By MARY ALVAREZ / 6NEWS

AP
Kit helped victims of American Airline flight 587 after it crashed in Queens.
Kit Sluder had just arrived in New York last November to help victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks when an airplane went down in Queens.

"We were prepared with all kinds of things including masks and whistles because we weren't sure if terrorism was involved," Kit said.

For three days, Kit, an intensive care nurse at Carolinas Medical Center and an American Red Cross volunteer in Charlotte, dealt with families of the victims of American Airlines fight 587.

"As bad as it was, we were quite relieved when we heard it was mechanical failure," she said.

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"I did a lot of listening while I was there and a lot of hugging," Kit said.
Kit's work then turned to the families who lost loved ones in the World Trade Center attacks. Her job as a volunteer was to help families get reimbursed for the funerals.

"I helped two women who had babies after 9-11,” Kit said. “One of them had her baby the week before I met her. She showed me a picture of the baby in the bassinette."

"It was very poignant and tragic,” she said. “But I was also struck by the resilience of the human spirit and just how people cope."

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Steven Coakley, from engine company 217, died in tower two.
Kit copes by keeping a personal account of her trip on the wall of her home, including a picture of a firefighter in New York, one of her brother’s friends.

Steven Coakley, from engine company 217, died in tower two.

"I spent about six hours with the guys in the firehouse there," Kit said. "One of the fellows had permission to take me down to ground zero and so it was late on a Saturday night and that was an incredible experience to be with a firefighter and hear his accounts".

Ironically, it was a firefighter who told Kit she was a hero. He explained that he was just doing his job, but she was a volunteer who left her family in Charlotte to come to New York to help others.

Kit felt otherwise.

"As long as we all play our role, that's how our world works best,” she said. “It doesn't make anyone a hero bigger than another, and he (the firefighter) agreed. He said, ‘I think you're right, that's the way the world works best.’

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