Jamaica loses gifted hand

WESTERN BUREAU:

Noted hand-specialist Dr Cecil Aird has died. He passed away in Tampa, Florida in the United States on Sunday morning, two weeks after suffering a massive heart attack.

The Cornwallian was admitted to hospital in Florida, where three procedures and one surgery were done with the hope of allowing his heart to rest so his organs could receive the blood flow needed. However, he never recovered.

Aird, who operated the Carnegie Hand Institute and Surgery Centre, returned to Jamaica in 2015, to offer hand surgery skills to others, after 25 years in Tampa, where he pioneered that city’s first certified hand centre.

A graduate of the University of the West Indies, Mona, Aird, who was born in Westmoreland, was concerned about the lack of hand specialisation in the country. At the Carnegie Centre, he fixed a varied number of issues related to the wrist and reattaching amputated fingers by use of microsurgery.

His expertise was endorsed by renowned attorney-at-law, Peter Champagnie, whose hand was almost severed by a pitbull in 2014.

Champagnie on Sunday, in a tribute to the Howard University-trained specialist, said his surgical skills saved him from deformity.

“He was then based in the United States. The true patriot that he was, he later returned to Jamaica and sought to give back to his alma mater and those in need of his medical skills.”

Champagnie said Aird again came to his rescue when he suffered a minor injury to his hand once again.

“He was truly a gentleman and of the old school of those professionals worthy of emulation, from my many interactions with him.”

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com