Overseas-based Guyanese Beverly Massay late last year received the 2010 Home Health Aide Award from the Home Care Asso-ciation of New York State (HCA) for the saving the life of her patient as well as the patient’s four grandchildren from a fire.
Massay, a home health aide for Partners in Care, based in Manhattan, was assigned to care for a 91-year-old bedridden patient at the patient’s home. She told this newspaper in a telephone interview that on the day of the incident she arrived at work around 9.05 am and proceeded to put out her patient’s clothes and prepare her meal, after which she decided to give the sleeping woman a few more minutes rest.
Massay sat down – in the same room as her patient – and was about to read her Bible, when she heard and saw an explosion. “All of a sudden sparks were shooting out of the corner,” she recalled, stemming from faulty wiring in the building. Massay said she promptly “grabbed my patient
