By LEE SAUNDERS
Administrator, District Council 37, AFSCME

It is a time of tears and pride.

Since 8:48 a.m. on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, our nation has moved from disbelief to despair to determination. We have all lost loved ones and colleagues and on behalf of DC 37’s 125,000 members and 40,000 retirees, I extend heartfelt sympathy to the families of those who are missing or have perished. Among them Fire Department Chaplain Father Mychal Judge of Local 299 and Paramedics Ricardo Quinn and Carlos Lillo of Local 2507. Some 65 Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians were injured in the rescue effort, as were several members of EMS Lieutenants and Captains Local 3621 and Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375.

As we struggle individually and as a nation to deal with this vicious attack on our people and our principles, members of District Council 37 have overcome their shock and grief to help rebuild the city that is both our employer and our home.

From the very beginning, our members have played key roles at and around Ground Zero. The following, admittedly, is an incomplete list:

• Moments after the first hijacked plane struck One World Trade Center, E-911 Police Communications Technicians received frantic calls from people inside the building and dispatched rescue workers to the scene. NYPD Tow Truck Operators rolled in immediately to clear parked cars for emergency vehicles.
  
  
• Hospital workers rushed into action as the wounded arrived at emergency rooms.
  
  
• Chaplains, Psychologists and Social Workers provide comfort to the injured and the dying and help relieve the trauma of witnesses and survivors.
  
  
• Criminalists in the Chief Medical Examiner's Office extract DNA simples to facilitate identification of the victims.
  
  
• Scores of employees from the Transportation and Parks Departments, the Housing Authority and the Board of Education work 12-hour shifts, sifting debris and hauling it in 20-ton trucks to the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island.
  
  
• Public Health Sanitarians and Construction Project Managers tend to the safety of the rescue teams.
  
  
• Consumer Affairs Inspectors visit gas stations and other businesses to ensure that unscrupulous business owners don’t profit from the tragedy by price gouging.
  
  
• Fire Prevention Inspectors staffed the Fire Department’s missing persons hotline.
  
  
• Computer technicians installed 300 computers and the necessary software at a Family Assistance Center – all within 24 hours.
  
  
• Parks Enforcement Patrol officers arranged for evacuated residents of Battery Park City to return to their homes to retrieve their pets and medications.
  
  
• City Engineers, Inspectors and Surveyors examine building foundations for structural damage and identify necessary repairs.
  
  
• School Food Service workers prepare meals for rescue workers.