In three months and three days we will be observing the eighth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks. While New York City has yet to build their permanent memorial on the site labeled Ground Zero, other communities have to honor the lives lost and the ultimate sacrifices made that day. The excerpt below is from this article:

ESSEX — County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. announced today a special memorial for the flight crews killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The idea for the memorial was proposed by Deborah Calimano, who has been a flight attendant for 17 years.

The existing memorial includes bronze service caps that sit atop pedestals, one honoring law enforcers who perished that day, another honoring the 343 New York City firefighters who perished as well when jets commandeered by terrorists slammed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

“When I saw this, I said, ‘What about us?’ We were in the line of duty just like everyone else,” Calimano said. “It’s still a brotherhood.”

Now, a five-foot stretch of granite will be added to the existing memorial. It will carry the names of the 33 flight crew members who died and be topped by a bronze pilot’s cap. The new memorial, designed Patrick Morelli, who also designed the West Orange memorial, will be dedicated Sept. 11, 2009 — correcting what Essex officials termed an “oversight.”

The County of Essex has chosen to honor Flight Crews distinctively instead of the EMTs and Paramedics who perished that day providing Emergency Medical Services to the injured. Across the nation EMS providers have always taken a back seat to our peers in public safety working in law enforcement and fire services. Now it seems we are taking the back seat to those who work in private services that have nothing to do with public safety.

Enough is enough.

We respond to situations where people are in potentially the most desperate and tragic moments of their lives. Our call volume surpasses that of the fire service and often is equal if not greater to law enforcement. Yet we receive little to no recognition for that and are far too often relegated to being lumped in with others. These practices over the years has resulted in an acute lack of pride within, causing a form of professional depression from our own members that has resulted in erratic and unprofessional behavior.

The blame for this predicament can be placed on no one but ourselves. We must be willing to speak up. Not as an EMT or a Paramedic but as The Emergency Medical Services, when these injustices occur. We need to stand by our own when they are unjustly persecuted just as law enforcement and the fire service do. We must be willing to speak out when our profession is the victim of an “oversight”.

We must commit to not just excellence for our patients, but excellence for ourselves. Now is the time to take action on that commitment.

Send an e-mail to Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr.’s office by filling in your name and e-mail address and pressing Send:

Your Name (required)

Your Email (required)

Executive DiVincenzo,

I read the Star Ledger article on-line about the monument for the airline crew-members who died on September 11. I am a member of the Emergency Medical Services and I vote and my family votes. Before you erect a monument for airline personnel, do the right thing and recognize the EMS personnel who gave their lives so gallantly on September 11.

Additional Message To Send (Just insert a \"Thanks\" if you have nothing more to add)

Sincerely,

(Your Name)

Or you can call Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. at 973-621-4400

Tell whoever answers the phone:

Executive DiVincenzo, I read the Star Ledger article on-line about the monument for the airline crew-members who died on September 11. I am an EMT (or paramedic) and I vote and my family votes. Before you erect a monument for airline personnel, do the right thing and recognize the EMS personnel who gave their lives so gallantly on September 11.

Let us begin being proud of our profession by insisting that our brothers and sisters who made the ultimate sacrifice be treated as the heroes they are.

Thanks to Daniel R. Gerard for making me aware of this situation

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