AFTER repeated attempts to reach her 59-year-old daughter on the intercom throughout the morning, Ruth Reid heard three words every parent fears.
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"Mum, help me."
She and her husband rushed next door to her daughter's house to find the place flooded with about an inch and a half of water.
They suspect their daughter, who has an intellectual disability, was standing at the sink for well over an hour trying to hold down a tap that had come off, in an attempt to stop the water that was spurting out.
"She was frightened to let it go because she thought she'd made a mistake," Mrs Reid said.
"She was drenched, the house was drenched, the ceiling was watermarked."
About three years earlier, the National Disability Insurance Agency allocated thousands of dollars towards a study of proposed modifications for Colleen's bathroom.
Had the plans that were drawn up been implemented, Mrs Reid said the tap would have been replaced before it fell off in her daughter's hand as she went to clean her teeth.
She believed the delay could be attributed to the plan stagnating with SWEP before it was sent to the National Disability Insurance Agency.
Twice, Mrs Reid said the quotes in the plan went out of date and had to be redone.
The family received notification in December the NDIA had received the plan.
"Now, the plans are going to be no good again," Mrs Reid said.
Her daughter's house flooded about a month ago.
Repairs still need to be made before Mrs Reid and her husband can ease Colleen back into independent living.
"It took a while to get her to have the confidence to live on her own," Mrs Reid said.
She said seeing the house without its floor coverings and furnishings scared Colleen, who liked everything to be in its place.
The repairs have been arranged through insurance.
RELATED: NDIS participant calls for change
Mrs Reid shared some of the story at a forum hosted by grassroots campaign Every Australian Counts in Bendigo on Wednesday in the hope of highlighting areas of improvement for the NDIS.
She said Colleen was one of the first participants in the region to get involved in the NDIS. But her family still wasn't sure whether the NDIS would cover modifications for the bathroom, as all that had been allocated was funding for planning.
Mrs Reid said planning process for bathroom modifications started because social workers had started helping with Colleen's showers.
Modifications would have made the bathroom more serviceable for staff and more user-friendly for Colleen.
"The bathroom was very old and all of the taps and things weren't suitable at all," Mrs Reid said.
"We were managing the showers with Colleen but it was difficult."
The family is wondering how much longer the process will take, given the flooding.
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