ADVANCE For Nurses | Job Fair -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 9/4/2002
Last Visited: 9/4/2002
Jeanne Maguire, MSN, RN, certainly remembers where she was and what she was doing, with crystal clarity.Maguire is associate vice president for nursing at Virginia Hospital Center-Arlington, a 334-bed acute-care community teaching hospital that is the official health care facility for Pentagon employees.
A Morning to Remember
"I usually get to the hospital about 7 a.m., and that morning I was making rounds, talking with the nursing supervisors to see if there were any areas I needed to pay special attention to," Maguire recalled."I bumped into one of my colleagues, and she said, 'Oh my gosh, did you hear what happened?The World Trade Center was just hit by an airplane.'"
That first jet hit the north tower at 8:45 a.m. EDT, tearing a gaping hole in the building and setting it afire.On her way to the main lobby at the time, Maguire and her friend stopped by the outpatient lab to watch TV coverage of the flaming building.
"We started looking at the TV, and it seemed like only seconds later that a second plane hit [the south tower].And I said, 'That does not look like an accident.'"
The second hijacked airliner crashed into the tower at 9:03 a.m., setting it aflame as well.It also stirred Maguire and the rest of the Virginia Hospital Center-Arlington staff into action.
"For some reason, and I think nurses are known for their intuition, I said, 'We need to go over to the administrative suite and get out our disaster book.I just have a feeling that Washington is going to be hit next.'"
Immediately, the administrative team met in the main boardroom.They were discussing the situation and looking through the facility's disaster manual when Maguire got a phone call.
"It was from the emergency department, saying that they heard the Pentagon was hit."
American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757, crashed into the Pentagon at 9:43 a.m., sending up a huge plume of smoke and causing an immediate building evacuation.
The Front Lines
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Virginia Hospital Center-Arlington is only about 5 miles from the Pentagon and has served as the official hospital for its employees for several years, according to Maguire.
"I went down to the emergency department and we got a call then from the Arlington County EMS about quarter to 10 a.m.It was very confusing and we were losing contact with them because all of the telephones were being used.All we knew was that the Pentagon was hit and we were going to be getting victims at the hospital."
The first patient arrived by ambulance about 10:30 a.m.The hospital would receive 30 patients from the stricken building that first hour, and a total of 44 within an hour-and-a-half.
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"We certainly had critical burns and very debilitating smoke inhalation," Maguire noted."There were also various orthopedic injuries and some cuts and abrasions."
It was a very emotional experience for the associate VP.
"Even when I talk about it now, I visualize victim after victim coming to the ED, not knowing what we were going to find when we opened the back of that ambulance door."
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Maguire didn't go home until 3 a.m. the following morning, because at the time nobody knew for certain if there would be any more attacks and the patients who were admitted to the hospital needed to be stabilized.
"Eighteen patients were actually admitted.All night long the military personnel and Joint Chiefs of Staff were coming to visit them, so I assisted them and accompanied them to the patient rooms."
The command center in the boardroom remained in place for several days, with senior staff members periodically relieving each other.
Looking Back