IN RECENT weeks, the Free Press has highlighted the case of Elsie Payne following the pensioner's fall at her home in Brookside sheltered accommodation. This week we received a letter from Mrs Payne's daughter, Pamela Caines, which we feel impelled to re-print in full for our readers. This is what Pamela wrote:

Dear Sir, I would like to reply to Cllr Verona Nelmes' statement that the elderly resident at Brookside was at fault for her falling and not using her pendant. I am the daughter of that elderly resident, Elsie Payne, and I am appalled that such a remark could be made by someone who has been elected to represent constituents of every age group. To actually state that whether she was old or not she should take the blame - along with relatives - for her own safety.

When my father died my main concern was for the safety and well being of my mother and that is why we chose to accept housing at Brookside - because it was a sheltered and warden-controlled place and near to me should I be needed. That was twenty years ago and my mother has made Brookside her home. It was always good to know that there was someone who would call in every morning to check that everything was alright and have a chin wag, which for most old age pensioners is their only contact with what is going on; not all of them have relatives living close to hand.

Since January of this year they have been without this contact. Every morning a voice on the tannoy, calling from Coleford in the Forest of Dean, asks if everything is alright and that's it! Twice a week a mobile warden has called. This is not the level of warden control we were led to believe would be in place at Brookside.

Cllr Nelmes: Is my mother to blame because she is 96 years old and although the mind is willing the body is now getting weaker and her legs are not as strong as they used to be? How do you expect her to press a red button on a pendant when she had fallen and was totally out of it? She couldn't even remember how she fell and what day it was when I found her. Had she been knocked unconscious, how would she be expected to press that button? Cllr John Keegan stated that she had a pendant and won't use it. How does he know - has he ever taken the trouble to visit Brookside and see how much a Warden is needed? Who told him my mother won't wear the pendant?

When my mother was heard to be calling for help there was no-one on site with a master key to enter her room and, therefore, the carer had to call through to Coleford call centre (which sometimes takes a long time to answer), wait for them to reply, explain to them what she had heard, then they in turn had to contact me as I have a key. In that space of time anything could have happened. Whilst we are on the subject, had my mother pressed the red button on her pendant, how was anyone going to get in without calling me as there is no Warden with a master key on site?

My point is, Cllr Verona Nelmes, that you too will be old one day and it would be interesting to know how you will cope should you reach this grand old age and still want to be independent and have your own front door like my mother.

I have received many phone calls since the report in the Free Press, all expressing their disgust at your comments, and I sincerely hope, in future, you will engage the brain before putting your mouth into gear.

Pamela Caines