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July 9, 2025
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The Babbling Brook could not help but notice that this Sunday is Patriot Day, an annual observance commemorating the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. While many things have changed in our world in the past 21 years, one thing that has not is the role of first responders—defined here as specially-trained individuals who are first to arrive on the scene of an emergency or disaster.
We ask a lot of first responders and always have. However, never did their presence or sacrifice loom as large as on September 11, 2001 and during the Covid pandemic that began in December 2019.
On September 11, 2001, we watched footage of firefighters and paramedics running into burning buildings and never coming out. We rejoiced when, from out of the inches-thick dust, a figure emerged, whether alone or with another survivor. Our tears flowed when lone hard hats were found in the rubble, and when families of the first responders learned that their loved one, who like many of the victims that day, had just “gone to work” as usual, would not be seen or heard from again.
During the past 32+ months of the worldwide Covid pandemic, we have seen another kind of first responder emerge: nurses, doctors, and other healthcare providers who confronted an unknown disease to care for people who were sick, dying, and scared. Though the losses may be less numerous today, they are no less impactful. For almost three years, burnt out healthcare staff across the world have carried out their jobs keeping watch over our sisters and brothers in this one human family, at great personal cost.
Here at Willow Brook, first responders are not uncommon. Whether we are talking about our own nursing staff, or the paramedics, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), firefighters, or police who arrive to handle calls for assistance, all three of our campuses rely on first responders when their trained help is required for optimal care. How blessed are we to have these special people come to our aid with just a phone call? Some of our residents have also experienced the support of local first responders seeing them out of Willow Brook and to the county line as they travel to participate in an Honor Flight. It is truly a special moment.
First responders do not want to die for us, but they will. Most of them will tell you they signed on for it when they took the job, that it’s an occupational hazard, and if not them, who? That’s a good question for all of us to ponder.
So thank you, first responders, for doing the dirty work, the hard work, the desperate work, the heartbreaking work, the frustrating work, the dangerous work, the debilitating work, the scary work, and the sometimes fatal work. We honor you and the sacrifices you make and continue to make. May our blog post, trivial as it may be, serve to uplift you in some small way.
For further reading and to view a prayer for first responders, click here.