DNP Thesis Finds Parents of 9/11 Victims Suffer Too
Fran McGibbon Focuses on Coping Strategies in the Aftermath
Posted 9/12/11
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"[9/11 victims'] parents always struck me as an example of people that experienced such terrible tragedy but were forgotten about in the aftermath."Fran McGibbon |
DNP student Fran McGibbon always thought that the parents of firefighters who died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center 10 years ago were ignored when researchers studied the effects of the tragedy.
So the assistant professor of nursing at the New York City College of Technology chose to examine the state of their health as the topic for her doctoral thesis at Case Western Reserve University.
McGibbon, 56, of Queens, N.Y., successfully defended her thesis on Wednesday and became a doctor of nursing practice.
She is struck by the timing as the 10th anniversary of the attack approaches because it was the loss of a friend on Sept. 11, 2001 that led to her thesis topic.
One of her students, Michael Mullan, a firefighter and nurse working on his bachelor's degree, was evacuating people from the Marriott hotel after the planes struck the towers, she said.
He heard a distress call on his radio from a disoriented firefighter in one of the towers. Mullan left the hotel and went into the tower to help. McGibbon gave the eulogy at his funeral.
"People focused on spouses and children after 9-11," she said. "When I went to several New York City firemen funerals and witnessed the level of heartache and tragedy, I was very touched by it. Their parents always struck me as an example of people that experienced such terrible tragedy but were forgotten about in the aftermath."
Source: The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com
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