A South SideSouth Side reviews
woman who says she lost her job because she had to take care of her blind aunt lost her home and virtually everything she owned in a house fire early this morning.
Lagundia Martin was visiting relatives with her aunt in Aurora when a neighbor alerted her to the blaze around midnight. She came back to find firefighters at her door.
Fire Department spokesman Will Knight said the fire started in the first-floor kitchen in the home at 8536 S. Phillips Avenue in the South ChicagoChicago reviews
neighborhood. He said the cause was an electrical short from a kitchen outlet.
“I’ve lost everything,” said Martin from a neighbor’s home. “They (the firefighters) let me in and all I got were three purses, and some medication for my aunt. But I think someone stole my computer It was here when I left. I just got it three months ago.”
Martin said her blind and schizophrenic aunt, 73, had been a patient in
a nursing home in Kansas City for 27 years until about a year ago. That’s when the last of two remaining relatives who visited her aunt died,
and Martin brought her back to her home.
She said finding an adult day care has been impossible so far because of her aunt’s severe condition.
“There are places that take blind people, and other places that take
schizophrenic patients, but not both,” she said. “She needs round the
clock care.”
Martin said her aunt has the mind of a 4-year old, which made her decide to devote herself to being her aunt’s caregiver.
“I had to take a leave of absence from work, get a nurse, and then figure out how many days I could work,” she said.
Martin said she was an office worker for a podiatrist.
“When I tried to come back my boss fired me. Then they fought my
unemployment benefits, they said they didn’t feel responsible. I had a
plan to help, and the plan failed,” she said.
Still, Martin said she managed to scrape by getting money from
relatives and friends every month. Martin said her 15-year old daughter
lived with her.
“I wouldn’t think of leaving my aunt in a nursing home. I feed and
bathe her, make sure she does her exercises. I do everything a nursing
home does because I love her. She needs to be around family, ” she
said.
Martin said doctors told her they’re amazed her aunt has done so well.
“She hasn’t been as combative, and hasn’t been sick since she’s been
with me. Her doctors are really proud of her conduct,” she said.
About her life since becoming a round the clock caretaker Martin
laughed, “I haven’t been out in six months. But I love her and want
what’s best for her.”
She hopes to stay with relatives until she can find another place.
Until then Martin said she has to get her aunt’s prescriptions filled.
“We lost about two-months supply of medicine. So my first thing to do is get her prescriptions refilled.”
–Pat Curry
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A 21-year-old 
