Raleigh, NC - Nestled in a small, single-story office complex, just off the expressway north of town, is a 10,400-square-foot room humming with the quiet chatter of nearly a hundred voices.

Dozens of the men and women, seated in front of computers in long rows of tiny cubicles, are interviewing strangers more than 400 miles away—residents and workers of Lower Manhattan.

		"On Sept. 11, 2001, did you personally witness airplanes hitting the World Trade Center?…Where were you when the dust and debris cloud first reached you?…In the past 30 days have you been bothered by dreams of the event?…Have you experienced shortness of breath?" The answers to these and many other questions will become the baseline for the World Trade Center Health Registry, a 20-year study of the disaster's mental and physical health effects on those living below Canal Street, rescue and recovery personnel, and those who happened to be in the area on Sept. 11. As of late June, more than 44,000 people had registered. And as the Aug. 31 registration deadline approaches, the New York City Health Department is making a last push to recruit participants in what will be the biggest health registry of its kind in U.S. history. (Those still wishing to participate can call 1-866-692-9827 or go to wtcregistry.org.) For the interviewers, many of whom have never been to New York, the job of talking to people who experienced the disaster up close brings special insight into the event. "It gives you a whole new perspective on what people must have had to go through," said Matthew Ramadan, a part-time interviewer who also works in community economic development. "I've gotten a much greater degree of respect for the resiliency of the people. It's like, Wow, you're still walking around? You're still functioning? And you went through that?"

The interviewers, hired by the North Carolina-based research firm RTI International, are always on the phone, either making cold calls to Downtowners or responding to those calling in. It can take up to 20 calls over many days before a single subject obliges them by, first of all, being home, and then by being ready and willing to talk. An interviewer may make as many as 100 calls in a four-hour shift. Finding just one willing participant in an hour is thought to be an accomplishment.

(Health Department officials say they have had much more success completing interviews with workers than with residents. Children, who must have a parent answer the questions, are also underrepresented in the study.)

Those who dial Downtowners insist that, despite the many calls and the oft-repeated script of questions (each question prompted by a previous answer and dictated by the computer), the subjects are never just numbers.

"It's almost as if each interview is a fresh experience for me," said Fannie Peele, a soft-spoken administrative assistant for the state who puts in 16 hours a week at RTI. "My connection with the individual takes on a whole life by itself."

"Once you speak with someone who was personally affected then you begin to bond with that person," said Hubert Williamson, a shift supervisor and former interviewer on the project. "It makes it more than just a distant event. It makes it real and vivid."

There are, of course, the inevitable hangups. Interviewers say they quickly have to convince potential participants that they are not the target of a sales pitch, and then help them understand the importance of the long-term study.

"We explain that it's not just a line in a script. People are going to be tracked because we want to know how they are doing," said Matthew Ramadan. "This was a terrible tragedy and it's not over for a lot of people."