United Aromatherapy Effort

Nancy Colley's Impressions

Mon, May 12, 2008
12:16am

I am a nurse and a massage practitioner from Delaware. I was in the hospital working in a developmental clinic for small children when someone brought in a radio shortly after the first plane hit in New York. We continued our work and stopped by the radio frequently to listen in dismay and to bring the latest news back to parents who first heard the news on their way in. One doctor had two daughters in Washington, D.C. and he continued working in between calls to his wife as they tried to track down their daughters. (They are fine.) We heard about several planes headed toward Washington or possibly us as we seem to be the credit card capitol of the world and had been or may still be the chemical capitol of the world. Lots of incorrect news that morning. We were worried about family and friends and people we didn't know. We were numb and in shock and we wanted to help. Delaware sent ambulances and medical people up that day, but as you know, there wasn't much for them to do. I began to think that I could help with massage therapy but didn't know how. I was so pleased to hear about CERMT and I was able to fill the last volunteer slot for the February trip. I was afraid to go because I do have respiratory problems and was afraid of being a problem instead of an asset. I hope all the fire companies sign up for the aromatherapy and get adopted because I was constantly exposed to the aromatherapy and my breathing was never better. I couldn't believe I could walk so much, climb stairs, do so many massages, and even get into firetrucks. I went to help others and was helped myself.

It was such a blessing to be able to do something. So many of us wanted to do something. I want to thank all the people who gave us the opportunity to contribute. However, they gave so much back to us from caps, t-shirts, sweatshirts, rides, wonderful meals to the pleasure of their company. Thanks to my three wonderful roommates--Debbie, Amy, and Eileen. And every team with whom I worked were wonderful. Somehow we found our way to so many places and back. I met many of the wonderful Port Authority Police Department who have been working 12 hours shifts with little time off since September 11th. I got to go to JFK and La Guardia. I didn't see many cards or banners there, and I hope everyone will remember these wonderful people who lost 37 of their friends. I enjoyed trying to massage around those big belts and guns--yep, some times we massaged with the guns on. Glad we weren't wearing them and didn't have to haul that stuff along with the massage chairs.

I did massages on many lovely women and some equally lovely men at several Safe Horizons locations. I do somewhat similiar work and know these people really deserved wonderful massages every day. They were all so gracious and wanted all their friends to enjoy their massage.

Now the men preferred to kid each other and hound their friends, but they did line up quickly for massages. Thanks to Engine 278 for rescuing us from the cold, making us a most fabulous and elegant meal of shrimp, scallops, clams and linguini. They went on a call just as they were ready to take it off the stove and I had to tend to the meal for 10-15 minutes. They probably thought I ruined it but were very pleasant about it. I thought it was delicious. Thanks for the "coming down the firepole" picture opportunities--especially for coming down it yourselves so we could take pictures and not making us come down it. One of you wanted to find a single fireman for my daughter--she's coming back to New York this weekend--get in touch with me. Thanks to Engine 60/Ladder 17 for the wonderful homemade chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches waiting for us. You are also wonderful cooks and gracious hosts. I promised some of you a bottle of respiratory blend--have it and will ship soon; just trying to round up some extra ingredients for a blend for the poor guy with the awful itch. Loved the exci ting ride back to the subway station.

The last two days I was in New York I worked at St. Paul's from 2:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. on Friday and the Landfill on Saturday. Work was winding down at Ground Zero, but some of the workers came for massages as did the wonderful volunteers who had been giving so many hours of their time to serve food, etc. I heard a lot of coughing from the sleeping men. One man coughed for over two hours. I couldn't stop myself and finally saturated one of our pads with the respiratory blend and laid it on his pillow. I saw him wake up briefly, look at it oddly, and put it back. He slept several more hours without coughing. I was allowed up on the ramp early in the morning and numbly viewed Ground Zero. I didn't really feel any souls there--I think they are all safely tucked into so many hearts. My heart did break with all the pictures and memorials and how little we can really do to help so many wounded but stoic hearts. At the Landfill people were hurrying to leave for the day. We didn't do as many massages. I felt the most helpless there. Wish we had discovered those wonderful Salvation Army volunteers who didn't know we massaged volunteers and really needed it before we needed to catch our ride back to the ferry.

Thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who are still there and know it is not all over. Thanks to CERMT for helping me with my need to do something. Thanks to everyone for accepting our massages--we do really care about you. The need to help is still there.

Nancy Colley
ntigcol@aol.com

P.S. I was raised in Tennessee and am getting my accent back after being around you North Carolina, Newark, Delaware people. I've added "Honey" and "Sweetie" back to my vocabulary.