We've got your back

Much is said, and rightly so, of those men and women of the emergency services of New York City that perished in the World Trade Center. They should be remembered always. I cannot even imagine the courage it took to try and fight the hijackers on Flight 93. There were acts of heroism throughout that terrible day in 2001.

As we remember six years later, I wanted to share my recollections from the other side of the river. I am fortunate to be a part of a specialty EMS unit that provides emergency command and control for EMS responders. On the morning of September 11, 2001, we were called to respond to the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge to assist in setting up a triage and treatment station for the victims that were expected to pour across the bridge in an effort to try and make it home after the attack.

As we gathered our equipment and personnel, it struck me that I was surrounded by well-trained volunteers from my community. There were college students, business people, firefighters, EMTs, police officers, and others that comprise this unit and they all left work and responded to the call. As our task force made its way from our town to its assigned point, people actually pulled their cars over (a rarity in the New York metro area) and waved out the window for us to go by. Some even shouted, "Go get them". On our way we drove by hastily assembled checkpoints, some manned by obviously off-duty officers who were wearing jeans and a t-shirt with their badges hanging around their necks and guns tucked in their belts.

When we arrived at the GW Bridge Plaza, you could see fire trucks and ambulances, three lanes across, bumper to bumper, sitting and waiting for instructions. Most of these also manned by volunteers. Some of them from towns as far as 100 miles away. All of them mobilized by the various mutual aid and disaster response agencies in the state. They all sat quietly waiting.

We were rerouted to a football field in the local high school where we set up. We were assigned a task force of 20 ambulances to transport our injured to hospitals around the state. Once we set up, people came from surrounding apartment buildings asking us to take blood (which we can't as EMTs). In addition, the high school opened its facility and made all its staff available to us. The man assigned to me as my "runner" (a person who literally runs paperwork from one officer to another to facilitate patient tracking), came to me and said, "Tell me whatever you need me to do." He was later introduced as the principal, someone who is used to running the whole thing.

This type of behavior was repeated throughout the day and throughout the state. In the Meadowlands, a huge staging area was set up and task forces arrived from as far as Delaware and Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, as we all know, most of these resources were not needed because those who made it out were able to receive treatment in NYC and those who didn't couldn't use our help.

The point of the story is, as we remember those who fell, we should also remember that today, just as on September 11, 2001...........we've got your back.

Thoughts anyone?