Public Employee Press

Health care threatened for thousands of 9/11 victims
Fighting for their lives

It is all aggravating, and added to that so stressful. You worry about your family, you worry about whether you are going to get money from compensation, and when you do get it, you hope that it is enough and that they don’t take it away from you. This is ridiculous.
— Ken George, Local 376 retiree

By MIKE LEE

The thing is that you have to go through this every five years and we are now going through it, again,” said Ken George, a retired Local 376 Highway Repairer. “Can you imagine?”

George was referring to the fight to extend the Zadroga Act. The law provides health monitoring and financial support for more than 70,000 first responders and survivors of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The funding for the this portion of the law expired without congressional action on Oct. 1.

As part of the Zadroga Act, another program, the Sept. 11 Victims Compensation Fund, will expire next year.

DC 37 has led a campaign, including an intensive lobbying effort at the U.S. Congress, to ensure passage of an extension of the 9/11 World Trade Center Health Program, one of two programs under the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, passed in 2011.

While several members in Congress claimed the currently available funds will enable the program to continue for another year, federal officials disagreed, saying the failure to renew the funding will start to have a negative impact on the program in February and they may be forced to begin shutting down by summer, with enrollees notified they may not have health care beyond September 2016.

Without funding, thousands who suffer with injuries and multiple illnesses — including various forms of cancer and other related diseases caused from the exposure to the toxic elements at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks — will be left without proper health treatment and much needed financial support.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 4,000 survivors and first responders from the World Trade Center attacks have developed more than 50 forms of cancer, and many others have developed long-term illnesses, including pulmonary, autoimmune illnesses and asthma. Also, 17 clinics set up to provide care to these victims may be closed as a consequence of this congressional inaction. All told, 33,000 have suffered some form of illness or injury and are covered by the Zadroga Act.

“People without this program will have nothing.”

Discussing the importance of renewing the Zadroga Act, Guille Mejia, director of DC 37’s Dept. of Safety and Health, said, “Because the program establishes a research component, we are able to prove that people are getting sick. We have been able to demonstrate that there is a great need for the program, that there is enough research evidence to show a connection between the exposure and the illnesses that people have.”

“You cannot start a treatment, and then stop it right away. There has to be ongoing and continuous treatment,” she said. “People without this program will have nothing.”

Dr. Michael A. Crane, assistant professor of Preventative Medicine at Mount Sinai and director of the World Trade Center Health Program Clinical Center, whose work is directly threatened because of the failure to reauthorize the funding, said the program provides vital information for research and treatment.

Local 376 retiree George is among the thousands with health problems from 9/11 whose lives will be harmed if they lose their health care coverage from the program.

George was sent to Ground Zero to clear debris for emergency vehicles to pass through the area, and he later searched for victims. He worked at the site until February 2002.

Not renewing the health program is devastating to him and his family. George said: “It is all so aggravating, and added to that, so very stressful. You worry about your family, you worry about whether you are going to get money from the compensation, and when you do get it, you hope that it is enough and that they don’t later take it away from you. This is ridiculous.”

In April, Congress member Carolyn Maloney of New York introduced a reauthorization act, while in the U.S. Senate, New York Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, with some bipartisan support, also introduced the bill.

As part of the push to convince lawmakers to pass the extension, DC 37 on Sept. 16 joined a large contingent of activists and others directly impacted by the legislation to lobby Congress. The popular former Daily Show host Jon Stewart, a strong advocate on behalf of 9/11 victims, led a rally at Capitol Hill in support of the Zadroga Act.

Despite the show of support by Republican lawmakers for first responders and other 9/11 victims during the recent anniversary of the attacks, the GOP-led House and Senate failed to take action, allowing the midnight deadline to pass without a floor vote.

“It is as if they don’t care,” said George, who takes more than two dozen medications for the multiple illnesses he suffered since working at the World Trade Center site.