A former AS Cooper employee who claims she suffered long-term injuries after falling through a rotten floorboard in the store is begging the company to compensate her.

Yvonne Dawson told The Royal Gazette she still suffered major health problems allegedly caused by the accident more than six years ago and was struggling to pay for overseas medical treatment.

The 42-year-old launched a civil claim against the department store in 2006 but said it was discontinued after agreement that the matter would be settled out of court.

"I'm still waiting and I'm fed up," she said yesterday. "It is six years and I have had enough. What I'm asking for is a compensation package, along with a long-term disability health [insurance] plan."

Ms Dawson was the caregiver who took alleged elder abuse victim "Auntie Em" into her own home, as revealed by this newspaper in September 2007.

She gave up her bed for the near-blind widow after the house Wilhelmina Liburd, now aged 97, lived in with her adopted daughter was declared unfit for human habitation.

Ms Dawson worked as a sales assistant in the accessory department at AS Cooper in February 2003, when she claims she fell through a hole in the wooden floor on the third floor near the store's Reid Street entrance.

"I only remember hearing a crack or tearing sound," she said. "The 3¾ inch heel of my shoe went right through the floorboard so fast. Everything went midnight blue and I couldn't see but I could hear."

She did not attend hospital but said she went home later that day with burning pains in her neck and back.

Ever since, she claims, she has suffered chronic back, neck, shoulder and knee pain, as well as numbness, headaches, skin inflammation, difficulty sleeping and pelvic problems.

She left AS Cooper in October 2003 as she was no longer able to do the job and has since worked mainly as a nursing assistant, when well enough.

The Somerset mother-of-two has been unable to get private health insurance since the accident and relies on the basic state plan (HIP) when she is employed, which does not cover the regular visits she makes to Atlanta for treatment.

"Some days, when I'm in pain, I cry," she said. "I just need resolution. Life is not the same."

The statement of claim drawn up by her lawyer said Ms Dawson — who had a previous injury at the time of the fall which caused ongoing back pain — "sustained severe injuries and has suffered loss and damage". The claim said AS Cooper failed in its duty of care to its employees to ensure a safe workplace.

AS Cooper managing director Somers Cooper said: "I can't comment because it is a legal matter at this point in time. Unfortunately, that's all I can tell you: it's a legal issue, it's ongoing." The company's lawyer, Kim White, did not respond to an e-mail requesting comment.

An assistant for Ms Dawson's lawyer, Margaret Burgess-Howie, said she had no comment.