-victim was in excruciating pain for 10 days before taken to hospital
A 78-year-old woman was taken to her home by a taxi driver who had knocked her down with his car, causing her to sustain a broken leg and hip.
She is now a patient at the Female Surgical Ward of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) after spending over ten days in her house in excruciating pain and longing to be rescued.
According to a hospital source, Eileen August had been involved in an accident on July 27. The source said that sometime after noon, August was standing at the corner of Norton Street and Cemetery Road when a car slammed into her.
The driver of the car is believed to have been in a rush to get to a funeral service at the Sandy’s Funeral Home. According to reports, since the driver was late he did not take the woman to the hospital but kept her in the car instead, while he went to the funeral service.
The source said also that the driver took the woman’s money which she had to purchase vegetables at the time of the accident and he made the purchase instead.
He then enquired from her where and with whom she lived and after learning the address and that she lived alone, the man dropped her off at her home and gave her the vegetables which she was on her way to purchase.
Canada-based son
The injured August told Stabroek News that she had given the driver responsible for her injuries a telephone number to contact her son who resides in Canada in order that the son would be aware of what had happened to her. It is reported that the driver did call the Canada-based son but only told him part of the story, that his mother was involved in an accident. The driver then hung up the phone and never called again.
According to the woman’s daughter-in-law who requested anonymity, the woman’s son tried to contact her on several occasions but all efforts proved futile.
The daughter-in-law who eventually found the woman said that the driver had placed her mother-in-law far away from her landline phone so she could not get to it in order to answer when he called.
“She keep hearing de phone ringing all de time, but remember she foot break, suh she can’t really get to the phone. So she just lie down in de chair way he put she, longing for answer de phone suh dat somebody could come to she rescue, cause she couldn’t a move,” the woman said.
The daughter-in-law said that after repeated calls to his mother went unanswered, he decided to call his wife and instructed her to go over to his mother’s house to ensure that she was safe. It was at this point that the daughter-in-law found August at her 704 West Ruimveldt home in what she described as a “big mess”.
August was forced to urinate and defecate from the said chair in which she was placed by the driver from July 27 up until the time she was found on Thursday night at approximately 10 pm.
“De wounds from de accident de bleeding an all kinda thing, she was in a big mess when I find she.”
The daughter-in-law said that the woman who was dehydrated and in need of food was kept company by a niece.
The woman explained, however, that the niece who stays with her mother-in-law is mentally challenged and was little or no help to the injured woman.
“She niece can’t talk and answer phone an all a duh, she ain’t gat de head fuh know wah really happen,” the daughter-in-law lamented.
August told this newspaper that she managed to cook one meal during the period. When asked how she achieved that, she said that she told the same niece to bring the kero stove to the chair in which she was placed and all the other articles she needed.
“She barely understand meh fuh bring dem things,” August said. “Ah even try fuh ask she fuh pass de phone but then a realise that the cord too short,” she added.
August said that she would be able to positively identify the driver who caused her all this suffering.
Meanwhile, relatives are angry that the driver of the car did not take the injured woman to the hospital to seek urgent medical attention knowing the extent of the injuries she had sustained.
Though August complained of being in severe pain, she was in high spirits and managed a constant smile when this newspaper visited her at her bedside yesterday, as she constantly gave praise for being alive.
When asked how she was feeling, the jovial August replied, “I feel like I’m in seventh heaven.” She said also that the nurses and doctors at the hospital have been extremely kind and caring to her.
“I like this hospital, I get to come up in elevator and so on and the hospital get a lot of nice things,” she remarked, wearing a bright smile on her face.
The driver is still at large.
