 Dozens
of HRSA employees who supported rescue teams and provided medical
assistance in New York City, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon
following the September 11 terrorist attacks were honored by
HRSA Acting Administrator Elizabeth M. Duke during a Dec. 11
ceremony at the Parklawn Building.
"HRSA was there at Ground Zero in New York and at the
Pentagon," Duke said. "We were there, too, in rural
Pennsylvania," where the fourth plane crashed. Agency
employees were called to the disaster sites as members of,
or in support of, federal Disaster Medical Assistance Teams
and Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams.
 Twenty-three
employees from the Bureau of Primary Health Care, seven from
the Bureau of Health Professions, four from the HIV/AIDS Bureau,
three from the Office of Field Operations, two from the Maternal
and Child Health Bureau, and one from the Office of Management
and Program Support were cited for their contributions.
Dr. Duke also paid tribute to 45 HRSA employees β 27 from
the New York Field Office and 18 from the Office of Special
Programs β who had to flee their offices in the Federal Building,
just blocks away from the World Trade Center, after the attacks.
The employees worked for weeks in temporary quarters in Queens,
but have since returned to the Federal Building.
 Dr.
Duke said the attacks "jolted Americans into an entirely
different way of viewing the world and our place in it."
"Then, as the bewilderment faded and resolve set in,"
she said, "our response to the attacks led us to look
with fresh eyes at the strength, reach and quality of the
resources of the federal government and its state and local
partners.
 "Many
employees," she added, "probably had no idea that
the person in the office down the hall was a member of teams
that would be called into action to help fellow Americans in
a time of tragedy."
(All photos
by CAPT
Neal Collins, M.D., HRSA Division of Immigration Health Services.)
Top
right photo:
One
of the first days at Ground Zero.
Middle
left photo: Shift change: Commissioned Corps Officers head
into Ground Zero as firefighters and other volunteers are leaving.
Middle right photo:
Triage table in the Church Clinic, closest to the disaster site,
was staffed by Commissioned Corps officers.
Bottom left photo: Rescue workers tackle βThe Pile.β
|
