United Aromatherapy Effort

Kathie's Impressions

Mon, May 12, 2008
12:29am

Hi. I'm Kathie Bright, a member of the Carolina Emergency Response Massage team, affectionately known as CERMT. I was raised on Long Island, and have been practising massage in North Carolina for 8 years now, living here for 20. On September 11, all I wanted to do was find my sister in New York, Diane, and know her fiancŽe was not working in the City that day. I wanted to get back to NY and do something. But what could I do?

Well, in January I finally found a way to help that utilises the skills I have. About 10 years ago Dougie Rassmusson started the first Emergency Massage Team in Florida. He later moved to North Carolina, and we now have the only Massage Team in the country that is a part of the Critical Incident Stress Management Advisory Council. We are team 14 on the North Carolina Council.

So what does Cermt do? I wasn't sure either, but after doing a deployment for a week last month, I know it's one of the most moving experiences I've ever had. And it's what they've been doing since November, a total of one month of massages.

I can tell you about March. I was working with 24 other Massage Therapists, some of the finest souls I have ever met - from NC, all around the country, NY, the Arctic, England - it was truly a worldwide effort. We gave over 800 massages that week to firemen, police officers, port authority police, sanitation workers, cutters, volunteers, counsellors, fbi agents, and everyone else who was working that we could get our hands on. We work 6-hour shifts, sometimes longer, and not including travel on ferry, subways, to airports. We also have aromatherpy experts giving them oils to help with the respiratory problems that have been developing.

The Aromatherapy community has really been outstanding. They have created blends of oils to help with breathing problems, fatigue, and whatever else may be needed. Syllah has also come up with the "Adopt a Station" program - for $200 you can adopt a firestation and provide them with all the equipment and supplies they will need for one year - for the house and for themselves personally - to help combat the smokes and noxious things they have been inhaling for the last 7 months. Sponsors are needed - we have stations who are ready, enthusiastic and waiting to be adopted.

I was privileged to spend a week working at St. Paul's Church, Engine 54 in midtown, Engine 280 in the Bronx, Engine 60 in Brooklyn, Freshkills Landfill, Safe Horizons Counselling Centers., one fireman's son on his birthday, and one fire station dog. This week alone the team gave over 800 massages. I have met the most wonderful people I have ever met in my life. They are generous, kind, sweet, funny, the best cooks in the known universe, and of course gallant and brave. Truly! They never wanted us on the streets at night walking back to the subways, so the whole crew would turnout, throw our massage chairs on the hoses in back, and ride us to our appointed subway. ( I always wondered what the traffic helicopters thought of the chairs on the trucks from the air). They would never let us leave without feeding us. Their faces would glow when we would be finished working on them, and always appreciative.

Sometimes, it was like watching a transformation right in front of me! Almost like watching an actor after he comes out of a role. They were able to be with a different part of themselves, able to worry less for just a little while, and maybe enjoy life a little more. Then the alarm would go off, but we'd wait and they'd leap right back in the chair, waiting for the rest of their touch. They were always wanting to repay us somehow for taking the time to be with them. I don't think they quite got that they already made me the richest woman in the world! And that is exactly how I feel, still, one month later. The gift they gave me by just letting me care, and say thank youS(for me, that's what it's all about. If I could do it over and over, week after week, I would not get tired of it. Those men, without knowing it, reached inside my soul, gave it a hug and a smile, and I will thankfully never be the same - I will always be better - because of them.

Some have been working 7 days a week for 7 months. Some, at the landfill, have been working to identify people from their dental records, or from a sole hip replacement part. Some, like 54, have lost 16 brothers, and were still waiting to find the last 3 in the rubble. The week I was here, they attended 4 funeral services. And then there are the folks that cover for them during those times. One house spoke of not knowing if the alarm will be for a fire, or to get in their dress in go to Ground Zero because they've found some of their own.

St. Paul's Church was such a blessing. One man really came back to us because he was a Cutter, and the Aromatherapy had helped him so much in the last month, he wanted more. One officer I worked on kept us company almost all night - till 6:30 AM. This man didn't carry snapshots of his daughters - they were easily 5X7s, right in his front pocket. He took me to the Policemen's memorial behind the site. We just sat, cried a little, and then I noticed Engine 54's memorial for their brothers was there as well. Behind us the water was calm, and the rescue workers were of course keeping on working. I then knew this was my angel. Syllah had given us little angel medallions to give to those we felt would appreciate them. He said, "I've seen these before, some in guys lockers, some in their holsters. Thank you" and in the pocket with the daughters it went, along with the "how did you know" look that was there a moment earlier.

When leaving Fresh Kills - I swear it was hailing in March there - we got a ride with a Chaplain form the Salvation Army. He'd just arrived - lived in Indiana his whole life. He got a call one 5 AM morning telling him he had a few hours to pack - he was going to New York. This might stress some folks out - but this oneS(his bright smile and jovial manner was awesome. And he makes a mean Sausage and Peppers. Another gentleman - a law enforcement agent - was so muscular, I had to stand on a chair myself in order to work on him. He told me how his daughter tries to massage him all the time. "You have such big shoulders daddy", she'd say. Obviously, I tried extra hard so as not to disappoint this man. I'm no match for 5 year old daughter's hands, but I did my best and he did get up - eventually!

I met workers from all over the country that have not seen home since September. As I was calling my sister, the man on the payphone next to me was calling his wife - he was finally coming home -after 6 months!- and he could hardly wait to see the kids after all this time. We got to touch them, too.

As the work is starting to see an end in sight, there are going to be a lot of folks, who haven't grieved, but will soon not have the 7 day a week wrok shifts to keep them occupied. Sooner or later, they will have to stop, and that's when more of the pain will start to pour out a little faster, the grieving may become a little deeper, and we still want to be there - we owe it to them to be there.

Nearly 4,000 massages later, Cermt still works solely on donations. None of us are paid. We take a week off from work and come because it's just that important. Right now we can't make it back in April. But we have to find a way. As other organizations are starting to pull out, we need to keep coming back. There are lots of heavy times for these folks coming up - Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, and again, September 11. This is on top of the normal day to day job of saving lives, pulling out their friends, going to funerals and keeping us all safer. So many have worked as fast and furious as they can, to help it all end, and heal, and remember, and grow. We are a group who want to help them help us and themselves, do just that.

Kathie Bright Chapel Hill, NC LMBT (richest woman in the world)