PIH mourns "a
hero and an angel"
Dr. Josue Augustin, the director of surgery
for PIH's partner organization in Haiti, Zanmi Lasante (ZL), was killed on
August 31. Reeling from the loss, the PIH family remains committed to Josue's
life work of building a surgical program to provide life-saving operations
to some of the poorest communities in the world and to working with authorities
to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.
Josue died in Hinche, the capital and largest city in Haiti's Central Plateau.
An autopsy confirmed that his death was a homicide. Local police and international
experts are working together to gather and analyze evidence of the circumstances
of his death. ZL and PIH are supporting the investigative and judicial process
to the full extent possible.
Hundreds of ZL staff and supporters traveled several hours to attend the
service on September 12, joining a crowd that overflowed the First Baptist
Church in Petionville, Haiti. Louise Ivers, PIH's clinical director in Haiti
and a long-time colleague and friend of Josue's, delivered a eulogy at the
funeral.
“In our anger and in our frustration, I wish that today we
will remember Josue’s life and not just his death," Ivers said. "Let
us remember what he said with his life. He took a stand for the destitute
poor – and
he did so with grace and with humility… Dr Josue
was a rare jewel in our midst – he never wanted people to pay for surgery.
He didn’t want to sell health. He didn’t want people to die because
they were poor….
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"Let us
remember the light that he brought—with all his heart, with
all his strength, with all his sacrifice—to his mission to serve
the poor."
– Louise Ivers
Read Louise's
eulogy for Josue
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"Today, let us remember Josue’s
life," she continued. "Let us remember the light that he brought, with all
his heart, with all his strength, with all his sacrifice – to his mission
to serve the poor. Our obligation now at PIH is to ensure that his mission
lives on, to ensure that we keep his memory alive with honor and that even
though he is not here with us physically, his image, his work, the cause he
battled for is not lost.”
Since joining the PIH family over a decade ago, Josue took on a strong leadership role on ZL's clinical team.
"Dr. Josue [was] a level-headed and thoughtful surgeon and the
driving force behind our collective efforts to make sure that surgery did
not remain the “neglected stepchild” of our work in Haiti,” wrote
PIH co-founder Paul Farmer in a eulogy. “Josue
combined a rigorous pragmatism with a broad vision of what could be done to
improve complex medical services, and surgery especially, in settings in which
such endeavors are too often dismissed as impractical, not cost-effective,
or even (absurdly enough) unnecessary."
"We honor Josue by making sure that such an important mission outlives him or any other one person."
–
Paul Farmer
Read Paul's eulogy for Josue
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“What this means for us, beyond our grief," Farmer's euology continued,
"is that we must fight hard to make sure that Josue’s vision of
equitable surgical services for the poor is one that remains front and center,
not just in Haiti but in those other regions, regions full of people in need,
too readily written off as unsuitable for surgery. We honor Josue by making
sure that such an important mission outlives him or any other one person."
Countless other organizations and people joined ZL in mourning
Dr. Josue, both as a skilled and visionary doctor and as a dedicated
and generous friend and mentor.
“Josue really has been a hero and an angel to those of us who were
committed to supporting and strengthening surgical services in Haiti,” wrote
Ellen Agler of Operation Smile, a charity that works with ZL to treat children
born with cleft palates and facial deformities. “His efforts directly
transformed the lives of so many people in need and inspired so many of us
to work even harder in our fight for surgical equity,” she wrote in
an email to ZL staff.
Josue was 38 years old, a native of Carrefour, Haiti. He leaves behind his
wife, two daughters, parents, siblings and extended PIH family. His second
daughter was born three weeks after his death. She comes into a world made
better and more humane by her father, said Paul Farmer. “It is not fair
that she will never meet her father,” he added. “And this is
another reason, surely, that we must honor Josue's memory and mission.”
If you would like to contribute to a memorial fund to support Josue’s family and the legacy of his work, please visit: https://donate.pih.org/page/contribute/josue.
If you would prefer to donate by mail, send a check with "Dr. Josue Augustin" in the memo line to:
Partners In Health
P.O. Box 845578
Boston, MA 02284-5578
[posted September 2009]
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