September 11th, 2015 marks the 14th anniversary of the Al Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. I know what you’re thinking: here we go again with another article about 9/11. This is unlike anything you’ve ever heard before.
As pedestrians, workers, and other civilians rushed out of the area to escape the terrorist attacks in the World Trade Center, thousands of policemen, firemen, and doctors fled to the scene to rescue those seriously hurt and trapped under the debris from the fallen Twin Towers.
I am proud to say that one of those rescuers is my father, a vascular surgeon, then working at Bellevue Hospital in New York.
I conducted an interview with my father, Dr. Matthew Nalbandian, to get a doctor’s point of view on the events that occurred that day.
Can you describe your morning that day?
There are two mornings- the morning of 9/11 and the morning of 9/12. Everyone talks about what happened on 9/11, but no one really thinks or talks about what happened the morning after.
I remember that day (the morning of 9/11) very well. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I was on my way to the operating room at Bellevue Hospital. I was getting ready to operate on a patient, just like any other day.
When I walked in, the patient was asleep and I was just about to start, when all of a sudden, the head anesthesiologist walked in. He asked if we had begun the surgery, and I said no. We were instructed to wake the patient up immediately because there was an emergency and we needed every available operating room.
What was your initial reaction?
I thought that there had probably been some major transportation accident, like a train crashing or the subway derailing. While I was doing my residency in Boston, there was a subway derailment once. Patients were sent to different hospitals in the area. I just thought it was something like that. An act of war wasn’t something I thought it could be.
What happened after you woke up the patient?
I went upstairs to see what was going on. Everyone was talking about a plane crash. I remember I had seen planes with pontoons landing in the East River, so I thought that a small plane crashed in the East River.
No one really knew what was going on. I went into my office, which faced southern Manhattan. I could see the World Trade Center and I saw smoke billowing out of one of the buildings. Everyone gathered to watch the news and listen to news reports. We were in shock and didn’t understand why this was happening.
Once we realized what was going on, the doctors were instructed to gather in the ambulance bay area of Bellevue Hospital to wait for patients to come in. I remember seeing hundreds of surgeons just waiting and expecting a lot of patients to come in any minute. Over the 6-8 hour period, only one patient showed up. The man was a firefighter who was hit by someone who had jumped out of the burning building. He suffered major head injuries.
What was going through your mind at this time?
I was thinking of my family and getting very anxious. I wasn’t sure if there were any other areas being attacked, so I tried calling my wife. The cell phone towers were down, so I couldn’t get a hold of her.
After a while, we finally got in touch and she didn’t realize what was going on. I told her to take the kids out of school and bring them home. While I was on the phone, I heard fighter jets. One of my other concerns was if the United Nations was under attack. I was only 15 blocks away from it and thankfully it wasn’t.
How well did the fire and police departments communicate with each other and the hospitals surrounding the area?
There was no real communication system from the scene to supporting hospitals and agencies in the area. Police and fire departments couldn’t communicate when the cell phone towers went down. Information wasn’t being relayed to the hospital. We couldn’t do much, so we just waited. We were getting bits and pieces of information from the television, radio, and gossip, pretty much.
Matthew Nalbandian is the doctor in the center
What happened the next morning?
Most doctors slept in the hospital. I woke up in my office early the next morning and went down to the emergency room to see if any patients had come in. There were no patients.
I saw a colleague gathering equipment, so I asked her what was going on. She told me that they found a survivor and they may need to amputate his leg to get him out. She asked me if I could go with her to help, so I went.
Two other doctors and I were picked up by a fire command vehicle, which drove us down to the World Trade Center. They dropped us off right on top of the rubble. A bunch of firemen were in radio contact with rescue workers trying to extricate the lone survivor. He was a port authority police officer. A movie was eventually made out of his ordeal. They eventually pulled him out and we put him in an ambulance and escorted him to Bellevue Hospital to be operated on. The trauma team at the hospital took over when we got there. He was there for a few months, since he needed multiple operations to save his life. I was involved in some of those operations.
After the trauma team took over, we were told that there might be more survivors. We sent a team of doctors to Ground Zero to set up a triage at the sight and be prepared to take care of patients. There were teams of doctors from other hospitals as well. I was in the first team to go down. Once again, no patients ended up coming.
The only patients we took care of were rescue workers who were having medical issues. Some were having breathing issues, so we gave them oxygen. A lot of them were getting dust and debris caught in their eyes, so we washed out their eyes. We also treated a lot of cuts and abrasions that they had gotten while hauling debris and metal away from the crash site in hopes of finding people.
What was the hospital like the following months?
Every day, larger and larger crowds of people who had lost loved ones would gather outside the hospital with pictures of them and signs saying “Lost: Have you seen ___?” There were hundreds of pictures and signs posted on the walls. Walking past those pictures was very eerie.
Eventually, medical examiners set up tractor-trailer trucks in parking lots to house bodies and body parts that were discovered. The trucks remained there for over a year. Medical examiners attempted to identify individuals from their body parts through DNA analysis. Whenever they found a body part, they carried out a small ceremony at this parking lot transformed into a morgue full of trailers.
How did you feel seeing all this?
Every time I walked by those tractor-trailers, it would be a somber and sad moment for me. It brought back some painful memories. Whenever I saw these ceremonies, I stopped what I was doing and paid my respects. They usually took a couple of minutes and I was pretty moved by them. When they were finished, I went about my business.
When you think back to that day, how do you feel? Has it affected you psychologically?
Actually seeing terrorist attacks along with how resilient New Yorkers were made me proud to be an American, but angry that terrorists still pose a threat to this country and others. It hasn’t affected me psychologically, I don’t have nightmares or dreams and I don’t have PTSD. As a surgeon, I’ve seen horrible things happen to patients of all ages. I’ve taken care of so many children and adults who have been in accidents and victims of violence that I’ve become hardened to it, compared to other people. That being said, this attack is definitely something that has and always will stick with me.
With our security now, after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, do you think something like that can happen again?
I certainly hope not, but I think it could happen again if we aren’t careful. As a country, we have to be diligent and keep up with the fight on the war on terrorism. The minute you think everything is okay and you let your guard down, that’s when it could happen. Everything has always happened abroad and you never think it could happen here, but once it’s at your front door, it’s certainly scary. I’m very supportive of America’s wars on terrorism and have faith in our national security system. Having lived through this nightmare, I don’t want something like that to happen again.
September 11th is a day of remembrance for those who were killed during these terrorist attacks, but it’s also important to remember those who voluntarily risked their lives to help people escape and save others.
The selfless and courageous acts of the firemen, policemen and doctors from that day are truly honorable. This day reminds me how lucky I am to still have my father in my life and makes me so proud to be an American. To those brave enough to put their lives on the line for America, I thank you, and of course, rest in peace to those who were innocently killed in this horrific act of terrorism.
