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When the earthquake hit, Dr. Daniel Burzon,
a surgeon at Ocean Medical Center and Jersey
Shore University Medical Center, along with a
small team of Meridian hospital nurses were
operating on a Sacré Coeur patient. “The
walls started shaking and the carts that were
on wheels started rolling,” remembers Teddy
Burzon, R.N., the urologist’s wife. The team
completed the operation and prepared to treat
any victims who arrived. Over the days that
followed, Dr. Burzon and his team worked
non-stop, almost a week past their scheduled
return date.
Also on campus at that fateful time were
construction projects volunteers Tim Traynor
and John Gilbertie, both from Wilbraham,
Massachusetts. They had arrived a few days
earlier to assist in routine maintenance projects.
When the earth stopped shaking, they jumped
into high gear and converted the 73 bed
hospital into a major trauma center that a mere
two weeks later had a 600 patient capacity.
Traynor took on the position as Emergency
Ground Coordinator and spent almost three
straight months in Milot for his first of many
2010 tours of duty. Gilbertie became a
jack-of-all-trades covering a countless
number of tasks, hardly ever
stopping for sleep or meals.
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