Johnston woman succumbs to infection
Pamela Gruttadauria dies with her family at her bedside, never having fully regained consciousness since the fire.
05/06/2003
BY MARK PATINKIN
Journal Staff Writer
Seventy-three days after a devastating fire swept through The Station
nightclub in West Warwick, the disaster has claimed its 100th victim.
Pamela Gruttadauria, 33, of Johnston, a hotel food-and-beverage
supervisor, died Sunday night at Massachusetts General Hospital in
Boston. She had been in critical condition in the hospital's intensive
care unit since being taken there hours after the fire struck around 11
p.m. on Feb. 20.
She had fought off several life-threatening infections over the months
-- a constant danger with burn patients -- but in the end, another
infection overwhelmed her.
Her doctors considered her perhaps the most seriously burned of the
surviving victims, with severe wounds on her face, arms and upper body.
She went through 30 operations. Pam had been on a ventilator since the
fire, and had been continually sedated. She never fully regained
consciousness.
At a time when public attention has shifted away from the victims and
toward lawsuits and a grand jury investigation, Pam's death is a
reminder that the human toll of the worst fire in Rhode Island's history
is still unfolding.
Of the almost 200 people injured in the blaze, 5 remain hospitalized
with their families continuing to keep vigils. One is still in critical
condition.
Pam is the fourth fire victim to die of those who made it alive to
hospitals, and the first to be lost in two months. The last was Mitch
Shubert, who died two weeks after the fire, on March 6, also at
Massachusetts General. Pam was one of the two "Jane Does." She was the
final hospitalized fire victim to be identified, almost two days after
being brought in for care.
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PORTRAITS: Anna Gruttadauria with a portrait of her and her daughter when Pamela was about 17.
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For the last 10 weeks, her parents, Anna and Joseph Gruttadauria, had
driven daily to be with their daughter. They were at her side, along
with Pam's brother Joseph Jr. and a half-dozen other family members,
when she died Sunday at 10:30 p.m. Many staffers at the hospital's
Surgical Intensive Care Unit were there, too. Over the weeks, most said
they had come to see Pam as if she was family.
Pam grew up in Johnston, graduating from Johnston High School in 1987,
and later the Sawyer School, where she studied hospitality.
She often spoke of how much she loved her job at the Holiday Inn Express
in Warwick, doing food and beverage purchasing, as well as daily
breakfast setup for between 100 and 150 guests. She was promoted to that
job after serving as front desk supervisor. She twice won the hotel's
coveted "Quality Champion of the Month" award.
Jim Petrone, the hotel's general manager, said yesterday that Pam had
the perfect disposition for hotel work, and a promising future.
"We truly lost a remarkable person," Petrone said, adding that many at
the hotel were in tears at the news of her death.
Three and a half years ago, Pam moved back in with her parents, into the
same Johnston home where she grew up. She brought JD, her
rotweiller-German shepherd mix with her, referred to by her parents as
their "grand-dog." She said she hoped to save enough to buy a house of
her own.
Pam had two nephews and a niece, whom she doted on. She took Samantha
and Austin Gruttadauria, her niece and older nephew, to karate every
Wednesday night, and often spent parts of weekends with them. Others
said that at gatherings, Pam was the adult who would most likely be on
the floor playing with the kids.
As a child, her parents said, Pam was strong-willed, full of energy, and
a good athlete who played youth softball through age 15. Her mom and dad
attended every one of her games.
Anna Gruttadauria said her daughter wasn't the nightclub type, and would
often go to bed early since she had to be at the hotel by 5:30 a.m. for
breakfast setup.
She preferred a much different kind of music than that offered by Great
White, the metal band that played at The Station the night of the fire.
One of Pam's favorite singers was Barbra Streisand.
Her mother said she went to the concert only because her friend Donna
Mitchell, a reservationist at the Holiday Inn, said she was going with a
few others, and asked Pam to come along.
At the last minute, when she heard the lead band wouldn't begin until
11, Pam almost decided to stay home, but didn't want to disappoint her
friend.
Pam was standing near the band with Donna Mitchell, and some of Donna's
friends, when the fire began. The group began to move toward the nearby
back exit, but Pam's mom said a bouncer reportedly told them it was
reserved for the band. Donna Mitchell, 29, died in the fire.
Pam was burned over 30 percent of her body -- not as extensively as some
of the other victims, but her burns were particularly deep and
devastating.
Over time, surgeons had to remove both of her hands. Her face and head
were deeply burned. Surgeons had to sew her eyes shut to guard against
infection. The doctors were unsure of the extent of damage to her eyes,
and told the Gruttadaurias that though they had hope, they could not be
sure whether Pam would be able to see again. They said they would not
know until she regained consciousness.
Although Pam's burns left permanent facial scarring, doctors felt
initial grafts to rebuild her face showed promise. Still, they said it
could take five years or more to finish such plastic surgery and guide
her through rehabilitation.
Pam's parents felt she had the will to get through it. Her mom expected
that her daughter would at first be devastated when she woke and
realized the extent of her injuries, but felt she would rally with the
support of family and community and live a productive life.
Three weeks ago, Pam's doctors thought they would lose her to a severe
infection, but she fought it off. However, she fell victim to another
infection recently that caused her organs to begin to fail.
"She was a very happy-go-lucky girl, a real homebody," her mother said
yesterday. "Very full of energy. Just a good person. Her whole focus was
her family, and she just loved her niece and nephew. That's what she
lived for, to be with her family."
Pam Gruttadauria will be laid to rest this Friday in St. Ann Cemetery in
Cranston.
