Ellen
02-18-2006, 08:42 AM
They called me a junkie’
By Naomi Wright
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/_images/db/18/28/Diabetic_At_Tescos_P6W1729.182882.full.jpg
Diabetic Jay Panahian-Jand who almost died after collapsing in Tesco, Leytonstone
A DIABETIC girl almost died when she collapsed in a supermarket toilet and staff thought she was a junkie.
Anne Panahian-Jand, 45, of Harold Road, Leytonstone, claims workers at Tesco in Gainsborough Road left her daughter, 17-year-old Jay, begging for help.
She said they delayed calling an ambulance then told paramedics she had been drinking.
Jay, who wears a special diabetes ID necklace to help in such a situation, was eventually taken to Whipps Cross University Hospital in a critical condition. She spent three days there.
Mrs Panahian-Jand, who has seven children and is married to Hassan, said: "I am absolutely disgusted with the way my daughter was treated. She could have died.
"Nobody would come near her and no-one tried to help her. There wasn't even a first aider. I don't know how long she was lying there before staff called an ambulance.
"All the while I was out searching the streets for her and panicking because she hadn't come home and I knew she needed her insulin."
Mrs Panahian-Jand said her daughter, who has been diabetic for seven years, went in the early evening to collect her insulin prescription at the store's pharmacy.
She said: "Jay went into the toilet to take her insulin injection but collapsed and could not move.
"She asked a woman to call someone to help her but the woman called her a heroin addict. Eventually some staff came in but no-one would help.
"Right beside her in a Tesco bag was her insulin prescription. She told them to look in the bag but they didn't."
Mrs Panahian-Jand added that by now Jay's eyesight was beginning to fail and her speech was becoming slurred.
She said: "A security guard kept saying to one of the managers that she had been taking drugs and drinking and when the paramedics arrived he told them she had been drinking."
Mrs Panahian-Jand added: "Whether someone is diabetic or a heroin addict, if they collapse surely they still need an ambulance, or do staff at Tesco decide on quality of life now?"
A London Ambulance spokeswoman confirmed that an ambulance was called at 7.41pm, about 40 minutes after Jay arrived at the store.
The Guardian contacted Tesco but as we went to press, the company had still not responded.
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/walthamforest/walthamforestnews/display.var.689802.0.they_called_me_a_junkie.php
By Naomi Wright
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/_images/db/18/28/Diabetic_At_Tescos_P6W1729.182882.full.jpg
Diabetic Jay Panahian-Jand who almost died after collapsing in Tesco, Leytonstone
A DIABETIC girl almost died when she collapsed in a supermarket toilet and staff thought she was a junkie.
Anne Panahian-Jand, 45, of Harold Road, Leytonstone, claims workers at Tesco in Gainsborough Road left her daughter, 17-year-old Jay, begging for help.
She said they delayed calling an ambulance then told paramedics she had been drinking.
Jay, who wears a special diabetes ID necklace to help in such a situation, was eventually taken to Whipps Cross University Hospital in a critical condition. She spent three days there.
Mrs Panahian-Jand, who has seven children and is married to Hassan, said: "I am absolutely disgusted with the way my daughter was treated. She could have died.
"Nobody would come near her and no-one tried to help her. There wasn't even a first aider. I don't know how long she was lying there before staff called an ambulance.
"All the while I was out searching the streets for her and panicking because she hadn't come home and I knew she needed her insulin."
Mrs Panahian-Jand said her daughter, who has been diabetic for seven years, went in the early evening to collect her insulin prescription at the store's pharmacy.
She said: "Jay went into the toilet to take her insulin injection but collapsed and could not move.
"She asked a woman to call someone to help her but the woman called her a heroin addict. Eventually some staff came in but no-one would help.
"Right beside her in a Tesco bag was her insulin prescription. She told them to look in the bag but they didn't."
Mrs Panahian-Jand added that by now Jay's eyesight was beginning to fail and her speech was becoming slurred.
She said: "A security guard kept saying to one of the managers that she had been taking drugs and drinking and when the paramedics arrived he told them she had been drinking."
Mrs Panahian-Jand added: "Whether someone is diabetic or a heroin addict, if they collapse surely they still need an ambulance, or do staff at Tesco decide on quality of life now?"
A London Ambulance spokeswoman confirmed that an ambulance was called at 7.41pm, about 40 minutes after Jay arrived at the store.
The Guardian contacted Tesco but as we went to press, the company had still not responded.
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/walthamforest/walthamforestnews/display.var.689802.0.they_called_me_a_junkie.php