Hands-on involvement in tragedy’s aftermath

UUPers near to and far from the World Trade Center have joined rescue, recovery and healing efforts stemming from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Several members — including a dentist from SUNY Farmingdale, physicians from Downstate Medical Center and forensic anthropologist Dawnie Steadman from SUNY Binghamton — have been performing the harrowing, yet heroic, task of identifying victims of the mass disaster.

Henry Dondero, an associate professor of dental hygiene at SUNY Farmingdale, volunteers in eight-hour shifts several times a week with fellow dentists to identify the deceased by matching their teeth with dental records provided by families.

In his work, Dondero is using the forensic odontology training he received earlier this year from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. UUP played a role in this training, as part of its cost was paid through the joint labor/management committees negotiated between UUP and the state. “What’s nice about it is that so many had a hand in this,” Dondero noted wistfully about the training.

It’s “uplifting” when an identification is made, Dondero said. “When one of the dentists make a match, we say ‘someone’s going home.’”

Fazal Hussain, a physician and member of the Air National Guard, supplied an 18-day stretch of service at Ground Zero. Involved in the rescue operations, he assisted the medical team with casualties.

“The magnitude of the devastation is immense,” said Hussain, while on standby for orders to return.

On active guard duty, Hussain slept at Fort Hamilton Army Base in Brooklyn following long shifts at a medical clinic set up in Battery Park.

“I was so proud to be there as a UUP member,” said Hussain, a clinical assistant professor of radiation at Downstate.

David Gechlik, who teaches in the community and human services field at Empire State College, is also putting personal learning to use as he lends a helping hand.

Having participated last year in a residency on disaster counseling and shelter management as part of a joint venture with the American Red Cross, UUPer Gechlik was called at the time of the devastation on Sept. 11. He’s still helping, and is now offering respite care to relief workers through the Red Cross.

Initially, Gechlik worked alongside three of his students at a Red Cross shelter on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, neighboring Ground Zero, answering telephones and distributing blankets to firefighters and hundreds of masks for people to block out the horrifying smells as they searched the scene for loved ones.

“Overall, the experience was like being in another country,” Gechlik said. “People were walking in with pictures of missing people and it was unbelievable that something like this could happen in the U.S.”

But, he noted: “We all continue to learn. I put together this residency, which was so helpful to the students. It was nice to utilize this training — in very unfortunate circumstances — to be able to give back a little to the community.”

Laura Kasey, a clinical instructor at SUNY Binghamton’s Decker School of Nursing, donated her services as a trauma and emergency room nurse at Ground Zero.

A civilian volunteer who responds with the federal Disaster Medical Assistance Team in times of national catastrophes, UUPer Kasey was part of a 56-member New York team placed in and around the lower Manhattan disaster site.

“It looked like a true war zone when we got there [on Sept. 15],” Kasey said. “There were shattered police cars and huge fire engines crushed like toys. The smell of death was everywhere.”

Stationed in a small tent in each eight-hour shift during her one-week stay, Kasey treated 30 to 60 rescuers injured with lacerations, burns, cuts, corneal abrasions and respiratory ailments.

And then, she consoled them. “Every time human remains were removed, we felt heartwrenched, and comforted these true ‘heroes’ in any way we could,” Kasey said.

“Everyone felt a sense of mourning,” Kasey said. “I hope it will get better, but how can it with 6,000 dead?”

Meanwhile, blood drives and benefits are ongoing, as counseling sessions for students and faculty continue on SUNY campuses.

Audrey Krapf felt some fulfillment by participating in the fund-raiser at the Student Health Service at SUNY Farmingdale, which she directs. The center is making and selling handmade, red- white- and blue-ribboned lapel pins to benefit the World Trade Center Disaster Relief Fund; Long Island’s Newsday newspaper is contributing 50 cents for every dollar raised. The initial donation totaled $1,837.50.

“My daughter worked at the World Trade Center and could have been killed,” UUPer Krapf said. “The fact that we can do something for the families left behind — not just from a health standpoint, but from a helping standpoint — is almost self-satisfaction for me.”

Also at Farmingdale, physical plant director John Dzinanka responded to a late-day call from campus President Jonathan Gibralter; in a matter of moments, they organized a tree planting ceremony for the Sept. 15 national hour of prayer.

“We chose weeping cherry trees — two, for the two towers — because the cherry tree played such a prominent role in the foundation of our country’s history, and the weeping variety is so poignant now,” Dzinanka said.

More than a dozen staffers, including many UUPers, readied the front of the Administration Building for planting. Many simply dug in.

“They just came and got involved, without being asked,” Dzinanka said.

Some 200 faculty members and students attended the noontime memorial ceremony despite a driving rain. Plans are made for a reflecting area, with seating grounds around the flagpole by the trees, and a plaque commemorating the disasters’ victims.

“Everyone is looking for a place to work out their thoughts on this tragedy,” Dzinanka said. “Now they have a place to go.”

— Lisa Feldman Reich