September 14, 2001

On the morning of Sept. 11, MGH trauma surgeon Susan Briggs, MD, was in the operating room performing a routine procedure, oblivious that the world outside had changed forever. Then she got the phone call she had anticipated for years, but had prayed would never come: word of a terrorist attack on the United States.

The Office of Emergency Preparedness in Washington, DC, notified Briggs that she and her trained team of emergency medical personnel were being activated, and needed to be ready to deploy in six hours to provide aid during the national disaster.

The tragic plane crashes and terrorist attacks in New York and Washington already had claimed countless lives, injured hundreds of others and left an entire country confused and in mourning. The devastation was incomprehensible, the images transmitted via television surreal.

"It was terrible when I got the call," Briggs said. "Even with all the training you do to respond to these events, you never envision something of this magnitude. This is the worst terrorist attack in the history of our country and the world."

Within three hours of the initial call, Briggs had recruited 60 members of her emergency response team, which is part of the International Medical Surgical Response Team (IMSuRT) and the Metro Boston Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT). IMSuRT is sponsored by the MGH. It was developed and is directed by Briggs herself, and also is a specialized medical team of the National Disaster Medical System, the congressionally mandated disaster system for the United States.

The function of IMSuRT and DMAT is to deploy rapidly a team of surgical, medical, nursing and other health care professionals –   many of them MGH clinicians –  from throughout New England, in the event of a catastrophic event in the United States or abroad. The medical team is specially trained and equipped to perform life-saving emergency care for victims injured in such disasters.

By 6 pm that day, approximately 35 members of IMSuRT, DMAT and components of the Pediatric and Burn Specialty Medical Teams left the MGH to travel by ground transportation wherever they were needed Ñ possibly New York or an outlying area.

With backpacks filled with essentials such as clothes, scrubs, water bottles and a sleeping bag, as well as medical supplies and equipment, the group was well prepared for the trip.

According to Barbara McGee, RN, of the MGH Burn Unit and a member of the Burn Specialty Team for IMSuRT, the group wasn't sure of their destination, but they were ready for whatever awaited them. "When we get called, we never know in what capacity we will be needed," she said. "We just get everything ready to go."

They were no longer hospital employees; they had become part-time federal employees deployed on a disaster relief mission. "The spotlight may be on us as we go to New York to help," said McGee. "But this truly is a hospitalwide effort because our co-workers and supervisors are allowing us to go help our neighbors in this tragic event."

Members of the relief team ready to leave for New York

Barbara Walsh, RN, from White 7, noted that everyone on her unit was supportive of her leaving her post to go with IMSuRT. "It makes you proud to work for an institution that will allow you to participate in something like this," she said.

Briggs expressed great confidence in the group. "These dedicated professionals are the best of the best," she said. She and her team expected that the majority of injuries they would see would be crush and burn injuries. "This will be unlike anything any of us has ever seen," she said.

As Hotline goes to press, Briggs has reported back to the MGH that she and her team first went to Stewart Air Force Base in Newburg, NY, assisting other emergency medical personnel. They then were deployed Sept. 13 to New York City, working at a location near the World Trade Center to aid health professionals there as needed.