story3602.xml

story3602.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I had just moved to Westchester, NY and was on the subway for my first day of commuting to Brooklyn Hospital where I am a Physician Assistant. I was on the subway at Wall Street when the train stopped and people outside began pounding on the door. They rushed into the train screaming and crying that planes were flying into the World Trade Center and it was on fire. We all looked at each other. Some people ran out of the train to go see, others stayed put and waited. I was sitting next to a woman who was late for work at the Trade Center. She decided to try and call her husband to let him know she was OK. Finally, the train doors closed and the last train to Brooklyn proceeded out. I arrived at work shaken and could see the smoke from the Towers in the air. I went over to the Emergency Room where I helped prepare for the deluge of people expected. Only a few arrived....some fire fighters with minor burns...some people who were exhaused after running out of the city over the Brooklyn Bridge...a man who had a minor heart attack, a man who was hysterical because his entire office was lost and he was late for work. A woman whose mother was hit by a car as she fled the World Trade Center, a nurse who stopped to help with the injured and who because hysterical and couldn't stop crying for hours. But none of the expected heavily injured ever even made it out. We lingered in the ER until late into the night when exhaused, we made our way to stay at friends homes. There was no transportation home. Today, I remember that day with sadness and anxiety. I fear for my daughter's future. Diana D'Amelio, Age 46, Physician Assistant, Cornell U branch at Brooklyn Hospital.