GAINESVILLE, FL — When the Sept. 11 attacks unfolded, Rhonda Osteen was asleep after a night shift at the UF Health Shands Burn Center in Gainesville. Her sister woke her to turn on the television, and Osteen watched the second plane strike the World Trade Center.
She reported to work as scheduled that day, with the burn unit preparing for the possibility of patients injured in the attack on the Pentagon. None arrived, but the sense that she needed to do something did not fade. A few weeks later, she volunteered at a 40-bed burn center in New York, leaving behind her family and 9-year-old son to help in the aftermath of the attacks.
A Gainesville nurse answered a call for help in New York
Osteen, now nurse manager for UF Health Neuromedicine Hospital Unit 56, said she knew not everyone could step away from daily life and head to a disaster zone. For her, the decision was tied to her skills as a burn nurse and to the urgency of the moment.
She had been the night-shift charge nurse in an eight-bed burn unit at UF Health when the attacks happened. The possibility of treating victims of the Pentagon strike never materialized, but the events of that morning stayed with her. Weeks later, she traveled to New York to help wherever she could.
Her mother worried about the trip, and Osteen understood why. Even so, she felt that she could offer something useful at a time when the country was still trying to grasp the scale of the disaster.
Ground Zero remained a place of grief and uncertainty
Osteen arrived in New York about three weeks after the attacks and found a city still consumed by loss. She remembers seeing Ground Zero for the first time and noticing that fires were still smoldering deep within the debris.
At NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, reminders of the tragedy were everywhere. Photos of missing people were posted throughout parts of the hospital, while the burn center hallways were lined with cards, drawings and notes from children offering support to patients and staff.
The burn center team was also grieving. Many staff members had long ties to the New York City Fire Department and the New York Firefighters Burn Center Foundation. In the weeks after Sept. 11, they were caring for patients during their shifts and attending firefighters’ funerals on their days off.
Burn center staff worked through loss while treating patients
That combination of service and mourning left a deep impression on Osteen. She saw a close-knit medical team balancing daily care with the loss of friends and colleagues who died in the attacks.
The atmosphere in New York was far different from Gainesville, she said. At home, she felt protected. In Manhattan, the destruction was visible and the uncertainty of what might come next felt immediate.
Still, she also saw gratitude everywhere she went. People thanked nurses and thanked those working near Ground Zero. Those moments of appreciation, she said, became some of her strongest memories from the two weeks she spent in the city.
Lauren Manning became the patient Osteen remembers most
Osteen’s patient at the Hearst Burn Center was Lauren Manning, a partner at Cantor Fitzgerald who had been at 1 World Trade Center when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower. Manning arrived late to work and was in the lobby when jet fuel exploded down an elevator shaft and into the space around her.
She escaped the building and was helped by two strangers who put out the flames. Manning suffered burns to more than 82% of her body and was given only a 5% to 10% chance of survival. By the time Osteen arrived in New York, Manning was in a medically induced coma.
Manning’s husband, Greg, stayed at her bedside while their 10-month-old son was cared for at home. Osteen cared for Manning and spoke with Greg during the long days of treatment.
Daily updates and a lasting bond followed her return to Florida
Greg Manning began sending daily email updates to friends and family, describing Lauren’s condition and the difficult road ahead. Those messages were eventually gathered into the book “Love, Greg & Lauren — A Powerful True Story of Courage, Hope and Survival.”
Osteen said the assignment gave her the chance to help in the way she had hoped to after watching the attacks from Gainesville. Her time in New York was short compared with the years of treatment Manning faced, but the connection did not end when she returned home.
Manning’s parents later thanked Osteen for the care she gave their daughter, and Osteen has stayed in touch with some of the people she met during those two weeks. She said the experience remains unforgettable 25 years later.
Twenty-five years later, the memory still shapes her work
After two weeks in New York, Osteen returned to Gainesville and the family who had worried about her while she was gone. The memory of Ground Zero, the missing-person photos, the children’s notes and the firefighters’ funerals remained with her.
She also remembers the broader response to the attacks: emergency workers, volunteers and medical teams searching for the missing, treating the injured and traveling from around the country to help. For Osteen, going to New York was a way to contribute with the skills she knew best.
Asked whether she would make the same choice again, she answered simply: “I would do it again.”
