Following is an excerpt from an article that originally appeared in the March 2002 issue of the Journal of the American Chiropractic Association, “DCs in Disaster: Chiropractic Shows Its Mettle after Sept. 11 Attacks.” The article highlighted the chiropractic profession’s aid and support to firefighters, search-and-rescue teams and other relief workers following the terrorist attacks.
Americans watched in horror the destruction caused by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. For some—including many doctors of chiropractic—watching was simply not enough. These individuals felt an overwhelming need to go to the disaster sites and help in some significant way. With little or no planning, many DCs grabbed their portable adjusting tables and headed to New York’s Ground Zero and the wooded area around the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa. Each site posed unique challenges, but determined DCs managed to set up shop and provide vital care to firefighters, police officers, construction crews, volunteers, and others who were working day and night to rescue survivors—and later to recover the remains of those who had perished.
It was the first time that some of these brave men and women had participated in a disaster-relief effort, and in many ways it was a first for chiropractic—which has not traditionally been part of disaster response teams. But what the tragedy of Sept. 11 and its ongoing aftermath demonstrate is that there is a legitimate role in disaster-relief efforts for doctors of chiropractic, who provide the services needed by those who do the sometimes backbreaking work of rescue, recovery, and clean-up.
Shanksville, Pennsylvania
“We do have something to offer,” says Dr. Evelyn Lemmon, who was instrumental in getting DCs into the temporary morgue in Pennsylvania set up by the Red Cross four miles from the crash site of Flight 93.
Dr. Lemmon, who is also a registered nurse, was initially at the Pennsylvania site as a Red Cross volunteer. She started giving neck and shoulder massages to other Red Cross volunteers and then to the morgue staffers. Some of them were working 12-hour shifts—mostly on their feet—and stopping only for quick breaks and meals. Response to her care was tremendous. Some of the morgue workers got together and petitioned their supervisor to bring in more doctors of chiropractic. With the blessing of the FBI, Dr. Lemmon called the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association (PCA), and a broadcast fax was sent out across the state, requesting volunteers.
“DCs came out of the woodwork,” remembers Dr. Samuel Sarraf, PCA chairman. In two days, the PCA had 70 responses. Soon there was a list of 120 names of doctors eager to help.
For the next two weeks, daily shifts of six to nine DCs and another three or four massage therapists kept the Pennsylvania volunteers and recovery workers on their feet. Members of the National Guard and the state police also stopped by for adjustments and massages.
Disaster-relief work in general can be much tougher than people imagine, notes Dr. Lemmon, who has aided the Red Cross at numerous disasters over the years and is currently on her local chapter’s aviation task force. Volunteers are often required to leave their jobs and families, live in hotels, and work long shifts through the day and night. As in the case of Flight 93, where there were no survivors, the added mental and emotional stress can be overwhelming. There were people at the morgue site that did nothing but counsel the many workers who were stressed and in shock at the extent of the carnage.
With tears in her eyes, one volunteer told the doctors of chiropractic that she had never been treated so nicely on assignment. “This is why we do it,” says Dr. Lemmon.
“You can’t believe the handshakes and the hugs,” adds Dr. Sarraf, who also has Red Cross training. “You can’t believe how appreciative they were.”
World Trade Center, New York
The collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York created a disaster situation the likes of which Americans had never seen. In a matter of moments, the 110-story buildings came tumbling down, creating a mass of steel, concrete, and other debris that stood six stories high. Rescue crews initially believed some people might still be alive beneath what became known as “The Pile,” so firefighters, construction workers, policemen, and an array of other rescue and recovery workers and volunteers frantically searched for life. They worked around the clock, with little attention to their own physical needs and strains, in hopes of making a rescue.
Like other health care providers, doctors of chiropractic flocked to the World Trade Center site—which the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration called the “the most dangerous work site in America”—to offer assistance. The chiropractic response was significant enough to catch the attention of the mainstream media. For example, the Wall Street Journal wrote at one point, “Yesterday, the most prevalent forms of treatment downstairs at the World Financial Center, now behind what is called ‘Checkpoint Alpha,’ were chiropractic services.”
Initially, however, a good number of the DCs were not officially credentialed as volunteers by any of the disaster-relief agencies and were therefore unable to gain access to Ground Zero, which was barricaded from the public. But that didn’t stop them. They persisted at the various entry points and many were eventually credentialed by disaster-relief officials and others who, recognizing the immensity of the relief effort, were grateful for the extra help.
DCs set up numerous workstations inside and around Ground Zero, put up simple cardboard signs announcing their services, and got to work. One of the volunteers was Dr. John Vilkelis, whose chiropractic clinic is just three miles from what was the site of the World Trade Center towers.
