Of course, we all remember where we were the morning of last September 11th. I was sitting on the 28th floor of State Street building in Boston attending a monthly Board meeting for Boston’s Healthcare for the Homeless Program. Peter Meade, WBZ’s political analyst, also a Board member, came late to the meeting that morning. As soon as he entered the room, we could tell by his face, which was typically jovial, something was VERY wrong. He realized we apparently hadn’t heard any news, since starting our meeting at 9am, and announced a jet airplane believed to originate from Boston’s Logan Airport had slammed the World Trade Center. We may actually have been attacked! We were stunned, but believe it or not, we continued the meeting!! Until another Board member’s pager had text messages of the second plane crashing into the other tower of the Trade Center. We quickly adjourned and joined others in the building being asked to evacuate. I hadn’t arrived at the elevators when my pager, only used for my Disaster Medical Team, went off. The DMAT-MA1, or Disaster Medical Assistance Team out of Massachusetts General Hospital, was being federalized, activated and deployed. We were told we needed to get our belongings together, take care of families and business and be ready to leave from Hanscom Air Force Field within six hours for a minimum ten day deployment. This was the beginning.
As you know the skies and airwaves were frozen. Flying was not an option so, we rode by SUV convoy with state police escort to Andrew Air Force Base, where we would be assigned. Because of my 20 years experience as a critical care nurse, they pulled me and two other nurses, to be escorted into the city and taken to Cornell University Med Center’s Burn Unit. The Burn Team from Boston was also there assisting. I tried to explain to folks in command, my specialty area was NOT burns, but more ICU and Emergency nursing — that didn’t matter. The staff at the hospital needed help & relief, and, as I was told, “if you’re not a burn nurse now, you will be in less than 24 hours!”
I don’t believe anything has ever prepared me for what I was about to see & experience. It was an understatement that the nurses and doctors there needed help – they were completely wiped out – physically and emotionally. Although there were not many survivors from this horrific act of terror, the few that did survive, were rushed and transferred, depending on the criticality, to Cornell – the only Burn Unit in the city.
All 27 beds of the Intensive Care Unit were filled, as well as the 24 beds of step-down. I was assigned the ICU for 12-hour shifts.
Many patients didn’t make the first 24 hours the most critical time for burns. My first patient was a 27-year-old Asian man whose race could not be recognized or identified. We were able to keep him alive for 11 out of the 12 hours we were on duty. When he began to “code”, lose all vital signs and die, my two colleagues and I were asked to take over since the nurses present were unable to take any more. Even with all my years of experience, I have never seen a human body with 87% burns – completed charred. I prayed as we administered drugs and treatment only to lose this one to the terrorists as well.
The doctors and nurses all just looked at one another, some crying – as this poor man lay dead before us. Until one of the male nurses said, “THIS is Ground Zero – right here, in this room, in this unit.” I couldn’t have agreed with him more.
I left the hospital around 9pm and couldn’t go back to my room…so I walked, and I walked. Until I got to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and went in. The doors were open all night for anyone who needed to come there. I was sitting toward the front, just feeling numb, and I was watching all these wonderful people coming to try to find some comfort and solace. This one young man in particular struck me. He didn’t look “comfortable” in a Church. He kept walking back & forth in front of the altar – looking apparently at the Crucifix. Then he suddenly just collapsed to his knees waling & sobbing, yelling, “Why?” I cried with & for that man that night and wanted so badly to run up and throw my arms around him and ask him, “Who did you lose – your brother, your mother, your sister, your father, your wife, your girlfriend—Who??” But, I couldn’t, I just sat paralyzed and numb – and cried.
I returned to the unit the next morning as I would for the next five days. I was assigned to the “tank room” – what I call a living hell. I kept having to leave because it was so awful to witness. Two other patients had a strong impact on me – possibly because they were females in the same age bracket as I am, early forties. One woman, named “Jenny”, was standing at a bus stop when the first jet hit and she was doused with the jet fuel, burning 85% of her body – all but from her ankles to her toes was burnt. She suffered 8 long weeks before God took her – a suffering I can’t even fathom for her or her family. When we did her dressing changes, I really couldn’t look much at her, all I could do was pray.
The second woman was named “Lauren”. She had been a Vice President at Cantor Fitzgerald and was running late that morning. When she entered the building, she saw the chaos, turned to run back out, but happened to run right past the elevator doors just at the same time they were opening and got hit by a “fireball” which sent her flying out onto the street. Lauren was burned over 83% of her body. Pictures of her husband and new baby boy surrounded her hospital room. When the doctors and nurse came in to do “rounds”, they seemed to all agree that they “hoped this one wouldn’t suffer too much longer.” This really hit me. I had to speak up…I said, “I bet that husband and baby in those pictures don’t wish & hope for that!” Of course, it started a “quality of life” discussion, but I stood my ground and turned back to Lauren and prayed extra hard for her that day & every day after that.
Soon, more DMAT teams from around the country were arriving to provide more assistance. “The 3 girls from Boston”, as we became known as, were happy to take a break and go down to Ground Zero for a few days. There we would meet “the Salt of the Earth!” The firemen, the policemen, the rescue workers & National Guardsmen – and even their dogs! —We would treat them for respiratory problems (from not wearing their face masks), severe feet blisters, stitch up wounds and make them sit for (short) breaks because of exhaustion and sleep deprivation. I was fortunate to have the chance to say “Thank You” and tell them that they “are the best” and give each one a hug after we treated them. We told them the hugs were from everyone in the United States! I kept marveling at such GOOD people God has in this world!
Coming home was bittersweet. How I missed my husband & family through this crisis, but I felt fortunate to have the opportunity to be able to do something! I did keep in touch with the nurses in the Burn Unit over the course of the year. I learned when Jenny died and felt so deeply for her family whom I got to know well. But what countered that was learning when Lauren took her first steps out of bed! Even better, when Lauren had her first visit from her son on his 1st Birthday –that was a tearful email! In fact, Lauren continues to improve at a rehabilitation facility after leaving the hospital last December – what a blessing & gift. She’s the only miracle of that caliber I know…but what a blessing to know one!
I love my new friends in New York City! I no longer make fun of their accent being worse than ours in Boston, I don’t stereotype “the New Yorker” anymore, and (I hope my father’s not listening”) I wouldn’t have even minded if they one the World Series last year! (Can’t really say that this year!)
But, we are ALL one now. We came together in the worst circumstances and shared a devastating time for our family, the human race. I believe God was right there suffering with all of us, as He continues to be with us now. Do I have questions for Him when I do get to see Him – you bet! But, I want to thank Him for not allowing those two Towers to be at full capacity with more people and for the other pane not to have hit the White House. And, I pray that more & more people will be drawn to His compassion & love—that He exhibited so much of last September…because with prayer & faith in God, we WILL combat terrorism! May God Bless America and may we continue to pray to Him!
