I recall very well where I was when I heard the news.
I was sitting on a small plane in Ft. Wayne, Indiana waiting for final paperwork. Back then, the cockpit doors were routinely left open. I was close enough to the front to hear an announcement come over the speaker that a plane had just flown into one of the towers of the World Trade Center towers in New York.
Many things happened in rapid fashion, from that announcement to removing all passengers from the plane. From a small bar inside the airport, we watched in shock and disbelief as the rest of the events unfolded. Many innocent people, many heroes, died that day. Wives became widows. Children were lost and children lost their mothers and fathers. A nation mourned. A world looked on in horror. Not one of us would be unchanged. The attacks that day were one of the worst events in modern times.
In your life in EMS, or in the fire service, what is the worst event you can imagine? A quick search online will reveal stories about medics who fondle patients, or who suffer career-ending back injuries. You may read about firefighters who contract hepatitis B or HIV, or paramedics (fathers, husbands, mothers, wives), who die in an intersection while responding to a call.
In the days and months following September 11, 2001, the 9/11 commission was formed. One of the many conclusions this group drew was that some people within the U.S. intelligence knew that an attack on the US was being planned.
In hindsight, the dates, the target and attackers were all known. Simply put, the stockbrokers, the children in day care, the hundreds of responders and other innocent victims need not have died.
Ten years after 9/11, the pain and suffering continues. Wives continue to miss husbands and children grow up without their mothers. Now it is known that emergency responders are 19 percent more likely to develop cancer as a result of responding. For these brave souls and their families, the ordeal may well last another decade.
Imagine.
Imagine being the people who failed to take action.
Now imagine that worst case scenario you identified above. Imagine a similar investigation that reveals that the fatal collision or injury could have been prevented.
Imagine real at-risk events are taking place today. Imagine that people know. Imagine that people know and don’t speak up because of fear or ignorance, or from a desire to be accepted. Imagine and then take action. Events which do occur within our organizations will also have effects that last long after the initial shock and grief has worn off.
In many ways, we have improved in the past ten years- by some estimates we are safer. Both the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber attacks were thwarted, as were planned attacks in NYC and the Space Needle in Seattle. We learned to share information, to communicate concerns and to investigate.
Simply hoping for the best was no longer a good enough approach. What have you learned since the last tragedy in your service or the last one you read about? What have you changed or communicated? What steps have you taken to prevent a recurrence?
In this post-9/11 era, we all see the ads and banners that remind us: “If you see something, say something.” By following this simple mantra, lives and careers will be saved. Honor those lives lost by taking action.
Imagine, then take action, please and thank you.
