When children are flown abroad for medical care, accommodation is the last thing on their parents’ mind, with charities taking care of logistics so they can focus on treatment. But what happens when COVID-19 draws the shutters on such accommodation and Puttinu Cares run out of space? Sarah Carabott reports.

When Lorinda Mamo received a call telling her she needed to be in London for her son’s treatment within hours, she knew what she had to do.

She started preparing their bags, including one large suitcase containing just supplies and medicine for seven-year-old Henry, who suffers from the rare prune belly syndrome and chronic kidney disease.

But her mind was all over the place.

Henry’s medical appointment had been postponed by two months because of COVID-19 and he had fallen ill at least four times since then. He had to be at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London within two days, so the urgency further heightened her anxiety.

Add to that another level of stress they had not experienced before: they had to look for a place to sleep.

The Mamos have been to London numerous times because of Henry’s rare and complicated condition. Every time, accommodation and transport to and from the hospital was catered for.

But this time they were told they could not stay at the usual guesthouse, run by Augustinian nuns, because of COVID-19 precautions. Puttinu Cares’ accommodation were also full, with no vacancy in the foreseeable future.

“I was frantic with worry about my son’s life and the last thing I needed to think about was accommodation. My brain felt tattered. I cannot stress enough how organising accommodation, which might seem a small thing, was taking over my mind.

“I cannot imagine what parents who have to come to London for treatment for the first time are going through,” she told Times of Malta.

I was frantic with worry about my son’s life and the last thing I needed to think about was accommodation

Very often, patients do not know how long they would be staying in London. When Henry needed a kidney transplant the plan was to stay there for two months, but they returned to Malta after five months.

This time around Lorinda slept next to her son in hospital for five nights, and luckily for them, Puttinu had an apartment that they could move into as soon as Henry was discharged.

Grateful that they now have a roof over their heads, Lorinda is still worried. The charity’s apartments in Sutton are 90 minutes away from the hospital, a trip that is sometimes too long for Henry, who easily gets sick.

Sometimes, they have multiple outpatient appointments at the hospital and it is not feasible to travel back and forth from Sutton, so they would hang around the area, something that is not always ideal if Henry is feeling unwell or tired.

Hope for new central London property

For weeks, Puttinu Cares has had to turn away several families – sometimes three in one day – because all its apartments are full.

At the moment, the charity owns 19 apartments and rents out another six in Sutton, which mainly host those receiving treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

For the past four years it has been looking for accommodation in central London, and has earmarked a building close to Great Ormond Street Hospital, which, by time, has the potential to become self-sustainable through the lease of commercial outlets within the same block. The total cost of the project is expected to reach €25 million.

It hopes to conclude discussions with the government on acquiring the building in the coming days to continue providing families of patients with the peace of mind that would allow them to focus on caring for their relatives.

Puttinu Cares’ deputy chair Angele Cuschieri explained that once airports reopened following the COVID-19 lockdown, demand for accommodation further increased because of a backlog of patients who had their treatment postponed.

“In the coming weeks, several will travel to London for organ transplants and we feel helpless as we have no accommodation to offer them,” CEO Rennie Zerafa added.

In such cases, although the government covers the financial cost of the patient’s accommodation, the relatives will have to look for accommodation and fork out funds to cover their stay, which could sometimes stretch into months.

For more information on how to help Puttinu Cares e-mail info@puttinucares.org