A first-hand account
of the catastrophe in New York City
by NYSHCA member Sandy
Burke
Director, Patient Representative Department
New
York University Medical Center
You have all seen the pictures
and heard many of the stories of the horror that came to us on September
11th. I need to tell of our experiences.
The Patient Representative
Office at NYU Medical Center ran a phone bank--ten lines--24 hours a day
until Friday night and then 12 hours on Saturday and Sunday. We collected
lists of patients treated from all the hospitals in the city so that we
were able to give the families and friends information from multiple sources.
The staff of this office offered to alternate staying overnight to provide
supervision and support to those who volunteered to answer the phones.
We also assisted the Volunteer Office however we could, by providing information
and supplies and helping to orient all new volunteers.
During all those hours, every
person who called in looking for a missing person expressed only appreciation
for our efforts. And here are some of the people who contributed to our
small effort.
The young man from Australia,
never before in New York, who spent 12-14 hours a day in the Emergency
Room--answering phones, running errands and generally endearing himself
to the ER staff.
The innumerable individuals
who closed their businesses and came to answer phones--we even had too
many people for the 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. shift!
The medical school student
who offered help on Wednesday, and when told by a frazzled Director that
I couldn’t think of anything at the moment, stood quietly for a few minutes
and then disappeared. A half hour later, he reappeared with an updated
list of patients from Bellevue. He accepted our thanks and left. Several
hours later, he and two of his fellow students reappeared with updated
patient lists from all the hospitals in the city. I learned later that
they had walked to many of those institutions in order to obtain the most
recent information for us. The next day, this same student found, somewhere
in the city, a master list in alphabetical order which decreased the amount
of time we had to spend looking up names (and the amount of paper we had
to use to make copies). He also brought us cookies.
Our Food Service Director
never let our volunteer office go hungry. Coffee and Danish in the morning,
sandwiches and cookies throughout the day. She also kept our phone volunteers
well supplied with bottled water as their throats dried out regularly.
We had volunteers from everywhere
doing everything. In many cases, the individuals created the jobs before
we knew they were needed. For instance, when the Family Center opened for
registration of missing persons, the volunteers were on the lines--just
reassuring and supporting the family members waiting. As the photos of
the missing on the walls outside and inside our institution increased in
number, volunteers were there to stand with those who came to look and
provide a shoulder to cry on and tissues with which to wipe their eyes.
An older couple from the
building across the street arrived one morning with four pans of coffee
cake, cookies and brownies, still warm from the oven, to be shared by the
volunteers, staff and rescue workers.
We had no trouble whatsoever
finding people to report at midnight to act as runners, which we needed
as our hospital information computer system was based in a building downtown
and is still not functional.
Students from Stern College
cut classes in order to give more time to us--I offered to write excuse
notes and sign them “Mom," but they all declined.
A professor from the Medical
School apologized for leaving at 9:15 a.m. after she had spent five hours
answering phones, as she had to teach a class. She came back when her class
was over..
Staff from physicians’ office
came to give time and energy after working a full day in their regular
jobs.
And the phone calls we received--mental
health counselors from Canada who wanted to drive down, and other health
care professionals from all over the country prepared to get in a car or
on a bus or train to come and do anything.
Our own nurses went to the
site as a triage team on Tuesday and came back looking tired and depressed
from what they had seen and how little there was for them to do--and then
went to work another shift upstairs.
The head nurses from the
floors told their staff NOT to call the Patient Rep office unless they
absolutely had to as the work we were doing should not be interrupted.
The hugs everyone gave to
everyone in the hallways, the elevators, the street, the cafeteria contributed
to the ability to go back to our assignments.
There are so many other people
who should be acknowledged for the personal sacrifices they made in order
to assist total strangers--those they came to work for and with and of
course, the victims--it is impossible to acknowledge them all.
I have often thought of myself
as a cynical New Yorker but not any more--at least not for a while.
I have in my Rolodex the names and numbers of people I would never have
met, who have come to be very precious to me. I am unable to think of a
way to say thank you to all of them for the parts they played in helping
me personally, my departments and this institution and interestingly, most
of them have told me not to even try.
And to you, my family, friends
and colleagues--a huge thank you for your support. Your calls, emails and
constant “checking up” on us made us realize that although the city in
which we were living was much like an armed camp, there was a “normal”
life somewhere out there. We needed that.
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