By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Posted: November 19, 2001

The horror of the World Trade Center attack continues to haunt Emergency Medical Technician Bruce Funaro, who was at ground zero Sept. 11 when the Twin Towers collapsed.

“Every day when I drive to work and look out at where the World Trade Center stood, an empty feeling comes to my stomach,” he said.

Mr. Funaro’s ambulance post at Vesey and Church streets was the closest one to the Twin Towers. On Sept. 11, he saw hundreds of bloodied people with wounds, burns and terrorized faces running from disaster. Heís still unable to purge the image of a person with a severed arm from his mind.

Mr. Funaro’s own brush with death occurred moments later, when the first building collapsed. He survived the shower of falling debris and dust by ducking under an SUV and worked the rest of the day. During the next four days, he joined his partners, EMTs Orlando Puma and Frank Martinez, in the futile search for survivors and bodies.

“I remember the thunderstorm that Thursday after the attack,” said Mr. Funaro as he discussed the impact of the attack on his mind. “It made me jump up and break out into a cold sweat. I still have nightmares.”

That same thunderstorm jolted Police Dept. tow truck operator Farris Coley Sr. from his sleep. It reminded him of the earthquake-like rumbling of the falling towers.

Mr. Coley remains shaken by his experience that day, when the department sent him to clear out parked cars to make way for fire trucks, ambulances and police cars. He is still pained by memories of people jumping from the burning building and leaving pools of blood on the pavement.

“I don’t sleep at all,’ said Mr. Coley. “I just lie down for a minute. I don’t watch the TV news. The news makes me sick to my stomach.”

The struggles of Mr. Funaro and Mr. Coley to come to grips with their trauma reflect what’s going on throughout New York City.

A collective feeling of sadness, even dread, is pervasive as residents and workers try to cope with the country’s greatest loss of life in a single day since the Civil War battle of Antietam. The recent mailings of anthrax germs to media and government offices have compounded the feelings of anxiety and vulnerability caused by the World Trade Center attack.

Walking Zombies
“In a way, every New Yorker is going through post traumatic stress. We’re like walking zombies,” said Leonard Davidman, president of New York City Psychologists Local 1189.

“It’s affecting everyone,” said Assistant City Highway Repairer and Local 983 member Sal Santorelli, who has been hauling debris from ground zero. “My life is a nervous wreck.”

More than a month later, many DC 37 members affected by the Sept. 11 attack are trying to move from shock to recovery. Mental health counselors, including the staff of the union’s Personal Service Unit, are helping them with the coping process. Others have received aid and advice from school nurses in Local 436, Social Workers in Local 768 and volunteer members of Social Service Employees Local 371.

“Many workers may remain scarred for life,” said PSU Director Robert Terruso. “But most will pull through. They should be able to develop their own coping skills to move on with life by talking out their trauma with friends, families and therapists.”

Since Sept. 11, PSU counselors have met with hundreds of members who work at EMS, the Brooklyn Public Library, the Housing Authority, Harlem and Bellevue hospitals, the Dept. of Design and Construction, the Dept. of Youth and Community Services, the Comptroller’s Office, the Police Dept. and the Commission on Human Rights. PSU has also provided members with telephone counseling and referrals to mental health therapists.

PSU social workers say members are reporting such problems as difficulty sleeping, anxiety, nightmares, headaches, eating binges and a lack of appetite, disturbing memories, alcohol and substance issues, memory lapses, jumpiness, feelings of isolation and anger, and a fear of returning to work sites near ground zero.

Board of Education Employees Local 372 Executive Vice President Santos Crespo mirrored the progress of the recovery effort as he moved from doing the psychologically stressful rescue work himself to helping survivors cope with their mental trauma.

Only hours after the towers collapsed, Santos and Grievance Rep Vito Valenti volunteered at ground zero. A school drug abuse specialist with training in crisis counseling, Mr. Crespo was then deployed to Pier 27, where he worked with the families of the missing. Later, he reported to the local school district and counseled teachers and students who had seen the disaster.

“Many students were traumatized and feared it could happen again,” said Mr. Crespo. His own feelings “shut down for a while,” but he remains shaken by his experience.

Virtually all of the 1,500 members of EMTs and Paramedics Local 2507 have received help, including one-on-one counseling, group sessions and informal talks with counselors. Luckily, the local had already created its Peer Support Team for crisis situations and a program administered by Human Service Centers, the largest behavioral health organization in the state. The local established the program a few years ago with City Council funding after several members committed suicide.

Counselors are alarmed that many workers are showing signs of depression and relapses earlier than expected after a major traumatic incident, said Barbra Ann Perina, a clinical supervisor with Human Services Centers.

“We have a real mental health mess on our hands,” Ms. Perina said. “How are we going to deal with this down the road?”

Easing the Pain

Senior Psychologist Ife Ayodele, a Local 1189 member who set up a weekly counseling session at Metropolitan Hospital for people affected by the Sept. 11 tragedy, said post-traumatic stress disorder generally sets in about eight weeks after a traumatic event. Ms. Ayodele advises her patients to take steps to help ease the pain, such as practicing yoga, playing sports, and establishing regular, pleasurable activities with loved ones.

Meanwhile, state and local health officials are gearing up for an unprecedented increase in mental-health treatment in New York City. All told, as many as 2.3 million people may require treatment, according to the Coalition of Voluntary Mental Health Agencies.

Ilene Margolin, vice president for corporate affairs at GHI, the health-insurance carrier chosen by many DC 37 members, said they have already offered special services to help people cope with acute stress and anticipate a significant increase in the use of mental health services in coming the next months.

It’s an open question how much a massive intervention by the mental health community will help alleviate the psychological pain unleashed by the World Trade Center assault.

“To say that people won’t be impacted by this is a lie,” said Local 2507 President Patrick J. Bahnken. “The effects of this incident are going to be far reaching and long term.”

The experience of Oklahoma City suggests that the prognosis for survivors of the World Trade Center disaster could be difficult.

Since the 1995 bombing of the Federal Building there snuffed out 168 lives, one-third of the survivors have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Half of the survivors directly exposed to the bombing experienced anxiety, depression and drinking problems. The World Trade Center incident has caused some of those survivors to relive their trauma, said health-care sources.

Joseph Hunt, a social worker with DC 37’s PSU, warned that people who get no treatment or believe one debriefing session is adequate are putting themselves at risk. But he expressed hope for the affected people who seek therapeutic help.

“We are human beings and we are survivors,” said Mr. Hunt, who has counseled members. “The human spirit will persevere. Human beings are resilient. We are not going to roll over and give up.”