Haiti Earthquake and the Poor Elderly

Weeks after quake, Haiti’s elderly hobble through chaos, By William Booth, March 12, 2010, Washington Post: “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 François. ‘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!…'”