When Oklahoma City chiropractor Brent Babcock arrives this afternoon in the New York area, he knows the kinds of questions he'll immediately be fielding from stressed-out colleagues who for weeks have seen one traumatized rescue worker after another.

Why them and not me? Why am I living when my friends and neighbors are dead? Can I ever forget the smell of dead bodies? How can I ever cope with all of this? What about the next terrorist attack? Babcock hopes to have some insights, and provide a new treatment he believes can assist those who are psychologically scarred from the terrorist attacks.

Babcock, 43, has been summoned to Newark, N.J., for a four-day meeting with more than 200 doctors, psychologists and social workers who have addressed a steady stream of acute stress- disorder victims for the past 23 days in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.  He is the only Oklahoman asked to attend the "Heal the Healer" conference.  He was specifically invited to the conclave because of his professional experiences after the Murrah Building bombing and the May 3, 1999, tornadoes.  Babcock said Wednesday that he still treats more than a dozen survivors and firefighters from the Oklahoma City federal building tragedy.
"I'm humbled, and I'm honored. I have a lot to offer, a lot to share," the chiropractor said of attending the meeting that runs today through Sunday.

Medical practitioners from New York, New Jersey and Washington are among the scheduled attendees.  Babcock is part of a 15-member team affiliated with the California-based ONE Foundation, a network of 4,000 doctors and medical professionals who practice the Neuro- Emotional Technique for dealing with post- traumatic stress.  The procedure combines elements of chiropractic adjustments of the spine with psychotherapy.  The technique is a methodology used to normalize unresolved physical and behavioral patterns in the body, Babcock said.

Practitioners are trained to assist the body's healing process by identifying and balancing unresolved emotional influences.  The technique is particularly useful in treating flashbacks, nightmares, depression and anxiety, said Babcock, a certified Neuro- Emotional Technique practitioner and disciple of alternative health care treatments.  "I want the doctor to be healthier than the patient," Babcock said of his intention to first treat New York-area medical workers, and then train them to use the technique "when they go back into the trenches" to help firefighters, police officers, rescue workers and government workers.

Many New York physicians "are having to deal with something they weren't told about in medical school," Babcock said.  Survivors "will have to be treated for years to come," he said.  New Yorkers who saw the two jets crash into the World Trade Center towers are emotionally damaged, he said.
"I care, and I want to get results," said Babcock, who has been practicing from his office on N. Classen Boulevard for more than 17 years. "I treat the whole body."  He said Neuro-Emotional Technique practitioners include medical doctors, osteopathic physicians, chiropractors, optometrists and social workers.