Take Action
Tell your legislator that you support the victims fund.
This was a unique, unprecedented, catastrophic, man-made disaster. Please help your legislators recognize this and ask for their support of the victim's fund. Insurance does not cover everything - and medical plans sometimes label injuries from the bridge collapse as pre-existing. This status follows survivors from job to job, and makes it very difficult to ever secure insurance.
Survivors' lives will never go back to how they were pre-collapse, but the State of Minnesota can help to ensure that they are better by providing a mechanism to help fund the success of a short and long-term recovery plan.
"We need Minnesota's help to ensure that 1 year from now, 5 years from now, and 20 years from now, we are not financially ruined by medical expenses that we cannot foresee – please help."
- 35W bridge collapse survivorsImpact Map
The failure of this bridge is not
just a Minneapolis issue.
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13 Seconds in August
It all happened so fast. Hear the many stories of survival as part of an interactive presentation from the Minneapolis/St Paul StarTribune
Other Related Links
Survivors Injuries
List of some of the physical injuries sustained by survivors:
- Brain injuries requiring 3 surgeries, removed part of skull to relieve pressure, heart stopped, CPR to revive, compressions broke ribs, collapsed lungs, broken back, bladder stopped working, memory loss, PT, OT
- Extensive facial injuries, jaw broken in 3 places, shattered facial and nose bones, eye tissue bruising, tubes in brain and lung, broken leg, broken arm, colon & abdominal wall severed both legs below knees broken, complex fractures, reconstruction on legs, ankles, and feet, metal rod inside left tibia (shin), metal plates on the inside of both legs, the outside of the left leg, and talus (upper foot near ankle), more than 20 pins and screws in legs, ankles, and feet, 6 surgeries within four weeks of the collapse, blood transfusion, broken back, wheelchair bound for four months
- 5 broken vertebrae, eye had to be reset, plastic put in cheek to rebuild it, head trauma
- Head trauma, memory problems lasting 3 months after collapse
- Broken coccyx (tail bone)
- Degenerated disks
- Compression injuries
- Burst vertebrae
- Multiple broken backs
