By Paul Takahashi
The Jersey Journal
NORTH BERGEN, N.J.— When U.S. Airways Flight 1549 plunged into the Hudson River on Jan. 15, passenger Dave Sanderson didn’t think he would make it out alive.
“It was so cold, I was frozen,” said Sanderson, a South Carolina resident who was in the 36-degree waters for seven minutes before he was rescued.
North Bergen EMT Heather Bailey was one of the first emergency responders to greet Sanderson at Arthur’s Landing in Weehawken and helped him pull through.
“He (Sanderson) was the last one out (of the ferry), but was still worrying about everyone else,” Bailey said about Sanderson, whom she treated for hypothermia. “All of them (the survivors) were really, really lucky.”
Yesterday, Sanderson and Barry Leonard, another South Carolinian and survivor of the “Miracle on the Hudson” splashdown on the Hudson, thanked the first responders at a luncheon at the Palisades Medical Center.
Sanderson, an applications sales manager at Oracle, and Leonard, the president and CEO of Ex-Cell Home Fashions, were both hospitalized at Palisades Medical Center after the emergency landing and became friends.
U.S. Airways pilot Capt. Chesley Sullenberger successfully landed the plane in the river and all 155 passengers aboard survived.
“On Jan. 15, another tragedy could’ve happened, but a miracle occurred,” Sanderson said yesterday. “The real heroes are the first responders.”
Choking back tears, Leonard told the crowd of about 40 firefighters, EMTs, and other first responders, “What y’all did just honestly was amazing.”
Leonard thanked PMC internist Hilda Roque, who treated him for a fractured septum sustained during the crash.
“Hilda was amazing,” Leonard said. “She was the one in triage who looked after me . . . protected me when I was in the hospital. She was my angel.”
Roque said being honored yesterday gave her “goosebumps.”
“This is the greatest gift a doctor can receive. I’m just happy,” she said.
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