Indiana Task Force 1 returns from NYC

By Joe Stuteville

Drs. Christian Strachan and Stephanee Evers are Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) emergency medicine physicians who were among the 62-member Indiana Task Force 1 immediately deployed to New York City for search-and-rescue operations after two highjacked jet airliners bulleted into the towering World Trade Center towers.

“It’s wonderful to be back,” said a tired-looking Evers, standing on the steps of Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis and surrounded by fellow team members. “It was a horrible situation, and I wish we could have accomplished more.”

Strachan huddled with family members and friends and tightly held his toddler son, Jacob, following the welcoming ceremonies. “This is just amazing,” he said, surveying thousands of well-wishers who turned out for the early afternoon homecoming.

Strachan is on staff with IUSM’s Emergency Medicine Department and a physician at Methodist Hospital of Clarian Health, following completion of a five-year, combined emergency medicine/pediatrics residency with the school. During that time, he attended rescue training with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

They weren’t the only IU physicians on the scene at the New York City disaster site. Dr. Michael Olinger, assistant professor of emergency medicine and medical director of emergency medical and ambulance services at Wishard Hospital, was in upstate New York at a conference when the attacks occurred in New York City and Washington, D.C. Within hours, Olinger, a FEMA medical services coordinator, was working alongside rescue workers. Olinger was scheduled to return home a few days after Indiana Task Force 1’s return.

Indiana Task Force 1’s return could be heard long before it was seen. An Indianapolis Police Department motorcycle escort with wailing sirens led the team’s trucks and buses onto the circle. Evers and Strachan immediately blended into an area cordoned off for team members and their families to have private time before the ceremonies.

It wasn’t the first time Strachan, a 1996 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Medicine-Chicago, was pressed into action by FEMA. He and other members of Indiana Task Force 1 were called up for Hurricane Floyd, which struck the North Carolina coastline in September 1999.

Evers is a second-year resident in the school’s emergency medicine program and does rotations at Methodist Hospital and Wishard Memorial Hospital on the IU Medical Center campus.

An honors graduate of the University of Missouri School of Medicine-Kansas City, where she was active in volunteer and community work, she completed FEMA training before her assignment to Indiana Task Force 1. Evers has a background working in emergency situations; she was an emergency medical technician in Lincoln, Neb.

Olinger participated in emergency operations in the terrorist bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City and Hurricane Marilyn in 1995, and served as support staff at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He’s also assistant medical director for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indianapolis Racing League.

In their roles as FEMA team members, physicians provide emergency medical care to disaster victims, treat rescue workers and perform health evaluations.

“They went into the jaws of hell and they came back,” said emcee John Gillis, a helicopter traffic reporter for WIBC-1070 AM, Indianapolis. “We realized what evil there is in the world on Sept. 11—but we know there is much more good because of who you are and what you did. You are our heroes.”

For information on IU’s SPEA personnel and students who escaped unharmed from the terrorist attack at the Pentagon:

http://www.homepages.indiana.edu/091401/

If you or a colleague are having a particularly difficult time with the emotional aftershock, counseling is available—see:

http://www.homepages.indiana.edu/091401/text/counsel.html