Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #105855

Kathleen E. Powderly, CNM, PhD, Division of Humanities in Medicine, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Box 116, Brooklyn, NY 11203, 718-270-3322, kep7@columbia.edu and Lorraine C. Brooks, CEAP, Employee Assistance Program, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Box 1218, Brooklyn, NY 11203.

Physicians, public health workers, police officers, firefighters and other emergency personnel have historically had an ethical, professional and, in some cases, legal obligation to respond to public health crises and emergencies. This social contract was severely tested by the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01. This paper will discuss a pilot project designed to gather first-hand stories of first responders to the World Trade Center on and in the days immediately following 9/11. The project employs standard oral history methodology and consists of two to three hour interviews with police officers, health care workers and other emergency responders. The interviews are guided by several fundamental themes including background related to professional role choice and experience as a first responder prior to 9/11, professional experience around the events of 9/11 and perception of the role of first responder post 9/11. This project is gathering these stories as part of the permanent historical record and examining them for themes related to professional role definition and workplace-related issues for first-responders. These themes will be discussed in relation to current policy discussions concerning the roles and responsibilities of first responders and the possible need for re-definition of these roles and societal expectations regarding first responders. Recommendations for the future education of health professional students, public health workers and other emergency workers will also be included.

Learning Objectives:

• To describe the role of first responders from a historical perspective.
• To discuss observations and experiences of first resonders to the World Trade Center on 9/11/01.
• To identify possible policy implications and changing expectations of first responders in the current era of terrorism/bioterrorism.

Keywords: Bioethics, Oral History

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation