'Please do something' - Waterford lady housebound five years calls on Government to act
Olivia Fitzgerald Power from Waterford is one of thousands of people in Ireland with bladder issues who would greatly benefit from a 'No Wait Card' when out in public
‘No Wait Cards’ are issued by organisations such as Crohn’s & Colitis Ireland and Spinal Injuries Ireland and aim to empower individuals to request access to toilet facilities when urgency strikes.
The card is a critical support for hundreds of people but it has no legal standing in Ireland.
For Waterford woman Olivia Fitzgerald Power (63), life without a 'No Wait Card' means she has essentially been housebound for the last five years.
Olivia had a spinal stenosis operation six years ago which has left her with a dropped foot and pain in her lower back.
"In turn of having this operation, unfortunately, the L4, L5 is all linked up to your bladder and I have now been left with equine disease, which is basically the bladder's not working anymore," Olivia said.
Olivia is on various tablets to stop the bladder from being overactive but she said some of these medications aren't good long term.
Olivia got bladder botox two weeks ago in the hopes of fixing her serious issue and was told after two weeks it should start activating. She should hopefully be able to leave her house without the fear of having an accident in public if the botox works effectively.
"Prior to that, it stopped me from going out, from having any kind of social life or entertainment, because one sip and I'm literally on the loo. Therefore, you know, unless I'm wearing pull-ups or thick pads, going out has been so, so difficult for me. And I do love my shops.
"Not having that toilet, that means to just say, look, hello, sorry, I'm desperate. Other than that, I have to find quickly a Lidl or an Aldi because they have toilets for customers and not all shops have the toilets for customers, especially if you want to go urgently."
Olivia said she is restricted from going out in public for the last five years after many experiences of being rejected from using the toilet in public establishments, especially women's boutiques, she said.
"I could be caught out from getting out of the car to walk into the shop from the car park and I'm thinking, yeah, this is awful. Anyway there was hope that they gave me the botox and that it would help.
"But now I'm in another situation, it's kicking in that I'm able to urinate myself at the moment but if I find it difficult, then I have to self-catheter myself, which puts me off of having the botox in the first place. But I was literally on desperate doors and thinking, well, it's got to be better than nothing."
Olivia said to have a 'No Wait Card', which is already implemented in the UK for extreme cases, would help her and thousands of others in the same situation greatly.
"You get very depressed," she explained, "when you are inactive, it affects all your body, your muscles. You don't use it, you lose it. Fortunately enough, I'm quite well placed, I do have a nice garden so I can get out for a walk. But other than that you are literally housebound because of this situation and your quality of life."
If Ireland was to implement a fully legal no-wait card, "a weight would be lifted off of everybody's shoulders in situations of bladder and medical reasons," Olivia said.
"To be able to show a card and not have someone look at you as if to say, oh, God, what, are you going to wet yourself? You know?
"When somebody has refused, I said, I'm sorry, I'm desperate, and then they say I'm sorry, staff only. They look at you as if to say, like you're a piece of dirt, or they just brush you off, brush you off and say there's no toilet seat for public."
Olivia also said for places who only allow toilet use for people who buy something first, "you'd be drowned by the time you're waiting."
This emphasises the huge issue for people with bladder issues and the struggle, fear and humiliation they have to face when needing a toilet in public.
To the government, Olivia says: "put yourself in my shoes. It's a daily occurrence. It has stopped my quality of life because I don't go out. You get to a point where you don't even want to go out. It's just, it's miserable. So please do something and do it fast.
"I could literally be wanting to go to the loo and because I am desperately trying to hold it, you're then using your bowel muscles, and you could explode.
"That all comes down to the disease that I've got and it should be recognised as a disability, and it's not."
"Three to five years, let's say, of not really being totally sociable, it takes its toll. It shouldn't have had to come down to such drastic moves. I should have been able to go out in peace and know that I won't be turned away from a toilet."