Observer Article: Keiser University nursing instructor continues to teach lessons from 9/11 in her Lakewood Ranch classes
Article by: Jay Heater Managing Editor, The Observer
“Christine Malloy doesn’t want us to forget.
The Keiser University of Lakewood Ranch nursing instructor does what she can to recount the stories of the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001 from the prospective of a nurse who was on the scene at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan, 20 blocks from the World Trade Center in New York City.
It’s actually part of her job to make sure her students don’t forget.
Malloy said the terrorist attacks were the defining moment of her nursing career. Now she teaches specific classes where that disaster is part of the learning experience.
“It’s more than likely my nursing students will experience a disaster situation,” Malloy said. “I let them know about the disaster and about ethical issues. You have to make decisions … you want to sit and comfort a patient who is dying and you can’t.
“There are so many things you need to know and it’s so important these days. The likelihood they will experience a disaster, with all the gunshots and bombings, is high. My students are going to experience some disasters in their careers, so I take it seriously when I teach it. Their obligation is to be prepared.”
With Sept. 11 approaching, I asked Malloy to share some of her memories.
St. Vincent’s Hospital, which is no longer there, was at the corner of 12th Street and Seventh Avenue when planes struck the World Trade Center. It was the second-closest hospital and closest Level 1 Trauma Center to the scene.
Malloy, who was the director of nursing at St. Vincent’s, said she had arrived at the hospital as usual, around 7:45 a.m. and remembered what a beautiful fall day it was.
“I remember saying, ‘I wish I was at the beach.’ I thought it was going to be a routine day.”
About an hour after she arrived, Malloy looked out a window and saw a plane flying way too low.
“It looked like it was flying down Seventh Avenue,” she said. “It was just a weird sight.”
At 8:46 a.m., terrorists flew the plane into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Moments later, the hospital’s disaster bell went off. The devastation could be seen from the hospital. At 9:03 a.m., another plane hit the south tower.
Malloy didn’t know the scope of the disaster, but she knew she needed to get her staff ready. She called her husband, John, and told him she wouldn’t be home for a few days. It took about 90 minutes for the first patients to arrive and then hundreds came in the next two hours.” … Continue Reading: https://www.yourobserver.com/article/keiser-university-nursing-instructor-continues-to-teach-lessons-from-9-11-in-her-lakewood-ranch-classes