Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Weeks after quake, Haiti's elderly hobble through chaos
Haiti's 'invisible' elderly become increasingly desperate
Elderly Haitians and those with disabilities have been disproportionately affected by January's earthquake, which laid waste to the capital, Port-au-Prince, and made essential medical supplies scarce.
By William Booth
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 12, 2010; 1:05 PM
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- It was always hard to be old in Haiti, but after the earthquake, to be old and poor feels like a curse, say those who are both.
"We struggle to maintain a little dignity, but look at us," said Lauranise Gedeon, who sat, embarrassed, in soiled sheets in the ruins of a municipal nursing home here in the capital.
Residents were bathed outdoors with a bucket, trying to cover their nakedness. They spent the long, hot afternoons in hospital beds lined up side by side, six to a tent, fanning themselves with pieces of cardboard.
They begged for water to drink.
"No water today. We are waiting. We are waiting for medicines, for the doctors, for God to help us," said nurse Yolette Fran?ois. "I am serious.
These old people have a lot of troubles."
Her patients, about 80 men and women, were scooping rice and beans from dented metal bowls. Asked what they need most, one resident said,
"Something for the flies." Another complained that her spoon had been stolen and held up her fingers, sticky with food. "Look!"
The nurse whispered, "We have run out of diapers for them."
In Haitian Creole, the old are called "gran moun," and they are relatively few. Those 65 and older make up just 3.4 percent of Haiti's population, compared with 13 percent in a developed country such as the United States, because to attain such seniority in a nation beset by high infant mortality, curable diseases, AIDS and poverty is an accomplishment.
But in the weeks after the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake, the elderly appear to be forgotten.
...
Full text at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031202050.html
Haiti's 'invisible' elderly become increasingly desperate
Elderly Haitians and those with disabilities have been disproportionately affected by January's earthquake, which laid waste to the capital, Port-au-Prince, and made essential medical supplies scarce.
By William Booth
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 12, 2010; 1:05 PM
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- It was always hard to be old in Haiti, but after the earthquake, to be old and poor feels like a curse, say those who are both.
"We struggle to maintain a little dignity, but look at us," said Lauranise Gedeon, who sat, embarrassed, in soiled sheets in the ruins of a municipal nursing home here in the capital.
Residents were bathed outdoors with a bucket, trying to cover their nakedness. They spent the long, hot afternoons in hospital beds lined up side by side, six to a tent, fanning themselves with pieces of cardboard.
They begged for water to drink.
"No water today. We are waiting. We are waiting for medicines, for the doctors, for God to help us," said nurse Yolette Fran?ois. "I am serious.
These old people have a lot of troubles."
Her patients, about 80 men and women, were scooping rice and beans from dented metal bowls. Asked what they need most, one resident said,
"Something for the flies." Another complained that her spoon had been stolen and held up her fingers, sticky with food. "Look!"
The nurse whispered, "We have run out of diapers for them."
In Haitian Creole, the old are called "gran moun," and they are relatively few. Those 65 and older make up just 3.4 percent of Haiti's population, compared with 13 percent in a developed country such as the United States, because to attain such seniority in a nation beset by high infant mortality, curable diseases, AIDS and poverty is an accomplishment.
But in the weeks after the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake, the elderly appear to be forgotten.
...
Full text at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031202050.html