Chiropractors Still Serving Ground Zero Workers

The following appeared in the Staten Island Advance – a local paper serving 450,000 residents within the city of New York.

Inside Out
Friday, December 28, 2001

Dr. Victor Dolan, a Grasmere chiropractor and community activist, has offered complimentary treatment to recovery volunteers at Ground Zero every Tuesday and Thursday over the last several months, we have learned from Hyan Sook (Susie) Beidel, a 1998 Advance Woman of Achievement. “He adjusts patients there — his way of offering help to people who are working so hard after the Sept. 11 attack,” she noted.

Offering his services to primarily law-enforcement personnel, police officers and sanitation workers, Dr. Dolan explains that he has a portable table to perform his work. “I bring a portable table and my hands with me — basically what a chiropractor needs to adjust people who are there sorting after the World Trade Center attacks,” he notes. He continues by stating that he’s encountered people from the states of Washington and Florida and FBI employees, some Army and Navy and service people. “Although they’re all in good shape, they’re not used to raking and shoveling,” he continued. “Besides myself, there are chiropractors at Ground Zero as well, but being born and raised on Staten Island, I am within easy reach of the landfill, and decided to do my part there. Everyone wants to do something,” he added.

Dr. Dolan has crossed paths with city police officers from all five boroughs and not just those who have been assigned from Staten Island, he reported. “The strangest thing going up to the dump, is seeing the skyline of Manhattan without the World Trade Center in place. Some of the sanitation workers were there on Sept. 11, and they watched the whole attack — the second tower get hit and they watched the towers fall. You look at Manhattan and realize the WTC is in pieces around you, here at the landfill.

People are working hard, and they’re calling the landfill — a ‘Tent City.” Five-story military-type durable tents, equipped with heat and electricity,have been erected for the recovery workers — what has become a necessity — since workers are manning the area for so many hours. “Just 200 feet from the cafeteria – sorting the debris, there are men in space-type suits — actually bio-hazard suits — wearing gloves and masks and boots.” Hundreds of people are laboring — perhaps as many as 1,500 or so. And there’s a very, very strong police presence, Dr. Dolan continued. Counseling services are available at all times and there are always ambulances and specialists of all types on hand.

Health services are being provided by various agencies including the Red Cross, Americares, NYC agencies, military agencies, and of course the volunteer doctors of chiropractic. As chiropractors, all that is really needed is our hands, but of course the portable table certainly makes things easier for both the patient and the doctor. Along with Dr. Dolan, several other D.C.’s have been providing care to the workers at the landfill. Among those doctors are; Ira Shapiro, D.C., Bill Bonsall, D.C., Mark Jaffe, D.C., Bill Priestly, D.C., and others.

Dr. Victor Dolan is a New York City native, born on Staten Island. Like many native New Yorkers, he had never visited the WTC or many other famous city sites. Since the WTC attack Dr. Dolan has visited the Empire State Building and other sites in NYC, …realizing nothing is permanent after the attack of 9-11.

If you wish further information, please contact:
Victor Dolan, D.C.
121 Parkinson Avenue
Staten Island, New York
10305

Source: Staten Island Advance