BALTIMORE — Still on crutches from injuries sustained in a recent head-on collision, Neshe Bond dismissed any thought of her own injuries running to help pull victims from the rubble following the blast just down the alleyway from her home.
“We heard a woman just screaming, ‘Help! Help!’ and she was just covered in debris. The roof was on top of her,” said Bond. “We were just grabbing stuff, grabbing cinder blocks… whatever we can to get her out.”
Her life-saving effort caught up with her once emergency responders arrived on the scene.
“I think it was more the rush of adrenaline,” said Bond. “I didn’t feel it, and then once the adrenaline wore off, my back was in excruciating pain so the medics had to come over and they had to cart me off in an ambulance and take me to the ER.”
24 hours after the explosion, the Baltimore Trauma Response Team had boots on the ground going door to door to help people with the emotional impact of the tragedy.
Dr. Andre Humphrey serves as the team’s commander.
“You don’t have to be on the battlefield and be in war,” said Humphrey. “There’s a psychological effect that’ll take affect on anyone.”
It’s not just those with loved ones killed or injured in the blast.
Humphrey says parents are now trying to explain to their children how natural gas can cause such devastation and some want to know if a leak could cause the same in their home, and then there are Good Samaritans like Neshe Bond who is well aware of her physical ailments, but only now may be realizing the mental impact of the tragedy.
“It’s definitely a war zone down there. I’m honestly surprised that anyone survived that. It was really bad. There was one guy---his foot pretty much was off when they got him out. Yes, it was pretty bad,” said Bond. “I definitely had an anxiety attack, a panic attack in the hospital. Once I walked back up here, I was shaking. It will definitely affect us. Everyone in the neighborhood for awhile.”
