Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Kathleen Powderly, 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, State University of NY 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 is based on an oral history project designed to gather first-hand stories of first responders to the World Trade Center on and in the days following 9/11. The project interviews are guided by several fundamental themes including professional role choice and experience, direct Ground Zero experience and perceptions of the role of first responders post 9/11. The focus of this paper will be on the distinctions between traditional first responders and other responders and the distinctions between volunteers and those required to respond. Traditional disaster response discourages volunteers. The Ground Zero experience suggests a real need met by "spontaneous converging volunteers". This paper will discuss policy implications and recommendations for the future education of health professional students, public health workers, emergency workers and the public based on these oral histories.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss observations and experiences of first responders to the World Trade Center on 9/11/01.
• Identify possible policy implications and changing expectations of first responders in the current era of terrorism/bioterrorism.
• Analyze the role of trained and untrained responders including those who volunteer and those who are required to respond.

Keywords: Ethics, Disasters

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation