Eugene A. Woods, Chief Executive Officer at Advocate Health and President and CEO at Atrium Health, shared on LinkedIn:
“Twenty-five years ago today, I was the new leader of operations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. I was still in orientation when the Pentagon was attacked on September 11.
I remember finding my way to the command center, my mind reeling, to get a situational assessment and work with the team to put into practice the disaster-preparedness protocols I had learned that very morning.
Our helicopter was the first on the scene at the Pentagon. I still keep this picture of it in my office.
We brought some of the most severely burned patients to the hospital and cared for them around the clock. With the airspace closed, we sent a team from D.C. to San Antonio to secure the additional supplies our patients needed.
We also coordinated with the Veterans hospital on a decontamination center and with the children’s hospital next door in case they needed our support. And all the while, our teammates managed the understandable fear for their own families at home as they continued to care for our patients.
That day gave me a lifelong understanding of why healthcare is such an honorable calling. In a crisis, healthcare workers run toward the fire, not away from it.
They bring their training, courage and humanity. They care for the injured, comfort families and remind us that, even in our darkest hours, they are patriots, willing to serve in our country’s time of greatest need.
To all who served so valiantly, and to all who lost their lives, we honor you, we salute you, and we promise never to forget.
And to my 170,000 teammates at Advocate Health, for whom serving others is a calling, I extend my deepest appreciation. You show up not only in the most visible moments of crisis, but in the everyday moments when a patient needs reassurance, a family needs hope and a community needs someone to stand beside them.”
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