Riga City Council not interested in sick Rigans? Social Services looking for a reason not to help

At the risk of life

The Riga City Council Social Services building at 266 Brivibas Street is known to thousands of people in the capital, and some have only miraculously walked away from there. For example, one visitor, Tatianathe employees of this service literally brought her to a heart attack with their attitude, and the woman then swallowed handfuls of sedatives at the door – just to avoid calling an ambulance.

Another visitor, Anastasiafollowing talking with social workers, she still called an ambulance, and the doctors said that she made it literally at the last moment, since due to the jump in blood pressure, the unfortunate woman was diagnosed with a pre-stroke condition.

The bb.lv correspondent spoke to both the first and the second, and heard from them: our friends who needed help from the municipal department also went to the house at 266 Brivibas, but left without achieving anything, but with pretty frayed nerves. This building, built of red brick, is popularly called simply “the red house”, and this has long since become a household name in Riga; many talk regarding going there as a terrible ordeal…

And the employees of this organization or those associated with it often exceed all acceptable limits, for example, if a person who has fallen into trouble is entitled to certain social benefits, which the municipal structure is more willing to take away (if the poor fellow was previously assigned something by certain departments).

And here it often reaches the point of absurdity.

Officials believe in a miracle

Here, for example, is such a case. Several years ago, a disaster happened to a famous Latvian diving instructor and explorer of the depths Sergei SemenovDuring an expedition to France, an air cylinder exploded during overload. A valve flew off the cylinder and literally crushed Sergei’s hand.

Then in France he was miraculously saved, the bleeding was stopped and his hand was literally stitched together piece by piece, leaving only two fingers. And now every year in his homeland Sergei goes to a special commission to check, where they vigilantly monitor whether his hand has recovered, whether more fingers have suddenly grown.

It seems that the checks are not being carried out with any good intentions, wanting to support the person, but with only one goal – to deprive Sergey of any social assistance due from the state. The last time it reached the point of insanity, when the appointed lady expert with a smart look counted the fingers on Sergey’s hand: “One, two. I see! Where are the other three?”

Having received the response “they remained on the asphalt,” the lady seemed to be satisfied and left social guarantees for Sergei.

Is it beyond repair?

Another incident happened to a resident of Riga Evgeniy. Several years ago, he received such a terrible head injury that doctors defined it as “incompatible with life”, but still pulled the man literally back from the other world, and then told Evgeny, who came out of a coma, that in the best case scenario, in three years he would be able to pull himself up on the bed and sit up without outside help, and the doctors did not even dare to talk regarding a full recovery.

Of course, various departments assigned social benefits to the man. But now, every two years, representatives of the relevant agencies come to him, not to provide any assistance, but to check whether Evgeny has suddenly started walking or even running, so that any social benefits might be removed from him and his status changed to that of a fully recovered person.

It turns out to be an abnormal situation: doctors, from the height of their professionalism, say one thing, and representatives of the social service of the Riga City Council (wanting to take money from the poor guy?) are tormented by vague suspicions that they may be led by the nose, and Evgeniy is quite realistically ready to participate in ballet and run marathons…

Of course, the representatives of the social service do not act in this way because they feel like it, but because they are following instructions sent down from above, namely from the offices of the Riga City Council, where the main management sits.

Assistant at your own expense

Another terrible incident happened to a well-known Moscow activist Vladimir Moiseenkowho had a stroke a couple of years ago. Now Vladimir is half paralyzed, can only lie down, and can only move into a wheelchair with the help of his wife, say, when he needs to, pardon me, get to the bathroom to wash up.

In such a case, the disabled person is entitled by law to have an assistant to help both around the house and the person himself. However, the representatives of the social service considered that the spouse had some minimum salary, and the disabled person himself, it seems, had some savings, and refused to provide an assistant: they say, you have enough money to hire an assistant yourself and pay for him, and please do not contact the social service of the Riga City Council.

Of course, the structure of the capital’s Duma does not help the disabled person pay for a rehabilitation specialist, various procedures aimed at at least some kind of recovery; and even for home visits by doctors, the Moiseyenkov family pays for this themselves, which, together with the costs of rehabilitation specialists, takes up all the money. And what to do next, the disabled person’s wife no longer knows…

However, following all this, representatives of the social service keep visiting Moiseyenkov with checks: what if his condition has improved so much that it is time to remove any social support from him – even the most minimal.

Still lying down?

A similar story happened to an elderly resident of Riga Anatolywho is 100% bedridden; in the frosty winter, even the stove in his apartment on Skultes Street in Čiekurkalns in an old wooden house without amenities was heated by a neighbor from the two-story building. When she was sober.

However, representatives of the Riga City Council’s social service visit Anatoly every now and then to conduct checks, not to help him in any way, but to make sure that he is indeed still bedridden and that his disability status cannot yet be removed and his pension cut.

There are hundreds of similar cases of openly heartless attitude on the part of the Riga City Council social service; it would take up too many pages in a newspaper to describe them all.

Sometimes people in need would turn to the city council deputies from the parties they had voted for in the previous elections for support, but would hear in response either sighs mixed with meaningful mooing, or phrases that were no different from those heard in the offices of the “red house.”