As the country commemorates the nearly 3,000 lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001, many are reflecting where they were and for some, their lifesaving efforts following the terror attack.
Wayne Struble responded to ground zero on 9/11 as part of a search and rescue team. Now, 20 years later he’s still working to save lives, but now at the Health First Hospital System amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Struble said he was scheduled for a day off on 9/11 from his job as an EMS worker in Newark, New Jersey. He was home with his youngest daughter who had just turned 3 the day before when he got the call to respond to the Twin Towers.
“I think about it every single day,” Struble said.
He and the New Jersey Task Force 1 spent weeks there in hopes of finding survivors.
“We were really focused on trying to find people alive, see who we could find and try to rescue them,” said Struble. “Unfortunately, my group did not [find suvivors].”
Struble said it was tough as he and his team worked tirelessly, dodging high-hanging debris, and receiving news of people close to them who didn’t make it.
“I lost a close friend, someone who used to work with me in Newark, New Jersey,” said Struble.
He’s now using those same life-saving skills as the Emergency Preparedness Director for the Health First Hospital System in Brevard County, helping the hospitals deal with everything from hurricanes to COVID-19.
“Knowing how many cases, what’s our infection rate, knowing all of those different numbers and putting it all together helps you to respond to that - and I think prior experience helps put that all together,” said Struble.
It was that prior experience that perhaps his then 3-year-old daughter admired. She’s now 23-years-old and working in the same department as her father worked 20 years later.
“She’s dealing with COVID-19. They just had flooding from Ida that went through New York and New Jersey,” said Struble. “She’s up there helping out where I worked so it kind of brings it full circle.”