Tonight, a career foster Mother from the Ministry of Human Development is crying out for help after losing her sight and enduring 2 years without any clear answers on her pension and gratuity.
2 years ago she went up in front of a medical board that ultimately declared her medically unfit to work, and while Social Security has honoured her disability claim, G.O.B. has been much slower to do the same.
It left 53-year-old Desiree Meggs and her 23-year-old daughter in a desperate situation, struggling to feed themselves and simultaneously pay their mortgage.
It's a heartbreaking story of a long-serving yet neglected public servant who only wants what she's owed. Cherisse Halsall has the story.
Our story tonight is about a career foster mother who spent a 23 year career here at the Dorothy Menzies Child Care Center.
She was dedicated, empathetic, and hard-working.
But now 2 years after suddenly losing her sight she's unable to work and wondering if anyone will reach out to give her the severance she duly deserves
Desiree Meggs, Retired For Medical Reasons
"I am tired, my soul is weak, when those people wanted me to do my work I went above and beyond I not only did my share I did other people's share because when you work at Dorothy Menzies you don't work as an individual, you work as a team, because it takes a team to raise those children, not one person, you know and you go to work sometimes before you even clock in the children run to you with a concern, sometimes you don't even remember to clock in when you start to deal with you know but after all my hard labour I could never believe this is going to be the end."
"Personally I wouldn't recommend anybody to work with the government, nobody because if I knew this was the outcome I would have stayed working at Willamson industry, I would have stayed working at Brodies where I was working, but just because I wanted to do something that I loved to do."
And that love was enough to sustain her through a 23 year career, that is until the night that her life changed forever, the night she lost her sight.
Desiree Meggs, Retired For Medical Reasons
"One, It was the last night that I worked. It was the thirteenth of December, I worked the night and I couldn't see good, when I got out of the van instead of going into the gate I ended up across the street almost in the drain, um, when I came home I had explained to my daughter and so it was time for my medical checkup at medical associates, the clinic on rectory lane. We went there and everything was good. My sugar was fine, my pressure was fine and when we left there coming down Albert Street when we hit in front of Juanita's everything just went blank, everything went blank and I remember grabbing a hold of my daughter and she said like Mommy you will throw me down."
Since then she's been blind, a once fiercely independent woman reduced to complete dependency on her child, and desperately in need of her severance which after 2 years she still can't get.
Desiree Meggs, Retired For Medical Reasons
"Those people need to give me my money expeditiously. I'm not coming off you know regularly where I wouldn't have minded sitting and waiting and this amount of time is beyond me."
Cherisse Halsall:
"How much time exactly?"
Desiree Meggs, Retired For Medical Reasons
"From December 2021, we are in 2023 now, what is the excuse, and every time I call there it's like everyone answers the phone with an attitude it's like I am begging them and it's not fair, it's not fair, this is the department of human services it's a lot going on. They need to come down to earth and care for their workers, I had other co-workers gone to Ladyville Highlights one ended up dying in surgery leaving her four children, four small kids that is unfair. We are not asking them to give us anything but the common care of your workers."
And Desiree's plight is also shared by her daughter turned caregiver Faith Young. This 23 year old has spent the last two years struggling to raise her young daughter, care for her ailing mother, and keep the roof over their heads. Still, she says the worst of it is watching her mom's mental turmoil.
Faith Young, Daughter of Medically Unfit Worker
"You ask anybody about Desiree Megs, anybody who knows Desiree Meggs, she was always an independent person, so for her to now be dependent that alone is a mental struggle for her."
"Each day is a struggle to be honest, you have good days, and you have bad days but when she is in this depressive state it's the hardest."
"Some days I don't know if my mom will live to see the next day because in all honesty lately, we called the department last week, and my mom's sugar and pressure were in line for a stroke, everything is beyond 400, the pressure and the sugar, from last week, it doesn't matter how I give her the insulin, give her the medication, her diet it doesn't come down."
Cherisse Halsall:
"And the day to day, you know, your mom says that you guys struggle in this house."
Faith Young, Daughter of Medically Unfit Worker
"Most days, most ays. The biggest run around I have with is with the Ministry where she used to work, every time you call you can't talk to the person that you want to talk to. I just feel like they run a mind game, sometimes I sit down and I have to ask myself if they are trying to kill my mom before they pay her out, you know just to not have to pay her out, because and it's really really, really ridiculous because like I said I filed for this from December 2021. We have almost reached December 2023 now and it's like no progress, every time they tell you a story and you feel like you are making two steps forward when in reality its because they pull you 10 steps back."
Desiree and her daughter believe that the Ministry's neglect is particularly harsh when one considers that she was the medical officer at Dorothy Menzies childcare center, the person assigned to take the children to their doctor visits, get them their medications, and look after their general health, she did this all through Covid despite the risk to her own health:
Desiree Meggs, Retired For Medical Reasons
"I take pride, I take very much pride in my work just when you get to work in the morning or whatever time you go on the children, Ms. Meggs, Ms. Meggs, Ms. Meggs, and being able to help them being able to be thier comforter, being able to be thier confidant, being able to be thier guide. I enjoyed it you know, fixing them up for grauation, fixing them up for this banquets, and just preparing them for school on an everyday basis, sowing uniforms, fixing curtains, you know the whole 9 yards."
7 News has learned that The Ministry of Human Development has made all of its required submissions on Desiree's behalf. Her file was then passed to the Ministries of Finance and Public Service where it seems to be trapped in a labyrinth of bureaucracy that's only served to torment Desiree and her family.
Desiree Meggs, Retired For Medical Reasons
"I have no idea, at first when my documents went to Belmopan and they went to treasury they said they were sending it back to human services because they need to do some re-adjustment and get some appraisals done. They need to do an option letter, all of those things were addressed. It took them six months or a little bit after 6 months to send it back to treasury. When they sent it back to treasury they didn't adjust the salary, the letter stated that I am coming off not retiring but medically unfit. That was done wrong, and they sent it back again for them to address it. My daughter was calling them every day when they know that we are calling the person from the records that we ask for she is either in the bathroom or gone to sit down with the boss and the secretary takes the number but they never call back."
We are told that Desiree's file is now at the Treasury Department where personnel will have to go through it thoroughly before any decisions can be made, and the reality is that her illness and incapacitation makes that file more complicated to process.
The surgery Desiree desperately needs in her right eye costs approximately $4,000 Belize dollars; she and her daughter would have to travel to Guatemala City to get the procedure done. Her fear is that given the deteriorating condition of her eye, it may already be too late for the surgery to be performed.