“There was a big gamut of injuries,” recalls Dr. Vilkelis. The nature of the disaster and the special equipment necessary was creating problems for workers: search-and-rescue teams experienced shoulder pain from carrying 120 lbs. of equipment on their backs; policemen had neck pains because they were not used to wearing their heavy protective helmets; and older individuals from the FBI, police, and disaster agencies struggled with knee pain because they weren’t used to standing for such long periods. Not surprisingly, those who were shoveling and lifting debris for hours experienced severe low-back pain and aches.
Dr. Vilkelis remembers one incident in particular where a search-and-rescue specialist came to him hunched over from the strain of his heavy equipment. It was obvious he was in terrible pain and possibly ready to call it a day, but after the adjustment, his resolve returned. “I feel so much better now that I’m going back out to keep looking for survivors,” the man said.
While many of the rescue and recovery workers he adjusted had “vacant,” traumatized looks on their faces, others expressed their gratitude to the DCs for their services, as well as the opportunity to be distracted for just a moment from the difficult task at hand. At the time, they also informed the doctors that they weren’t pulling any survivors out of the pile. “We already knew this because the medical doctors and nurses in the triage unit had nothing to do,” says Dr. Vilkelis. “It was heartbreaking.”
Despite the tragedy, there were jovial exchanges at times, too. Dr. Vilkelis recalls how groups of firefighters and others on break teased a colleague who approached the DCs for an adjustment. But after observing the process and recognizing their friend’s improvement, the same men would stand in line to be treated, as well. It was the first chiropractic experience for many of these men, who were amazed at how much better they felt immediately following an adjustment.
Most doctors of chiropractic who worked at Ground Zero have similar stories about the tremendous support and genuine words of appreciation they received from the countless people treated. In fact, word traveled fast that workers at the disaster site were getting special treatment from DCs. When Dr. William Bonsall of Westfield, N.J., arrived at Staten Island where the FBI was sifting through debris removed from the disaster site, he learned that workers there felt neglected and had been wondering when doctors of chiropractic would come and give them some much-needed support.
FBI officials gave Dr. Bonsall, vice president of ACA’s Sports Council, carte blanche to set up chiropractic services. He called in his colleagues from the New Jersey Chiropractic Sports Council, and soon there were three to four doctors of chiropractic on site several times each week.
Dr. Bonsall, who initially worked at Ground Zero and at the Jacob Javits Center, continues to provide services almost every week. He notes that the sports chiropractors were especially well equipped to deal with the challenges of the relief workers, law enforcement, FBI, and other government employees, who were forging ahead with their duties despite injuries and strains. He points out that injured athletes often compete, and sports chiropractors know what it takes to address their problems but also keep them going for the next competition.
Sports chiropractors weren’t the only ones who discovered their specialties had relevance at the disaster site. Dr. Richard Heithaus of Pittsburgh, Pa., a diplomate of the American Chiropractic Board of Nutrition and a member of ACA’s Nutrition Council, says he was able to counsel several relief workers on nutrition-related issues—such as dehydration—that were affecting their performance. He also gave nutrition advice to recovery workers who were having trouble breathing the contaminated air at Ground Zero, despite the use of oxygen tanks. Dr. Heithaus, a former New York City EMT, says his experience at the World Trade Center was more intense than any emergency he had ever worked—and also the most rewarding. “I was so proud to be part of the group of DCs from all over the country [that helped out at Ground Zero],” he says.
In fact, the presence of doctors of chiropractic at the disaster site did not seem to disturb anyone at all, according to Dr. Terry Webb, who traveled to New York to volunteer from his home in Hutchinson, Kan. He said people were more likely to be surprised that he was from Kansas than to find out that he was a volunteer DC.
More than once, Dr. Webb was asked by workers interested in follow-up care for his business card before they learned he was from out of town. “At a time when they needed hands-on [help] and someone to say, ‘Thank you’, the DCs were there,” he added, “but the real heroes are still out there.”
In addition to the work of many of its members at Ground Zero, the New York State Chiropractic Association found ways to expand volunteer services outside the city. “Doctors that couldn’t get in wanted to help, too,” explains Dr. Andrew Lacerenza. “I had probably 20 or 30 calls per day from around the country.”
Eventually a network of doctors throughout the entire downstate area was set up that offered free chiropractic services to any of the disaster relief volunteers who lived in the area. All they had to do was present an ID. There are plans to continue the program and to organize a phone or fax tree so that doctors can be mobilized quickly in the event of another disaster.
The experience of working at Ground Zero, and working alongside other health care professionals, had a profound effect on the volunteer doctors of chiropractic. “On a personal level, they saw that they can be part of a bigger picture and also really part of an integrated team,” Dr. Lacerenza explains. “The public got to see us in a different light. We put on a very good face.”
Editor’s Note: At the time this article went to press in 2002, efforts to find and speak with doctors of chiropractic who may have worked at the Pentagon site were unsuccessful.
