| Abstract: | This exploratory study examines the lived experience of traumatologists deployed to the New York City World Trade Center disaster. The deployment took place shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The author was a member of a ten member advance team that arrived six days after the disaster to provide trauma intervention services to an international union. Trauma mental health services and community outreach were provided for a month. The purpose of the study was to describe in an anthropologically holistic perspective the lived experience of traumatologists, who were affected by the terrorist disaster. Thirty-one traumatologists participated in the study. Ethnographic methods included participant observation and informal interviews during the first week of the deployment. In-depth interviews were conducted after deployment and ranged from one to three hours in length. Interviews were audio taped, transcribed and analyzed with the assistance of N-vivo Nudist software. The author’s story is among the narratives. Narratives of lived experience reflect the continuity of life and give meaning to experience within a cultural context. Findings reveal shared meaning attributed to lived experience in a disaster environment, cultural continuity and change and impact of disaster deployment on the health of the helper. |