Sex visits for aged homes
The Australian 26nov04
SOME Victorian nursing homes have become "grey light zones" with prostitutes
visiting elderly clients for sex. Aged care and sex industry figures said it was
a common practice in public and private nursing homes to sneak "escorts" in.
Some homes set aside special sex rooms.
Anna Priamo, a nursing supervisor at an inner-city nursing home, said frisky
patients who harassed nurses were referred to a doctor who might arrange for a
prostitute to visit them. "It's not something we put in our brochure," Ms Priamo
said. "(The residents) might ask for it or if they make smarmy comments to
nurses it would be mentioned to the doctor and the doctor would ask them (if
they wanted an escort to be arranged). "Most homes would do it if asked. It is
part of our job to make sure people are socially and sexually and emotionally
happy and healthy," she said.
The Victorian Association of Health and Extended Care, which represents 70 per
cent of the state's aged care providers, has formed a taskforce to examine the
issue. "As the population ages, this issue of sexuality in residential aged care
is coming to the surface," chief executive Mary Barry said. "Residents have
rights. But it is a difficult, sensitive and touchy area."
Krystel, a Melbourne prostitute for 18 years, said she had been hired to visit
nursing homes to see people with Alzheimer's and intellectual disabilities.
"It's usually done very privately," she said. "I mean, you don't go in with
fishnet stockings and that sort of thing. You see clients during the day so it
looks more discreet. You go to the person whose name you've been allocated by
the head charge nurse."