The Family Assistance Education & Research Foundation (FAERF) has been at the forefront of the evolution of emergency management, combining the head-heart approach for a fully integrated response to survivors of traumatic loss. Practicing consciousness in the workplace involves caring for people first, without exception.
Written by: Carolyn V. Coarsey, Ph.D.
February 2025
We’re part of a fraternity we didn’t want to be part of. We have a connection and a bond that hopefully other people won’t experience.
-Scott Maurer, Father of Lorin Maurer, a 30-year-old victim of Colgan/Continental Flight 3407, February 12, 2009
Following the collision of the Army helicopter and American Eagle Flight 5342, where 67 passengers and crew members perished, stories about those who died and the reactions of their families appeared in the media within hours. At the Foundation, we responded to numerous calls from the media, asking for names of survivors they might interview for stories of previous tragedies. Keeping with our policy, we checked with many survivors in our database and connected some to press members, if they indicated an interest in being interviewed.
Sixteenth Anniversary of Colgan/Continental Flight 3407
Coincidentally, due to an upcoming anniversary, I was already speaking with family members whose loved ones died in Flight 3407, February 12, 2009. In follow-up interviews with family members of the Colganair accident, fresh waves of grief due to the American Airlines accident was obvious in my discussions. The term Kinship of Sorrow emerged as a common theme in the interviews. Kinship of Sorrow is a concept discussed in Human Services Response™, the Foundation’s brand of Care Team Training. The quote above from Scott Maurer, describes its meaning.
In a discussion about his and Terry’s (Lorin’s Mother) reaction to the news of the American Airlines crash, which occurred a few days prior to their sixteenth anniversary, we discussed the impact the accident had on them and other family members. Scott explained that news of the crash brought back waves of suffering similar to what they experienced the night they received the phone call telling them their daughter’s flight had crashed. They quickly learned there were no survivors.
We have that sensitivity and the common thread here, for all of us, is how we felt when we got the news, what we went through dealing with the tragedy… not just among our immediate family, talking to other crash victims, families from previous crashes. They have reached back to us, and asked, “How are you doing?“ Many have said, “This is what I’m feeling”…and gone on to share and relive the experience.
Fellow family survivor, John Kausner, who also lost his daughter in the Colgan crash, expressed similar feelings about connecting with other family members. John and Marilyn Kausner’s daughter, twenty-four-year-old Elly, died along with Lorin. A total of fifty-one passengers and crew perished, including one man whose house was destroyed in the crash.
Surprisingly to me, a flood of emotions from our loss came back right away, not just to me. I watched my wife on the phone with other family members weeping with each other. I was a little surprised as it was 16 years prior that we had experienced our loss… I can’t explain what happened. You immediately are thrown back to that moment when you were informed that your family member was in a plane crash and they weren’t with us anymore. So that was the initial reaction for me.
John went on to express other feelings about his reaction and how he identified with the family members of the Washington, DC crash victims.
I was thinking about the confusion. It starts with the country (you are in). The world is looking at where you lost your loved one when the cameras are all over the river on the plane. The recovery operation is public. It doesn’t mean to be a spectacle but it is and there you are. You lost your daughter, your husband, your wife, loved one and the world is watching and it’s a public event… in your mind (you are thinking) that’s my little girl they’re looking for… very difficult, very difficult.
I’m thinking of the families and what they’re experiencing. I begin to think where they go from here. They are going to try and find out why it happened, how it happened, what happened? That’ll take a while and also be a very public event. They deal with insurance companies, attorneys, other operators, the federal government, etc. It’ll go on for years and years, many years. That was my overwhelming response in the DC (American Airlines) accident. I knew the journey they were about to step into.
Life is short. Hug your loved ones,’ says D.C. man mourning wife killed in Potomac crash
As news stories of the current victims and their family members broke, quotes like this one from the husband of a young woman who died in the crash reminds us of a fresh new group of people who are now part of the fraternity that Scott, Terry, Marilyn and John are senior members. “The one positive our experienced family survivors represent for the newly devastated family members is hope…hope that life is worth living and there is something positive that can come from each of these tragedies.” Scott expressed hope for the future for these family survivors:
The only positive is to try and make changes to prevent other families from going through something similar as best you can. On our anniversary this year, we’re sending a message… we’ve done a lot to prevent more crashes, but there’s more work to be done, and if those families from the recent incident reach back to us, we will be happy to accommodate, them help them, guide them, share with them as much as we can. So, they can (continue to honor their loved ones and) prevent future tragedies.
At FAERF, we look forward to sharing more about the victims who perished in American Airlines Flight 5342 as well as lessons learned from their families that we can use in training. Our learning is based on experts…the survivors themselves. We know there will be much to learn here, and we look forward to sharing lessons learned for future responses for the Care and Special Assistance Teams and corporate leadership’s perspective.
Watch Scott and John express these comments on LinkedIn post on 16th anniversary.
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