Sitting at her elderly mother’s bedside, a weeping woman surnamed Hsieh (謝) offered profuse thanks to Supraph, an Indonesian caregiver, for saving the bedridden woman, who was trapped in a deadly fire at a hospital in New Taipei City yesterday.
“My mother would not have survived the fire had it not been for Adi,” Hsieh said in an emergency room at the Sinjhuang branch of Taipei Hospital, referring to Supraph, who has taken care of Hsieh’s 92-year-old mother since January.
The fire — which reportedly began at about 4:30am on the seventh floor long-term care ward of the hospital in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊) — killed nine people and injured 30. As of press time last night, 10 of those hurt had serious injuries.
“Adi was very brave and kindhearted. She did not run for her life when the fire occurred and the other migrant caregivers did not either,” Hsieh said.
“The patients looked after by migrant caregivers were all safely evacuated,” she said.
Family members of patients are not permitted to stay overnight at the nursing ward, putting more responsibility on the caregivers, Hsieh said.
“It’s lucky that the caregivers were around. Adi carried my mother on her back to move her from her bed to a wheelchair. She was rescued immediately and did not get hurt,” Hsieh said.
According to a woman surnamed Hsu (許), a retired teacher who volunteers one day a week to help patients, the nursing ward that accommodates 32 people was short-staffed, putting more responsibility on caregivers.
“The ward has up to four nurses working each shift,” Hsu said. “The eight caregivers hired by some patients’ families have shouldered a significant portion of the workload.”
The hospital said there were seven nurses on duty when the fire broke out.
After being evacuated, several patients from the nursing ward were temporarily housed in the emergency ward, accompanied by their families and social workers, who talked about possible causes of the blaze and the fate of others.
Supraph said the fire took place a while after the nurses changed the patients’ diapers, something they do every night at about 3am.
“When the aunt [the nurse in the room where the fire broke out] was changing diapers, I was also changing grandmother’s [Hsieh’s mother]. A little while after I finished, I heard some noises outside the room and saw smoke billowing up at the other side of the ward when I opened the door,” Supraph said.
She and other caregivers, also from Indonesia, ran to help the nurse move the patient from the bed that had apparently caught fire, and then she ran back, she said.
“We were all helping evacuate patients,” Supraph said. “I was not scared. I knew that I had to rescue grandmother. She weighs 62kg. I managed to carry her on my back.”
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