Critically ill Grady patient ID'd on Facebook

By Fran Jeffries

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The critically injured victim of a hit-and-run accident, brought to Grady Memorial Hospital last week, has been identified after a request and his photo were posted on the Facebook page of AJC's Spanish-language news partner,  Mundo Hispanico.

"The patient’s identity has been confirmed," Grady spokeswoman Denise Simpson told the AJC. "He is in fact the man folks who visited Mundo Hispanico’s Facebook page said he was."

The man, now identified as Juan Cruz Gomez, arrived at Grady just before 2 a.m. Feb. 5 after he was struck by a vehicle at Buford  Highway and North Druid Hills Road, officials said. He has been in a coma since that time. The hospital sent out requests to the media to help identify him.

After the Mundo Facebook posting, responses started to pour in in Spanish, including one by Yesenia Cienfuegos: "I have information about the man, his name is Juan Cruz Gomez and he is from a town called San Luis Jilotepeque in Guatemala."

Cienfuegos later wrote: "Thanks to Mundo Hispánico I found out and was able to call and identify the man. His name is Juan Cruz Gomez, he's of Guatemalan origin, and this evening he is now being accompanied by his roommates Marco and Luis, which asked my help to take them to the hospital to see Juan.

"Juan has no family in Atlanta, but apparently he has 2 brothers that live in Maryland. The only thing I can say is to pray a lot for him."

Simpson said the hospital has made contact with the family and are trying to confirm if and when they will be able to visit.

Cienfuegos told Channel 2 Action News that she took Gomez's two roommates to visit him after they saw his picture on the news.  

"They asked me last night if I could take them to Grady Hospital and I did, and actually it was the same guy,"  Cienfuegos said.

"It was very sad, very sad to see that he doesn't have family here," said Cienfuegos, who manages an apartment complex along Buford Highway and is known in her community as someone who can translate and offer help, according to Channel 2.

Cienfuegos told Channel 2 that she's learned that Gomez works in construction and has a family, including children, in his native Guatemala. 

"To be honest with you, 99 percent, he's not gonna make it," Cienfuegos told Channel 2, coming close to tears about someone she never really knew.