Newtown Teacher, NYU Nurse To Sit With First Lady During State Of The Union Address
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Two women from the Tri-State Area are in Washington, where they will sit with First Lady Michelle Obama during President Obama's State Of The Union address.
NYU Langone Medical Center nurse Menchu de Luna Sanchez of Seacucus, N.J. was invited for her part in helping evacuate 20 babies from the neonatal intensive care unit when the hospital's backup generator failed during superstorm Sandy.
"I was able to make four transports of babies that night," Sanchez told WCBS 880's Wayne Cabot on Tuesday afternoon.
NYU Nurse Talks About Getting Invite To Attend State Of The Union Address
Sanchez said a team of nurses, some walking backwards, had to work in unison to safely bring all 20 NICU patients down eight flights of stairs and out of the building.
"I have a baby in my hands with a breathing tube in and I was thinking, 'if I'm going to miss just one step, everybody will fall with me," she told Cabot.
Sanchez said she is looking forward to meeting the First couple.
"I'm very, very excited. Once in a lifetime, I don't think I will be able to see them or meet them again," she said. "Unbelievable, great honor."
NYU Nurse To Sit With First Lady During State Of The Union Address
All 20 babies have since gone home from the hospital.
Kaitlin Roig, a first grade teacher from Sandy Hook Elementary School, will also be seated near the First Lady during the speech before Congress.
Roig has been a first grade teacher at Sandy Hook for six years and received her Master's degree in education.
The Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Conn. that left 20 first graders and six educators dead moved gun control back into the national spotlight.
Since then, New York implemented the strictest in the nation gun control laws and President Obama launched a gun safety task force to come up with changes to current gun laws.
Also among the nearly two dozen invited guests who will be seated with the First Lady are Apple CEO Tim Cook and the parents of the Chicago girl who was fatally shot after participating in the inauguration.
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