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CNN Sunday Morning

9/11 Survivors Attempt to Move On

Aired March 10, 2002 - 11:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Tomorrow is the six-month mark after September 11th, and Ground Zero is still an active cleanup site. The recovery continues too for the survivors who used to work in the towers. As CNN's Jason Carroll reports, employees from one office are doing their best to carry on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NORMA HESSIC, WTC SURVIVOR: It was just a beautiful day. The skies were blue. It was gorgeous outside.

JAN KHAN, WTC SURVIVOR: And then in a few split seconds, I thought I heard something like a jet engine revving up behind me and then impact.

HESSIC: I would say like two minutes after the impact it was filled with smoke. I remember it was kind of blacked out for a while.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Three survivors of the World Trade Center attacks, Norma Hessic, Larisa Moroiovskaya, and Jan Khan. They all worked at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council on the 82nd floor of the first tower that was hit. They all barely escaped.

HESSICK: So I didn't go back to this office. So to me every time I talk about it to somebody, I'm a little sick.

CARROLL: They share similar experiences from that day and from the months following it. The road to recovery for these three has led them back to work.

HESSICK: I prefer being at work because I found when I stayed home the couple of days I stayed home, I kept going on my balcony and looking across and the view without the World Trade Center was too upsetting.

KHAN: For me, it's getting back on track. It's not necessarily being successful post 9/11, but it's getting back on track. As I said, I really want -

MOROIOVSKAYA: (Inaudible). You may be a few feet away from somebody who didn't make it.

CARROLL: Recovery also involves reflection. These three wonder why they survived and why three of their office mates did not. Their experience has altered their perspective on life. Jan now says he tries not to do too much too soon.

KHAN: Sometimes because of what happened, I think I'm in too much of a hurry to get on that track.

CARROLL: Larisa has chosen an easier pace as well, family time and less time worrying about deadlines.

MOROIOVSKAYA: I find myself now thinking why would (inaudible) or why would, you know, just try to be philosophical somehow as I do, whether there's some other field in life you have to take care of. It once was second. It can be no more.

CARROLL: Norma's granddaughter, Danielle, suffered severe brain damage during an accident several years ago. Norma survived both 9/11 and the first terrorist attack of the Trade Center in 1993. Whenever she sees Danielle now, she understands why her life was spared, not once, but twice.

HESSIC: I've really tried to devote myself to helping my daughter with her handicapped granddaughter. That's what I live for, because I really think it's important that people help each other. I think that's one of the greatest lessons I've learned.

CARROLL: Life lessons learned from survival. Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Hundreds of people injured in the World Trade Center attacks made their way to St. Vincent's Hospital in Lower Manhattan. The Trauma Center treated more than 1,200 people on September 11th, and today they're treating patients who may still be suffering from the September 11 attacks.

Mark Ackermann is the Senior Vice President of Administration at St. Vincent's Hospital. He joins us now from New York. Thanks for joining us this morning.

MARK ACKERMANN, SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT, ST. VINCENT'S HOSPITAL: Good morning, Fredricka. Yours was the nearest trauma center to the World Trade Center. What sort of injuries are you still treating today, now that we are one day away from the six-month mark?

ACKERMANN: All of the work that we're doing now is really in the area of behavioral health. We are doing a lot of work with our patients. Many of our patients who were in their beds that day, saw the World Trade Center hit and fall. So we're still dealing with those patients, even though they're home now.

We're dealing with a number of others from a behavioral health perspective. Many businesses have contracted with us to work with their employees. We're very proud of the fact that the Avon Foundation has given us a large grant to work with students of the three public schools closest to Ground Zero. Imagine that those children, elementary through high school, saw people jump to their deaths from the 110th floor. So there's much work to be done with the children, the teachers, as well as the parents.

We're also very proud of the fact that we're working with the New York City Fire Department in firehouses in all of Southern Manhattan, as well as with the loved ones of the firefighters who did not survive.

Very importantly too, we're also working with all of our own employees. Our employees saw things that day that one would never imagine seeing, and we're working with them to help them through this time, but also helping them to prepare for what may be next.

Our hospital, as well as all hospitals, are doing a lot of work to prepare for nuclear, biological or chemical attacks, and we really need to have our employees understand what that means for them.

WHITFIELD: And I want to talk again about some of your employees, your health workers there in a moment, but first back to the behavioral treatment that you're having to give a number of the survivors, those who were once patients at your hospital.

Exactly what sort of treatment and what are some of the complaints that many of those patients are articulating? Are we talking about a lot of bad dreams? Talking of recurring thoughts? How do you go about treating them?

ACKERMANN: Well, I'm not a physician, but from what our physicians do tell us, exactly what you've just described. Patients are reliving this incident through their daily lives, bad dreams particularly for children, children waking up with nightmares. Many of child psychiatrists tell us that they're working very closely with children and their families to understand that there may be some regression here, and there may be some patience needed in coming forward.

A lot of group counseling as well, not only for people who lived through this, but people who saw it. There are every day New Yorkers who have lost many, many of their friends. I don't think people in other parts of the country can really appreciate that.

We've been through 3,000 funerals or memorial services. There's a lethargy of the entire New York metropolitan area, and mental health professionals at St. Vincent's and all healthcare providers in New York are really overwhelmed with the number of people who are reaching out for help. There is much work to be done and I fear it's only just beginning. This is going to take place for many years to come.

WHITFIELD: And too, Mark, I've heard an awful lot of firefighters and police workers, emergency crews who say that they are feeling and they're overwhelmed with this feeling of guilt because they lost an awful lot of friends and family. That seems to be an overriding emotion that many of them are articulating.

ACKERMANN: There seems to be a lot of that being told to our health professionals, and also a sense of why wasn't it me, and people feeling - perhaps they took a sick day that day or were home for another reason, and just imagine the guilt that they feel when someone took their place that day.

So, there's a whole range of emotions and the healthcare professionals from psychiatric social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, are doing enormously good work at St. Vincent's and at all healthcare institutions throughout the tri-state area.

WHITFIELD: And, Mark, we only have a few seconds left but I want to talk about your healthcare workers. You said many of them had seen things, experienced emotions that they've never had to deal with before. So how do you help one another when, you know, these healthcare workers feel like they've taken it upon themselves to try and help everybody else. It's awfully hard in a lot of cases for them to actually ask for help themselves.

ACKERMANN: Well, remember many of our emergency room nurses are married to firefighters and police officers, and they really experienced something that day not knowing where their spouse or loved one were, while they were taking care of other patients.

We've had many group sessions for our employees. We continue to provide care for them, and we really need to work with all healthcare workers to make sure that they recover from this situation, as well as are ready for whatever may be next.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, Mark Ackermann, Senior Vice-President of Administration at St. Vincent's Hospital. Thanks very much for joining us. I know tomorrow is going to be a particularly difficult day for so many people throughout this country and in New York, and particularly at your hospital. I appreciate it. Thanks very much.

ACKERMANN: Thank you.

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