This month's cover honors the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The memorials (from left to right) in New York City; Shanksville, Pennsylvania; and Arlington, Virginia, stand in tribute to the 2,977 lives lost that day.
Among the victims were 11 nurses. A September 2002 AJN article, "The Nurses of September 11" (http://links.lww.com/AJN/A209), memorializes these individuals and tells the story of one of them: Kathy Mazza, a captain in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (PAPD). Mazza worked as a nurse in cardiothoracic surgery prior to becoming a police officer; she trained her colleagues as emergency first responders and became the first female commander of the PAPD police academy. On September 11, 2001, Mazza helped evacuate the World Trade Center. She used her gun to shoot out windows in the North Tower lobby so people could escape. Mazza and another nurse-officer, Stephen Huczko, were in the lobby assisting a woman in a rescue chair at the time of the building's collapse.
The brave efforts of people like Mazza and Huczko-those who selflessly sought to help others in a time of great need-continue to stand out in our nation's collective memory of that day. A year after 9/11, AJN's then editor-in-chief Diana J. Mason and editorial director Thomas Schwarz jointly reflected on the significance of the attacks to the nursing profession in their September 2002 editorial (http://links.lww.com/AJN/A210). One part, in which they acknowledge the persistence of nurses, still rings true today. "America has, unfortunately, joined a list of nations that have endured terrorism," they wrote. "What hasn't changed is nurses' ability to respond with caring, courage, and leadership for a healthier world." -Diane Szulecki, editor