Hackensack Meridian Health Veteran’s Network Participated in Special Ceremony at 9/11 Tribute Museum

The 9/11 Tribute Museum held a special ceremony featuring the Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center Honor Guard in honor of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001.

In addition to members of the Hackensack University Medical Center Honor Guard, Mark D. Sparta, FACHE, president and chief hospital executive at Hackensack University Medical Center and executive vice president, Population Health at Hackensack Meridian Health, attended the ceremony.

“I am so proud we were asked to perform in this solemn ceremony, a historic first, in memory of all of those fallen soldiers who joined the military in response to the attacks that took place on September 11th, 2001,” said Mr. Sparta who also presented a donation to the 9/11 Tribute Museum, in the sum of $911.01, commemorating the exact date the attacks took place.

The 15-minute ceremony featured a procession leading to the 9/11 Tribute Museum that concluded with military taps and the folding of the American flag in remembrance of the fallen soldiers, which was then presented to Ann Van Hine. Ann lost her husband Bruce, an FDNY firefighter from Squad 41 in the Bronx, on 9/11 and has been a member of the 9/11 Tribute Museum community since it opened in 2006. Her tours of the museum provide an understanding of how a public tragedy is experienced privately.

Following the ceremony, a tour of the 9/11 Tribute Museum was led by Gordon Huie, who is an Honor Guard member, 9/11 survivor, family member, medical responder and Tribute volunteer.

For more information about the event, please contact Mary McGeever of the Hackensack University Medical Center Communications and Public Relations Department at 551-996-1730 or Mary.McGeever@HackensackMeridian.org.