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 off the bed, and pulled her out of the room,” all the while screaming “fire!” She said two men assisted her in getting her patient down the stairs to her wheelchair that was at the foot of the stairs.
After ensuring that her patient was out of danger, Massay rushed back into the burning building to rouse her patient’s sleeping grandchildren. By the time the fire service arrived Massay had gotten everyone to safety, though the fire continued to spread rapidly through the building. “I thank God that I was there at the same time to get all of them out of the building, because everybody was asleep… [and] my patient inhaled no smoke,” she said.
The Home Health Aide Award is an annual award, which recognizes an aide who personifies the hard work, dedication and carong known and valued in the profession.
Massay also received several other awards from different organizations and her heroic deed was reported in several New York newspapers.
