Story of a Sikh Doctor from Manhattan

Immediately after the towers collapsed I was at Maimonides Medical Center 
where I am a senior surgical resident. As the news broke all hospitals were 
immediately put on alert. At this point myself and five other residents went 
to Lutheran Medical Center which is a nearby trauma center expecting 
casualties from the collapse. While at Lutheran a ferry brought some victims 
of the collapse to the hospital. At this point the EMS director asked our 
chief of trauma services if there were any doctors that could be spared to 
go to the WTC site. Myself and two other residents Dr. Ravi Koturo and Dr. 
Ravi Pulipatti volunteered our services and were immediately taken by 
ambulance and police escort into the city. We initially were dropped of at a 
triage center near city hall. We then began to walk towards the trade 
centers and were told by police that there were various other triage 
centers established on the west side. As we got within a block of the trade 
center the EMS director asked us if we could come and take a look at some 
workers and firemen who had sustained injuries. We immediately set up a 
triage center on Vesey Street across from the WTC and began giving care to 
some of the injured firefighters. Most of the issues were smoke inhalation 
and irrigation of the eyes from dust getting in their eyes. However, there 
was one firefighter who had sustained an abdominal injury whom we evaluated 
and then sent to a hospital.

At this point we moved the triage center around the corner of the Embassy 
Suites hotel because the police stated that 7 World Financial Center was 
unstable and therefore rescue efforts could not be commenced. Finally at a 
bout 3-4PM that building collapsed as we watched from across the West Side 
Highway.

Once the building went down the rescue effort commenced in full force. 
Firefighters and police moved into the West Side Highway and began to dig. 
We at this point in conjunction with the police and EMS set up a triage 
center and temporary morgue in the lobby of Three World Financial Center, 
the American Express Building right across the street from the WTC. The 
walkway that connected this building to the WTC was completely collapsed 
onto the West Side Highway. The search crews began searching the American 
Express Building. Suddenly a firefighter wearing a number 2 Derek Jeter 
shirt called us over and said he had a survivor. We immediately rushed over 
and found the firefighter helping carry a Deputy Police Chief out of the 
building. Myself and Dr. Koturo went and grabbed the officer who was 
bleeding from the forehead and was completely dehydrated and disoriented. 
However, somehow he was able to walk and we helped carry him around the 
corner of the building to the triage area we had set up where we were able 
to get him dressed with a bandage and placed in an ambulance for more 
definitive care. Soon after another police officer was also found and 
escorted by some other workers to a waiting ambulance.

At this point we set up a formal morgue as now bodies began to be brought 
in. Most of the bodies were severely injured and many were just simple body 
parts. We helped the EMS workers bring in the body bags and then they were 
transferred to the care of the police. In the meantime we continued to set 
up a triage table where we continued to treat exhausted firefighters and 
police officers who were helping in the dig and continued the saline eye 
washes as well as oxygen treatments for smoke inhalation. While there we 
probably treated about forty workers and I saw about 16 bodies wheeled in 
and declared dead. This continued into the night until 1-2 AM when the 
activity started to wind down and we returned to our hospital.


Navinderdeep Singh Nijher, MD