by Calistra Farrier ST GEORGE'S, GRENADA - HUNDREDS OF GRENADA’S ELDERLY remain homeless and without proper care following the devastation wrought on the island by Hurricane Ivan. More than one month after ninety percent of homes on the island were either damaged or destroyed by the category three hurricane Government is yet to announce plans to deal specifically with Grenada’s elderly population, about a third of the country’s 90-thousand people. One social worker said many are in need of special medical care. Edwin Cadore, president of Extended Care Through Hope and Optimism (ECHO), the organisation which looks after the affairs of the elderly told CARIBUPDATE that while relief supplies are reaching seniors there is more that can be done to ease their plight. We spoke with a woman in her seventies who said her name was Joylyn, but couldn’t remember her last name; we found her living out of a crocus bag which contained all that remained of her belongings, a bowl, a cup and two dresses. Joylyn told us that her wooden house in the rural village of Mt Granby was flattened by Ivan’s winds and since the hurricane she has been moving from place to place “taking a night rest” by different people. With what many consider here as the grossly inept handling of the post-Ivan crisis in Grenada has created a new breed of marginalised peoplewith the elderly at the top of the list. Many elderly persons who experienced the devastation of 1955(hurricane Janet) lament the poor handling of the situation and the slowness with which relief is coming to them and in some cases not at all. SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE.COM