Karine Ruatta, the French teacher at Myrtle Place Elementary who suffered head trauma in a car wreck while vacationing in Mexico, has emerged from a days-long coma, according to fellow teachers who rallied community support to aid the popular educator and raise money to cover her rent/utilities in Lafayette and for future medical needs.
A Go Fund Me campaign established online to raise money for Ruatta has so far generated a little more than $10,000 on her behalf, and friends and colleagues have organized a music fundraiser scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 9 at Blue Moon Saloon featuring performances by Marty Christian, the Huval-Fuselier Trio, Sassafras Jubilee, Horace Trahan and Louis Michot. Blue Moon owner Mark Falgout has a daughter in the French Immersion program at Myrtle.
Delphine Coumpouras, a fellow French teacher at Myrtle, says Ruatta’s sister and mother are expected to join their stricken family member in the Guadalajara hospital as early as this weekend, at which time Ruatta’s Louisiana support network will have a better idea of her prognosis. Aside from scratches and bruises, Ruatta’s injuries were confined to her head.
“We’re not sure about the recovery time or whether she’ll go to France or to Louisiana [after she leaves Mexico],” Coumpouros tells The IND.
If you’d like to donate to Ruatta’s Go Fund Me campaign, click here. If you’d like to pitch in or offer donations for the Blue Moon fundraiser in August, send an inquiry to us at [email protected] and we’ll connect you with the right people.