In Memory of Dr. Josue Augustin

By Paul Farmer

The following is a eulogy for Dr. Josue Augustin, delivered at a funeral service on September 8, 2009.

All of us are still reeling from the loss of Josue Augustin, whom we have known as student, intern, resident, colleague, and friend. Above all, we knew him as Dr. Josue, 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.

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. What this meant in terms of everyday practice was that he was there to round on patients, to scrub in, to organize a team of people (many of them from rural Haiti, others from far away) to provide care to those who would otherwise not have it. What this meant in terms of his own agenda was that he was always willing to engage people from all over the world (and especially from the United States and Cuba) who believed in his mission. It meant he was willing to go to where the pathology was, whether that meant Cange, Boucan Carre, Saint-Marc, Belladeres, Petite Riviere de l’Artibonite, LasCahobas, or Hinche, where he was taken from us, and from his family and patients, just last week.

What this means for us, beyond our grief, 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. We know this is what he would want. We know it's the right thing to do.

Our sympathies and love go to Berline and Aurelie and to another daughter who will soon come into a world made better, and more humane, by a wonderful student, friend, and colleague. It is not fair that she will never meet her father, and this is another reason, surely, that we must honor Josue's memory and mission.

[posted September 2009]