Sister wants help for mentally ill brothers

Clement Bertram, 60, has been mentally ill since he was 19 years old. His younger brother, 50-year-old Glenroy Bertram, started showing signs of mental illness at age 38.

Nadia Gordon, 52, their sister, has been left with a difficult job. The Norwood, St Ann, resident has been caring for her mentally ill brothers for years, but now finds herself drowning in burden.

"None of them caa really do nothing to help themselves, so a just me one with them. And we don't live in the same house ... it's just the same area. It would be better if we were all one place," Gordon told THE STAR.

Gordon says the elder of the two brothers, Clement, climbed a light post in the community and was badly burnt on his arms and feet. He has been in severe pain.

"He got badly burnt and in pain, and him head go and come. Some time I carry him to the doctor and get him medication ... him take the pill dem but them nuh really work," she said.

Gordon says her family took Clement to Bellevue Hospital for treatment when he was younger, but he escaped the mental health facility. Since then, he has been living in Norwood.

"If I tell him to work or do anything though, he will do it. But otherwise, him helpless. Right now, the house almost a drop down pon them and him just helpless," she related.

On the other hand, Gordon says Glenroy's mental issue still baffles the family.

"In 1998, he travelled to Canada and we see him come back before the time and we don't know why. Him only spend eight months. And we see that he had some changes. Him start talk to himself," she recalled.

Afterwards, he was missing for a while, until he was found badly beaten in St Mary.

Gordon said it is important that brothers are properly medicated and taken care of. However, she says she cannot do it alone. She needs help.

"They are getting worse. Some of the medication expensive and hard to find, and Clement now, because him a feel pain, he don't want to go to the clinic so he can get his. He don't want to travel. Him just deh home every day."

If anyone can assist Nadia Gordon, you can contact her at 876-217-3162.