had run out of money, according to Sofia Persson, the care home’s manager. Recently, however, the same municipality was able to afford to provide accomodation for migrants in hotels.

For years, there have been stories of how municipalities have cut back on elderly care in ways many consider undignified, often to the point of total neglect. In many cases, the elderly were unable to communicate with staff who do not speak Swedish.

Ms Persson said she found it sad that elderly people and, in many cases, people with dementia, were forced to eat their porridge without milk. Howver, she also criticised the nursing staff, saying they should have checked to see if there was any milk left in another ward that they could do without.

As V4NA has already highlighted, the lack of trained staff in Swedish nursing homes is a serious problem, with a growing number of shocking incidents coming to light.

For example Omar Alabiadi, a man dispatched by the municipality as part of the home care service, arrived in Sweden in 2012 and received citizenship in 2019. He is known to have harassed the elderly woman in his care, who complained that – during the time that the couple spent at home – he regularly molested her.

The old lady says she feels that Mr Alabiadi was intrusive and engaged in personal, rather than professional activities with her. She also claims that the Syrian national regularly talked about her breasts. Soon after, Mr Alabiadi allegedly hugged the old woman and pulled up her dress. According to the police investigation, Mr Alabiadi squeezed the woman’s breasts and nipples, but also asked her if she had any milk in her breasts. After his visit, the old lady told her son about the incident, who reported Omar Alabiadi to both the police and the head of the municipality’s home care service.

The head of the service, Karoline Mindal-Wejlemot, told police that Mr Alabiadi had been suspended from his work pending the investigation. She also pointed out that when she asked the Syrian national about the incident, he replied that he had only touched the old woman’s breast once.

The 88-year-old woman told police that she was shocked by the incident and that she no longer felt safe in her own home.

This was not the first time that social workers with an immigrant background are known to have committed atrocities against the elderly.

In Sweden, three people have previously been suspended from their jobs after a resident of a social care home was abandoned, forcing him to lie in his own excrement. A report on the case revealed that staff at the elderly home had been in the room, but they failed to assist the resident for several hours, even despite being aware of the circumstances.

The shortage of nurses in Swedish nursing homes is so grave that they have been forced to recruit immigrants. In several elderly homes migrants not wanting to work or learn the Swedish language are also causing problems. They probably undertake these jobs only to qualify for state benefits.

The consequences of all this, however, must be borne by the affected elderly care homes’ residents because, deprived of the quality care that they were used to, they are the ones who suffer. Scandals surrounding migrants unwilling to work in Sweden’s nursing homes have become a frequent occurrence.

Recently, the immigrants employed at a nursing home in the municipality of Umea – which abolished its requirements for Swedish language skills and qualifications – were found to be terrorising the care home’s elderly residents.

According to the Swedish press, migrants losing their patience use a number of ways to terrorise the elderly residents in their care. One of their recently introduced punishments is forcing the residents to sleep in their own excrement by refusing to change their bedpans or nappies. However, these incidents are only the tip of the iceberg, with many other complaints from the elderly. The staff are impatient, irritable, especially towards people with dementia, they are incompetent and impossible to communicate with, as they do not understand Swedish.

Oftentimes, the migrants unwilling to work will forget the elderly residents’ medication, or fail to provide assistance with the cleaning, leaving the helpless residents in the showers, or toilets instead.