A 98-year-old widow with dementia and diabetes who has been ruled ineligible for Financial Assistance was last night still home alone despite a visit from a Department of Health social worker yesterday.Mrs O was assessed at the rundown property where she lives by community health social worker Katherina Gibbons, who has been to see her before and who suggested in July that she be placed on a waiting list for a care home.But nothing had changed in the vulnerable widow’s situation as of yesterday evening, when Mrs O was facing another night on her own, sleeping in a hard-backed chair in her kitchen because she is unable to put herself to bed.Government issued a two-page statement last night documenting what it had done to help the senior, but it was denounced as “totally untrue” by Mrs O’s former employer, Ms H, who has been paying for her to receive some care at home.The Royal Gazette revealed Mrs O’s plight yesterday, when we told how she was recently found wandering in her yard in just a diaper and vest and now had to be locked into the house for her own safety.Ms H said the Ministry of Health’s statement contained just one accurate paragraph and failed to address who should pay for the round-the-clock care that social workers have declared necessary.“The statement is totally untrue,” said Ms H, who is not related to the elderly lady. “It’s not factual.”Mrs O has no relatives willing to look after her and spends 21 hours a day on her own in her dilapidated family home, sitting in a chair in her kitchen on an incontinence pad.She receives three hours of help a day from a private care service, which Ms H pays for, at a cost of $2,680 a month.Government has been aware of Mrs O’s situation since March this year, when Ms H first made contact with the National Office for Seniors and the Physically Challenged (NOSPC).NOSPC case manager Dennika Williams sent an e-mail to the Department of Financial Assistance on May 2, explaining that Mrs O required “24-hour care and assistance”.She wrote: “Mrs O receives a $700 a month pension but is left with only $200 a month after HIP (Health Insurance Plan). She also receives a policy for her late husband [of] $200 a month. This is insufficient funds to cover care and pay for daily living.”Ms Williams added: “Ms H has been very supportive both physically and financially but client care is becoming overwhelming.”The Department of Financial Assistance later determined that Mrs O was ineligible for any financial aid, as she has a “life interest” in the property in which she lives.It is believed that the one-storey home is owned by her great-nephew but that she can live there until her death. She is not thought to receive any financial benefit from the house or to have any savings or other assets.Social worker Ms Gibbons has visited Mrs O more than once and wrote in an e-mail to Ms H in July that it was “anticipated that she will be placed on a waiting list” for a care home.She returned to Mrs O’s home yesterday and, according to Ms H, stated again that the senior needed 24-hour care and should be placed in a home.But neither she nor anyone else in Government has explained to Ms H who will pay for that care, which could cost anything from $1,395 a month at Lefroy House to $13,800 a month at King Edward VII Memorial Continuing Care Unit (CCU).The Ministry of Health statement released last night said in March “the option of moving into a residential care facility was discussed, but Mrs O refused”.Ms H said: “She was 97, of course she was going to refuse.”The statement went on: “Arrangements were made with a home care service to assist with Mrs O’s care and Ms H’s family continued to provide help with her care.”Ms H said: “I made the arrangements and we paid for the care.”The Ministry said the Department of Financial Assistance, after determining that Mrs O didn’t qualify for assistance, “went the extra mile” by finding a place for her at a facility which cost less per month than the private home care service.Ms H said the Department’s director did suggest the facility and visited it with her but Ms H did not deem the level of care appropriate and it cost the same as the private home care.The Ministry’s statement said: “When it was learned that Ms H had to leave the Island for personal reasons, NOSPC worked with her to identify either a permanent rest home placement or respite care for Mrs O. Unfortunately, the placement was not accepted.”Ms H said: “They weren’t offering anything financial whatsoever. We all met and they said ‘if you have $5,000 a month, we can find a bed for her’.”The Ministry said Mrs O was assessed on several occasions and care for problems with her leg, which is swollen and covered in sores, was given by the District Nurse.“The [National] Office also arranged for Mrs O to have a place in the day care programme at Sylvia Richardson Care Facility. Again, unfortunately, Mrs O attended only sporadically and has not attended in some time.”Ms H explained she had to make arrangements to get Mrs O to the facility and pay for inclusion in the programme and for transport. Problems with access to Mrs O’s property meant the bus used by the home to transport clients was unsuitable.The Ministry said Mrs O was admitted to hospital in December and, upon being discharged, was offered a place in the CCU, which was declined. “Another placement was then found at a private care facility, but it is not known if that offer was acted upon.”Ms H said that wasn’t true and that though the prospect of a place at the CCU had recently been raised, no one had explained how the fees would be paid.Yesterday’s statement said: “The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Youth, Families and Sports have offered all possible assistance.“NOSPC has received offers of assistance from the public and these offers have been relayed to Ms H.”Ms H said she had heard nothing from the NOSPC yesterday. “Nobody has faced me or said boo to me. August was the last contact I had with them.”Asked over the telephone by this newspaper if there was anything else Government could do to help Mrs O, Health Minister Zane DeSilva said yesterday: “Well, there is.”He said he could not speak at that moment but would give comment later. He did not return calls later in the day but sent a text indicating a statement would come from his Ministry.Claudette Fleming, director of Age Concern, said the case highlighted the lack of infrastructure in Bermuda for dealing with seniors in need.She said the NOSPC was not getting the resources it needed to do its job properly and that what was really needed was an entire Ministry “with the funding and resources that go with it”.“Until we take that step, we are going to be ‘piecemealing’ it and seniors are going to be disadvantaged. How loud do you have to scream to say it? It’s obviously not seen as important.”This newspaper received a number of offers of help for Mrs O from the public yesterday. They have been passed to Ms H, who said she was grateful for the responses and was considering what to do next.