Remembering September 11

By SUZANNE COOPER Wichita, Kan.

I am a social worker from Wichita, Kan., who served as an American Red Cross volunteer mental health worker following the World Trade Center disaster September 11, 2001. Many of my friends and family from northwest Kansas, where I was raised, have inquired about my experiences in New York City. Since this is the second anniversary of the September 11th attack, I thought it would be an appropriate occasion to share with you my experiences, thoughts, and feelings as a Red Cross worker in New York City.

Because the Red Cross was desperate for clinically licensed mental health professionals to serve in New York during the nine-month recovery effort, I was immediately sent to Ground Zero for 10 days in January 2002 following a short training. I really did not know what to expect but I was anxious to be of help in whatever way that I could. Even in January, several months after the World Trade Center explosion, it was a very sad place to be. I noticed stores and businesses in the immediate area closed down, damaged streets, subways closed, and moving vans. It was as if people had hung on emotionally in the days following 9/11 and then made it through the holidays. But by January, with the onset of winter, perhaps many began to come to grips with the reality of their hurt and loss.  I worked in the area surrounding Ground Zero on an outreach team with other Red Cross family service workers. We would circulate daily to different apartment complexes within in the immediate area of the disaster site to offer Red Cross services to the people who lived here and whose lives were disrupted and traumatized by the tragedy. Red Cross would help with financial assistance. I as a mental health worker would be a listening ear for these suffering people and also make referral to mental health services for which Red Cross would pay. In the immediate area around Ground Zero, which is the Wall Street financial district, it is very high income. I never saw so many fur coats and pedigreed dogs in my life! Rent would be as high as $3,000/ monthly. But still, these were people who were there and saw so much horror on that day. And because of that horror which they saw, many were still suffering emotionally - not sleeping, maybe not working or leaving their apartments, crying spells, drinking more, having bad dreams, easily triggered into reliving that day.

Whatever life problems were difficult for these people before the disaster, only became more exacerbated after 9/11 such as marriage problems, anxiety or depression. I saw in the people's eyes their suffering -- dazed expressions and dark circles. It was the aim of Red Cross to be the listening ear and to plug in mental health services, if needed, so that the people suffering can get back to a more normal life and not continue to be so traumatized. So mostly what I did was hear a lot of stories from these New Yorkers. Because I speak Spanish, I was able to be of help to those who speak only Spanish. I found that it was these Spanish-speaking people who had jobs in this area (doormen, custodians, security guards, elevator operators) never left their posts after the planes hit; they stayed through all the chaos and danger for the few days immediately following the disaster (and weren't even give face masks!). For the Spanish-speaking people I helped, it was their first time to speak to a mental health worker about their trauma in their own language. 

The people's stories continued to be told during my stay in New York. A postal worker who came and talked to me saw a plane seat fall near him with a burning body in it -- his first time to speak of this to someone else four months after witnessing this horror. A nice older Italian man who talked with me -- and for him it took much courage to speak of his emotions with a stranger -- was having trouble with the sounds of the dump trucks which unloaded rubble from the disaster site into barges in the river across the street from his apartment in order to be shipped to a New Jersey site where body parts and evidence would be retrieved and sifted through. His complaint was that every time he heard the dumping sound of the trucks, he would "fall apart" because it sounded like the collapse of the twin towers which he witnessed from his apartment window. These are just some of the sad stories I heard. I often think about these people who shared their stories with me. I hope and pray that they are coping better these days.  Ground Zero, cordoned off because it was considered a crime scene, was quickly becoming a "pit" by the time I got there. The clean-up project was a 24-hour-a-day effort. The force of the towers' collapse caused the rubble to be compacted into the ground by six stories underground.

Workers carefully excavated and hand-dug through debris looking for bodies and evidence, much like an archeological dig. Whenever they found bodies, I observed that the hustle-bustle of the city around Ground Zero would become silent as firefighters and police officers would respectfully carry out the dead as tribute was paid.  I found a place of solace during my days at Ground Zero in the old Episcopal church sitting on the edge of Ground Zero, which survived the explosion unscathed. It had been turned into a respite center for the rescue workers. The church provided warm food, supplies such as socks or hats and gloves for the workers. Touching messages and hand- drawn/colored pictures by children from all over the world were posted on the walls expressing love and hope. Clergy were available for counseling and prayer. It was a place to renew one's spirit when the day seemed dark and sad. This was my first Red Cross disaster assignment. I never would have dreamed that such a moment in history would be my first assignment as Red Cross volunteer. It touched me deeply and I feel privileged to have had this opportunity!

-- Suzanne Cooper is the daughter of Wayne and Lois Larson who live seven miles southwest of Oberlin.