Upon my return to HAS, I went to go visit my Haitian friends at the Hanger Clinic, and was once again warmly welcomed, this time by those I hadn’t seen on Saturday night. I took my video of the Hanger Clinic to show them (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91haQlIjGzE). The Hanger band, Prestige, was there, and they are featured in the video and provide the soundtrack. We all gathered out back around a laptop computer screen to watch. Everyone seemed to enjoy and appreciate it.
While we were watching, I learned that Oscar, the double amputee featured in the video who so impressed us with his heroic strength and determination, passed away just a few weeks after those images were shot, apparently from some sort of abdominal hemorrhage. Jake had primarily worked with him while we were there, but all who witnessed his hard work and accomplishments were shocked and saddened by the news.
His wife, who must have seen the Hanger Clinic as a place where she could get help, came in the day he died, frantic and upset, seeking a large sum of money to have his body removed from their home and taken care of. Jill, the nurse case manager at Hanger, had the difficult task of telling her that they did not have the resources for that kind of aid, and had to turn her away. The wife, Ulna, is the same woman who was disappointed last time when all I gave her was clean sheets and toothbrushes, but later on in my stay, she came to treat me quite warmly. I feel very badly for her, but I am glad that Oscar was able to experience walking before he died, after 8 years in a wheelchair. It was a huge achievement. It is really sad that he couldn’t keep on going.
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