NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst held a Veterans Day Commemoration event Thursday, Nov. 10, along with the aviation career and Technical Education High School to thank military veterans for their service to the armed forces.
Aviation High School opened the event with the national anthem and a two-song performance by their band.
Elmhurst Hospital CEO Helen Arteaga Landaverde thanked the military for their service to the hospital during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During the pandemic, it was a really hard moment for our hospital, and the military came,” Landaverde said. “It was a moment when we were so scared, and here comes the military; it was like a breath of fresh air.”
Sergeant Matthew Zimmer of the National Guard was the team leader on the Elmhurst Hospital Support Mission in late April 2020.
“Our mission was to facilitate what was asked of us and to hopefully grant the smallest respite and assistance to those who were stricken by the awful disease and to those in the hospital working,” Zimmer said.
Additional reporting by Paul Frangipane.
