Toco/Sangre Grande MP Glenda Jennings-Smith has provided 600 pound Marissa Nelson with two temporary caregivers to help ease her burdens at her Johnson Street, Valencia, home. Yesterday, Nelson, 32, said last Friday Jennings-Smith sent two women from the Unemployment Relief Programme to clean her home, do her laundry and give her daily baths.
The women work everyday from 7 am to 10 am to look after Nelson’s needs.
“These ladies have really been a big help. They have been cleaning, doing my laundry and helping me with my baths. All these things were done by my mother who is in a wheelchair. It was really a challenge for her. Now these women have been making our burdens lighter. I am really appreciative of the help from my MP. She gave a commitment and has fulfilled it,” Nelson said.
Jennings-Smith said she only became aware of Nelson’s plight after reading her story in the Guardian. In addition to this, vegetable and protein meals are delivered to Nelson’s home daily. At first, Nelson said she received only lunch, but now gets breakfast and dinner.
Before Nelson cooked her meals from her bed using a one-burner stove perched on a small table. She used the handle of a broom to reach for anything she needed.
Last Tuesday, Nelson’s story was highlighted on the front page in the Trinidad Guardian, where she called on the Government to intervene and provide specialist medical care, urgent medication and provide a 24-hour caregiver. Nelson suffers with lymphoedema, which has left her limbs enormously swollen and overweight.
For the past four years Nelson has been confined to her bed because of her medical condition and weight. Nelson lives alone and depended on the generosity of her neighbours and her 68-year-old mother, Sylvia, who is an amputee for assistance to do the simplest of chores.
Within hours of highlighting her plight, Jennings-Smith promised Nelson immediate help to address some of her needs. Other people have showed an interest in helping Nelson, including an American charitable group, DEHIX.