It’s been 20 years since Sept. 11, 2001, the fateful day that changed the country forever. But almost every American can explicitly recall where they were and what they were doing when they got word of the first World Trade Center tower being hit.
For staff at Network of Victim Assistance Bucks County, the only victim services organization in Pennsylvania at the time that could respond to a criminal disaster, they knew their work would instantly pivot to aid survivors, frontline responders and the families of those who died.
In a recent Zoom interview, The Times spoke with Suzan Bizon, part of NOVA Bucks’ victim advocacy department for 30 years, who reflected on the organization’s response to the Sept. 11 attacks.
“We were very well-known in the community. From all the work that [executive director] Barbara Clark had done, the state reached out,” said Bizon.
Thanks to grants and funding, NOVA Bucks launched the PA September 11 Victim Assistance Program to help Pennsylvania individuals and families who were impacted.
According to Bizon, residents associated with the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Flight 93 all experienced different kinds of trauma and had to be aided in different ways.
NOVA staff did much traveling as they accompanied mourning spouses, parents and other loved ones to ground zero and the crash site of Flight 93 in Shanksville. Bizon and her peers walked them through filling out crime compensation paperwork; coordinated with agencies in other counties to set up support groups and therapy; sat by their side as they gave witness statements to the FBI; and simply held the hands of the grieving as they fought to stay strong during this nightmare.
“A lot of the people who died in the towers were so young, so there was no will. They had all their paperwork in their computers in the towers. Wifes and husbands, nobody knew where anything was and couldn’t access anything right away,” said Bizon. “We had to make sure we were advocating for those who weren’t dead, but who were suffering in a lot of aspects.”
Additionally, because these sites had such tight security, Bizon advocated for chosen family members to have access.
“A woman could say, ‘Joe was my son’s best friend. I felt like he was another son,’ ” said Bizon. “Everyone defines family differently. We put together a book of everybody who could access the site who was a family member or close personal friend.”
When Flight 93 the movie was released several years later, President George W. Bush invited one representative for each victim to attend.
“You can’t do that,” said Bizon. “A lot of it had to be explained to the public that people view families differently. That’s one of the things we had to advocate for.”
Over the span of four years, NOVA served 650 victims, family members, first responders and others, providing case management, advocacy, counseling and coordination with other organizations. Currently, NOVA continues to help those who are retraumatized by anniversary events.
“The difference between this grief and all the grief I’ve worked before is that it’s very public. The public still feels it. Everybody can still sit down and say what they were doing when they heard of the first plane crash,” said Bizon.
Her work with those impacted by the attacks was much more involved, more personal, than what she was used to.
“Barbara pulled some of us from the advocacy department. We worked homicides all the time and had the training of grief, bereavement, trauma, loss,” Bizon said. “But these people, you become part of them, which is a little different than working in this advocacy department. We were with them constantly for years.”
Two decades later, many are still feeling the physical and mental toll. Breathing in large amounts of debris has caused lasting, sometimes deadly, health issues. Countless children were born without meeting a parent because they lost their life in one of the towers. Spouses mourn happy futures that never came to be.
“Grief is a lifelong experience. You learn to move forward with it. It’s how to channel that grief,” she said. “A lot of people put their efforts into legislation, building memorials. Each one is trying to find a way to heal.”
A prime example is Ellen Saracini, whose husband Capt. Victor Saracini, of Yardley, was killed when terrorists hijacked United Flight 175 and flew into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. She has become a fierce advocate for aviation safety and better protection of the cockpit door, recruiting U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and other elected officials to her fight.
The Saracini Aviation Safety Act was signed into law in 2018. It requires the installation of a secondary barrier between the passenger cabin and cockpit door on each new aircraft purchased in the United States. An enhanced bill, introduced earlier this year by U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey, would mandate these barriers be applied to all passenger airplanes, not only newly manufactured ones.
Samantha Bambino can be reached at sbambino@newspapermediagroup.com
