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The Chiropractic Role In Emergency Response

The April 19, 2004 issue of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research provides us with an interesting article on the emergency response of chiropractors and the ensuing coordination efforts with government agencies in New York and Washington, DC after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In the afternoon after the attacks, New York area chiropractors began showing up at the scene as the recovery process got underway. Initially, the chiropractors had to talk their way past security barricades and set up their adjusting tables wherever they could, often in the streets around Ground Zero. Similar efforts were also underway in Washington, DC.

Eventually, through the efforts of the New York Chiropractic Council and the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) an alliance with the American Red Cross allowed full access credentials to the chiropractic volunteers. The NY Council and the ICA established a huge network of chiropractors known as the Chiropractic Relief Effort at Ground Zero and the Pentagon.

How successful were the efforts? In New York, at the five official sites manned around the clock, 1,500 chiropractors donated $1.5 million in services by adjusting up to 500 people per day during the formal chiropractic relief effort beginning September 28, 2001 through May 30, 2002 when all Ground Zero work was completed.

The Red Cross evaluation of the effort concluded “the most ‘successful’ volunteers…were those who were able to work with minimal supervision by official emergency workers. Far from requiring supervision, the chiropractor required only space in which to work and some pallets on which to place his [adjusting table]. In other words, the incorporation of these volunteers into the response required little or no effort on the part of emergency managers…” The report goes on to say that chiropractors “allied themselves with the Red Cross initially in order to maintain access to the facility, but they were able to offer a specific skill, which even if not planned for in advance, seemed useful to those who already had access.”

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