On September 11, 2001, New Zealand nurse Frances Hughes arrived in New York City to begin a Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy, landing just one day before the terrorist attacks, according to accounts reported by 1News and RNZ.
At 8:46 a.m., shortly after arriving at Harkness House near Central Park, conference attendees began reacting to reports that an airplane had struck one of the World Trade Center towers. Dr. Hughes recalled watching the towers fall and subsequently witnessing the immediate aftermath, including the heavy grey particulate matter filling the air and the deployment of security patrols along the Hudson River, as detailed by 1News.
Immediate Aftermath and Public Reaction in Manhattan
In the hours following the attacks, Dr. Hughes assisted by directing people toward Red Cross stations and speaking with individuals navigating the emergency response. As communication networks failed, she managed to contact her family briefly via telephone to confirm her safety before the call disconnected. To help reassure her relatives back in New Zealand, she appeared in a Reuters studio interview for the Paul Holmes show, allowing her family to see she was alive amid widespread cellular outages.
The city’s atmosphere shifted rapidly from shock to visible tension. Dr. Hughes noted that while spaces like Times Square gathered silent crowds holding candles, she also witnessed verbal aggression and assaults directed at individuals perceived to be of Middle Eastern or Arab descent. Visa holders faced immediate bureaucratic hurdles; Dr. Hughes found her J1 visa status suspended, leaving her temporarily unable to access bank accounts or secure rental housing for several weeks without financial assistance from her family in New Zealand.
Long-Term Impacts on Foreign Policy and Personal Life
The events of September 11 altered travel restrictions, international mobility, and the day-to-day experience of foreign nationals living in the United States. Years later, Dr. Hughes reported experiencing long-term effects such as sleep disruption and panic attacks, which she attributed to the delayed processing of the trauma encountered while assisting victims and bystanders on the day of the attacks.
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