Haitian horror hits home for workers at Hancock Park in Quincy

Some of the nursing aides on the overnight shift at Hancock Park were crying when Melanie Brace arrived for work.

“One woman was just sobbing,” said Brace, the assistant director of nursing at the rehabilitation and nursing center in Quincy Center.

The aide’s husband, three daughters and grandchildren were all in Port-au-Prince Haiti, where a powerful earthquake struck. She could not find out any information about them, despite repeated attempts to get through on her cell phone.

Brace had thought of her staff, including the aides and others, when she heard about the earthquake Tuesday evening. About one-third of the facility’s 168 employees are from Haiti or have family there.

All were worried about their families, and most had not been able to get through by phone when Brace arrived for work about 7 a.m. Wednesday.

“Not one of them called in to miss work – every one of them came to work,” Brace said.

As Brace sat to comfort one sobbing aide, she realized she could help by offering her staff a time and a place to pray and be together.

“Virtually every Haitian who works here has some relative there,” Brace said. “It was very evident they were very upset. So I was trying to think what we might do to help them know we were feeling very bad with them and wanted to join hands to share their grief.”

At 7:15 a.m. there was a prayer service in the cafeteria, as employees, including many who were not Haitian, sat together. All 25 people in the room were crying, Brace said.

Then they rose and went about the day’s work, tending to frail elderly, who often tried to comfort them in return. Marie Beaupin, 47, of Randolph, on the day shift, had spent a sleepless night. Her husband was supposed to fly home Wednesday from a three week holiday in Port-au-Prince. She had no way of knowing what had become of him.

As the day went on, staff talked about the latest news, toll-free numbers to call, and especially about who and where their missing family members were.

At lunchtime, while Brace’s pastor husband was holding a prayer service in their church, the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Braintree, the nursing home brought in pizza and invited staff to share lunch in the cafeteria. Most of the Haitians, however, chose to take lunch elsewhere to try and make cell phone calls.

Her eyes heavy, nursing assistant Dieuna Nomin, 33, of Hyde Park talked about the pain she felt for her mother, 53, three sisters, her brother, aunt and uncle, all unheard from in Haiti.

“I keep calling, calling . . . I don’t know if my family is OK. Today is the bad day, the sad day . . it’s painful,” she said, shaking her head and looking down.

Kechely Isme, 45, of Mattapan had not slept since Tuesday and said, “I am really sad. I am sick. I don’t know what happened to them . . .” and named 26 family members.

Richard Coughlin, Hancock Park administrator, said the Welch Healthcare facility would be hold a fundraiser for the families.