FOR two years Glendon Buchanan has been confined to a bed at Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), his eyes tracing the faint cracks and faded paint of his bedside wall, which he uses to imagine the outside world.

The 61-year-old, who says he has been abandoned by family and friends, has been classified a “social case” on Mary Seacole Ward at the 248-year-old hospital, which shares property with Victoria Jubilee Hospital at its North Street location in the capital city.

Buchanan’s legs have been weakened by a vicious attack that landed him in one of the island’s premier trauma hospitals, and though his spirit has been broken by loneliness, he exudes a glimmer of hope.

During a visit to the health care facility last Friday, the Jamaica Observer saw Buchanan sitting on his bed at the far end of the room, his eyes filled with sadness as he watched other patients interact with their visiting relatives.

However, his expression soon changed to one of excitement and anticipation as he watched this Sunday Observer reporter, led by the hospital’s head of patient care Stacy-Ann Pennant-Reid, approach his bed.

Waving the team over, he smiled brightly and expressed gratitude that he had someone with whom to speak.

“I spend each day to myself, sometimes miserable and in vexation. Most times I look at the miserable people like myself,” he said laughing, his spirits high despite his reality.

“I nah go see somebody and provoke them, but I’m provoked in myself. Is myself alone I talk to. I am not a lunatic, but I don’t have anybody to talk to, so I just talk to myself and read to myself,” he said.

“I don’t have someone like you to sit down right here, but me alright still. It nuh affect me because prayer is great power, and I pray, so I have power,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Buchanan, who loaded trucks to earn a living before his horrific experience, said he was in Majesty Gardens on his way to work when he was attacked by three men at a bus stop. He shared that he was tired and had closed his eyes for a moment when he felt the aching pain of a stick connecting with his feet.

“I feel the lick them start and when them done and me a try get up, I couldn’t walk. Three people tried to kill me for what, almighty God, I don’t know,” he said, stating that he had never caused anyone harm and did not know the men who attacked him.

“Is two Rasta man a drive pass and stop, but by that time them [the attackers] gone, so them [the Rastafarians] take me to the hospital,” he recalled.

When he received the news that his knees were shattered and he would not be able to walk, Buchanan said he was devastated and wanted to die. However, he never imagined that the incident would be the beginning of two years of living in the Kingston hospital, enveloped by loneliness.

An orphan with no children, Buchanan said he was counting on his siblings and other relatives visiting, but after one visit they never returned.

“I don’t have any family. I don’t have a mother or a father, and me is not a bad person. My half-sister says any time I start walk she a go come back, so me nuh see her again,” he shared.

“I would love to get to walk back again, to [be able to] see her. I can stand up, but I can’t move like you. I can stand up, but I can’t stand up and let go. Me haffi hold on,” he explained.

“People come here come visit them sick patient, and I cannot move, so I have to just hold it and say, ‘When I a go get to walk back?’ The only visitor I get is the meal that they are serving me here, so if you can give me a visit for Christmas, I would appreciate it,” he told this reporter, his eyes brimming with hope that his request would be granted.

He shared that growing up, Christmas Day was always filled with laughter, family and food. Buchanan recalled that New Year’s Eve would also be a time to let loose and burst firecrackers, more commonly called ‘clappers’, at Skateland in Half-Way-Tree, smiling from ear to ear as he reflected on the fond memories. However, for the past two Christmases and new year’s days he has been alone.

“I was never counting for this. Me did a look out for peace and love,” he said, his smile fading as he was brought back to his reality.

Social cases are patients who have been abandoned by their relatives at hospitals and other health care facilities. The issue has been a growing concern for Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, who said it is putting a strain hospital resources.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet media briefing in August last year, Dr Tufton said that at any point in time about 10 per cent of hospital beds islandwide are occupied by people who are not supposed to be there.

Over the years, he has called on relatives of these individuals to take their family home, especially during the Christmas season. Just over a week ago, during a tour of Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine, Tufton again appealed to Jamaicans to stop the practice of abandoning their elderly, sick relatives at hospitals.

“During this period of year we do have situations where some family members use the hospital as an infirmary to drop their relatives off… and essentially not see them until after the season, if at all afterwards.

“It puts a lot of strain on the system. So we want to discourage that and encourage those who do that to desist. It’s just an unethical practice, but more importantly, it affects patient care. So try and avoid that, spend some time with your senior citizens,” the minister urged in the past.

A representative from KPH told the Sunday Observer that there are approximately 20 social cases at the hospital, with Buchanan being just one of them. In fact, the Observer reported last week that, also within the South East Regional Health Authority, there are 17 social cases at Princess Margaret Hospital in St Thomas, 13 at Linstead Hospital in St Catherine, two at Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre in St Andrew, and two at Bustamante Hospital for Children, also in the capital city.

For Buchanan, as the days following his incident blended together, he would often let his imagination run wild and picture the outside world — his only source of entertainment. He shared that, almost daily, he would also relive interactions he had with people before being hospitalised.

“When you deh home, ennuh, you will all a talk to yourself and say, ‘How me nuh see so and so’, and you call over the fence or the wall. A Christian lady might say good morning to you, and that eases your pain. The ‘good morning’ that somebody come tell you can ease off everything off you,” he said, his eyes lighting up as he recalled the interactions he has had over the years.

“Me lonely still. I long to see some cars, even some white people who nuh have the same colour like we do. Me nuh remember how outside look, enuh, me just a imagine,” he said, pointing to the wall he said he often stares at to picture the outside world.

“I woulda like to can go and see back the road, to jump on a bus out here so [the hospital], maybe a [number] 70 bus or an eight bus and drop out a Three Miles [in St Andrew]. Mi wah see back weh gwan; mi wah pass through back round there,” he said, sharing his desire to revisit the area where he was attacked.

Though life in the hospital has been rough, Buchanan said he tries to remain optimistic, making the sign of the cross by using his finger to sequentially touch his forehead, chest, and both shoulders when asked, “What gives you hope? What gives you the strength to continue?”

The symbol of the cross, he said, represents his faith in God to bring him through the good and the bad times.

“I will never stop doing this,” he told the Sunday Observer, as he continued to make the sign of the cross.

“All at night-time, when I get my meal, I do this. Even when I wake in the morning time, is just this me do,” he said, noting that no matter what, he will always give thanks.

As the new year approaches, Buchanan’s main wish is to be able to walk again.

“My wish for myself is to get better. I want to walk again. I need to walk again. I miss life. Can you imagine if you cannot walk? You will miss life. Is not like say mi did born so, because you have people born and they cannot walk. Them nuh realise say them miss life; but is the person who have them mother and father who say, ‘Jah know, me haffi go feed him?’ and then get abandoned that misses life,” he reasoned.

“I believe in Jesus Christ. I have to bear suffering because if everybody was born and have everything, this country would be quicksand. It’s alright, I just do business with prayer. I believe I going to get to walk again,” he declared, adding that even though he will have nowhere to go if discharged from the hospital, he is confident God will make a way.

As the interview came to an end, he held close to his heart a piece of paper with the name of this Sunday Observer reporter — the first visitor he has had in two years.

His eyes shined with hope and joy as he promised to never forget the person who made him feel “less lonely”. And this reporter promised to visit again.

Glendon Buchanan stares at the wall beside his hospital bed that, he says, he often uses to picture the outside world. (Photo: Tamoy Ashman)