Lenox Hill Hospital

And, you know, you can't.

understate the level of impact that it had on people in New York and on the Irish American community if you walk around New York anyone's the holidays there if you go to any fire station you'll see memorials and you know tributes to the firemen that died the policemen that died and again another Irish connection caught you know Kathleen caught Murphy she was originally from a court nurse she'd worked for almost 40 years in Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and She was a good friend with a lot of the firemen, police officers, chaplains that had died in 9-11.

And she decided to create a special memorial for them.

So just outside Kinsale, she got a plot of land and planted 343 trees in memory of every single fireman who died that day.

I thought that was the most beautiful thing that Kathleen Murphy decided to do, to put in an FDNY Garden of Remembrance.

She was a nurse in Lenox Hill Hospital for nigh on 40 years and decided to plant a tree for every fallen member.

Isn't that it?

That's how it is exactly, Neil.

of 9-11.

But again, we have a strong Cork connection with this because in Manhattan at the time, caring for the wounded at a hospital called Lenox Hill Hospital was a nurse from Kinsale.

Her name was Kathleen or Court Murphy.

Now she's no longer with us.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely.

As you mentioned, Kathleen spent most of her working life in Lennox Hill Hospital and she had 29 nephews and nieces and she had never married.

But I can clearly recall the great excitement when Kathleen was coming back visiting, which she did on a regular basis.

Also, their chaplain, Father Michael Judge, lost his life and indeed he was the first confirmed fatality.

of 9-11 but again we have a strong cork connection with this because in manhattan at the time caring for the wounded at a hospital called lenox hill hospital was a nurse from kinsale her name was kathleen kathleen or caught murphy now she's no longer with us um but when she came home to cork and she was determined that the 343 names would never be forgotten.

She planted at a place called Ringfinnan on the family's land, high above Kinsale, in a gorgeous place called Ringfinnan.

She planted 343 trees, one tree for every firefighter with the name on it, and one for Father Michael Judge, the chaplain.

His dad was, was, was some other professional, but he, he was like a very serious guy.

Uh, and, um, you know, uh, We kind of knew right away something very bad was happening, not to the extent that the towers would collapse, but we really made a pact if we're going to go down there because we were at Lenox Hill Hospital, which is the Upper East Side, and we have to go all the way down to the Lower West for the towers.

We just decided whatever happens, we've got to keep each other alive, and that really – kind of stabilized me early in the day, not knowing what was going to come next, of course, but I knew at least I'd have one person I could rely on the whole day.

Man, it's crazy to think that After 9-11, you spent so many years just watching medicine and healthcare change in this country.

Yeah, I mean, it really started with my training in residency.

You know, I had the privilege of being at Lenox Hill Hospital, which is very high volume with sports medicine and joint reconstruction.

So I saw patients that were trying to avoid reconstruction and joint replacements and then the ones that were getting it.

And I found there was a large gray zone where patients would fail physical therapy, cortisone injections, and then they weren't ready for surgery yet or they weren't ready for a joint replacement yet.