THIS SITE WAS SET UP AFTER THE SEPTEMBER 11 TRAGEDY. THE NY RELIEF EFFORT IS OVER, BUT THIS SITE SHALL ALWAYS STAND IN TRIBUTE TO THE PEOPLE WHO CAME TOGETHER TO HELP). And little did we know what we started…..
We were all shaken by the tragic events of September 11, 2001. We stared in horror together as scenes of the disaster unfolded before our eyes, we cried with the unimaginable grief at the loss of life, we stood in awe and respect at the heroic efforts of our fellow humans during the rescue efforts, and we came together as a nation to give generously of our time, money, blood and prayers to the relief effort. The United Aromatherapy Effort, Inc. (UAE) was born out of this tragedy. The mission of United Aromatherapy Effort is to provide aromatherapy to relief workers during emergency work and afterwards. It is for this reason that the United Aromatherapy Effort teamed up with the Carolina Emergency Response Massage Team (CERMT) to provide assistance to those dedicated and heroic individuals. CERMT’s mission is to provide stress relief to those in need following a disaster or other critical incident. Visit the NEW SITE: www.cermt.org. By collecting donations and disseminating aromatherapy products in working with CERMT, we were able to make a small difference in the healing of NY. Four times since September 11th, United Aromatherapy Effort/CERMT were able to go to NY and helped with giving out aromatherapy and performing almost 3000 chair massages to workers from FDNY, PAPD, NYPD, and other relief workers. We were blessed with enough donated products to be able to give away a wonderful assortment of aromatherapy products for respiratory problems, dry skin and stress relief. After our second two-week deployment at Christmas, the United Aromatherapy Effort initiated the “Adopt a Station” program to provide firehouses and firefighters with aromatherapy products and tools to facilitate their healing and well-being. By June, 2002 the United Aromatherapy Effort had successfully obtained Sponsors and set up 18 FDNY firehouses (in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Bronx) with aromatherapy products for respiratory conditions and stress relief and equipment (diffusor, vaporizer, plug in) for their use. You can view photos of these firehouses under Adopt-A Station. Now, as most Americans go back to living their lives as normal as possible, it is important for us to remember that the work is not yet complete. There are still those who are reminded of and must cope with the consequences of these tragedies every single day. There are still close to 200 firehouses that were affected in the five Burroughs of NYC, and many rescue workers already suffer with problems from the early poor air quality, so there is still work to do and Sponsors are greatly needed. (Makes a perfect project for a group, scout group, schools, families, etc.) Caring for the rescue workers is something many people can and do help with. All licensed massage therapists with insurance and massage/aromatherapists are welcome to volunteer after they complete a training course. Training is provided by CERMT,Therapists take shifts providing 15-30 minute chair massages on the workers. In addition, these teams were created after our deployments: RESTA, NYERMT, REST-UK so Emergency Response Teams are now in Alaska, New York and England. Please see their info in the side bar and contact them if you’d like to participate. Suppliers of massage and/or aromatherapy products are urged to donate what ever is possible for your organization. If you are neither a therapist or supplier you can still help by offering your financial support or better, Adopt-A-Station!! Funds are still needed urgently to help pay for travel, lodging, and supply expenses we incurred for these four missions. Please see our Donations page for more details on how to make contributions and our Supplies Needed page for a list of our most urgently needed supplies. Sylla Sheppard-Hanger, Director of the Atlantic Institute of Aromatherapy, volunteered to co-ordinate the efforts toward aromatherapy being available during the mission and worked closely with Doug in assembling the necessary materials to ensure we were well represented in New York City. Sylla currently manages the collecting of products, coordinates the utilization of aromatherapy by volunteer therapists and works alongside the other therapists. In addition she directs the Adopt-A-Station Program. You may email her at Sylla@tampabay.rr.com.
Please feel free to visit our Updates pages for more information about past and upcoming deployments to New York City. Our Gallery pages will contain photos and other multi media exhibits from our trips.
