As a member of the Olive Leaf Wholeness Center in New York City, I was closely involved in developing the Olive-Relief program. It was designed and implemented to address the health problems of police officers, firemen, other uniformed service workers and residents of Lower Manhattan who, within just months after the terrorist attack of 9/11, began to experience severe health problems as a result of their exposure to the deadly toxins that permeated the air in the area around the Ground Zero site for an extended period. Over the course of the program, I came into contact with scores of sick men, women and children (from among the tens of thousands who were affected). They were all experiencing serious health problems and were very concerned about what the future held for them health-wise.

At Olive Leaf, we treated two hundred of these courageous people who and served so selflessly when they were needed. I personally gave sound healing treatments to many of them. It was an extraordinary experience to work with the health care team at Olive Leaf and watch as the comprehensive treatment program we developed helped to detoxify these individuals and greatly improve their health. One of the most rewarding things was to see hope come back into these people’s lives as they begin to feel so much better that they started to believe for the first time since they and become sick that they would be okay.

Indeed, there were many extraordinary and moving experiences to which I was witness. Although it was not the most difficult, dramatic or challenging case we encountered, one particularly stands out in my mind because of a phone call I received following a client’s first visit and treatment. “I can’t believe it’s almost gone…!” the voice on my answering machine almost shrieked. It was so loud, I wanted to hold the telephone away from my ear, but the enthusiasm in it stopped me. The caller seemed to be overjoyed, almost hysterically so. The message continued, “I’ve had it for so long, and after one sound healing treatment it’s almost gone. Ninety-percent gone. I simply can’t believe it…!” She left her name and asked that I return her call

She was a young woman who was participating in Project Olive-Relief, the post-9/11 treatment program that had been put in place by Claire Haaga, the Olive Leaf Wholeness Center’s founder and president. The program was in response to the ever-growing need to address the health needs of the police officers, firemen, and other uniformed workers who responded so selflessly following the tragic attack on the World Trade Center – a need so long ignored by the city, state and federal government agencies and healthcare officials. The program was also open to residents, like the caller, who lived in the area below Canal Street and were also greatly exposed to the toxic contamination for an extended period following 9/11.

As it turned out, the caller had incurred an injury on her leg that had left her with a sack of fluid about the size of a small grapefruit in the joint area directly behind one of her knees. It was bothersome, unsightly and had defeated all her attempts at conventional treatment. It simply would not heal. As part of the program to detoxify the clients, provide them with treatment and restore them to health, individual healthcare plans were designed to meet the needs of each person. The first step in the process was always a physical examination and psychological evaluation. Because the evaluation meant that the clients had to talk about the events of 9/11 again, many of them experienced emotional reactions. To start the healing process, following the examination and interview, each client was given a sound healing treatment before they left the center. These treatments had a very positive and healing effect on everyone who went through the program. Indeed, it was for this exact reason that we prescribed the sound healing to follow the psychological evaluation. It immediately relaxed the client and relieved almost all their stress. They left the center feeling hopeful for the first time since they had begun to have heath 9/11-related health problems.

It was after her first visit with the one sound healing treatment that I got the phone call from the young woman. The grapefruit-sized sack of fluid that had been on the back of her leg for over eighteen months had begun to disappear, and to do so in an astonishingly short period of time. Within two weeks, and after only three sound healing treatments, it was completely gone. Can it be proved scientifically that it was the sound healing that caused the fluid to reabsorb in the body so quickly after such a long time? No one can say for certain. However, absolutely nothing else had ever helped her leg, and it was after only one sound healing treatment, with no other treatment of any kind being administered during that 24-hour period that the sack of fluid became so dramatically smaller. Under the circumstances, it is not unreasonable to think that the positive vibrations did, indeed, restore and promote the body’s own remarkable healing powers.

She completed a several week course of treatment to address all the other 9/11 physical and psychological health related issues and left the care of the practitioners at Olive Leaf with a new lease on life both physically land psychologically. Some months later, she called me once again to report that she was off disability and was working once again. She was thrilled and enormously grateful for the program offered by the Olive Leaf Wholeness Center, and most especially for the sound healing treatment that she is so certain is what was specifically responsible for healing her leg.

Over the ensuing months, nearly 200 police officers and fireman were treated at Olive Leaf. Without exception, they all reported the most remarkable improvement in their health and emotional wellbeing. Sound healing was an integral part every treatment plan and as a treatment received the most positive response.