CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – An Eastern Iowa doctor was in New York City 25 years ago tonight, trying to help victims of the terrorist attack in Lower Manhattan. 25 years later, he said he still remembers the dust.
Dr. Vincent Reid is the director of surgical oncology for Mercy One Eastern Division. He lives in Cedar Rapids, but in 2001 he was training as a surgeon at Albert Einstein College in the Bronx.
He was driving into the city when a sheriff’s deputy pulled him over. The deputy told him what was happening and then spotted his white lab coat in the car. The deputy directed Reid to where they were setting up a triage center.
“For folks that were going to, that we would need to triage and see their level of injury to the extent that folks would come there. It turns out most of the people or all of the people we got were demise. And so it was kind of pronouncing a lot of people dead at that point,” Reid said.
Reid said for days afterward, doctors would show up, show their physician ID and jump in wherever they were needed.
Hear more about Dr. Reid and his time in New York and the lasting impact of the attacks:
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.