The September 11 health program which monitors and deals with thousands of people exposed to toxic dust during the 2001 terrorist attack is threatened – Again.
A wave of granting and disturbances of the agency launched the World Trade Center health program in crisis, disturbing a system that has provided vital care to tens of thousands of people for more than two decades.
Experts warn that cancer diagnoses could be delayed, mental health needs may not be met and that the federal government would break its promise to “never forget”.
New York firefighters squeeze each other with the rescue operations at the World Trade Center after two diverted planes collapsed in the twin towers, on September 11, 2001 in New York.
Ron Agam / Getty images, file
“It is not a question of politics – it is humanity,” said John Feal, a former respondent of September 11 and founder of the Fealgood Foundation. “We are not going. We will continue to come back until they do the right thing.”
At the center of the controversy is a series of endowment discounts within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the agency which certifies diseases linked to 9/11 as validates and oversees the World Trade Center health program, which administers care to the first stakeholders and survivors of the 2001 terrorist attack in Lower Manhattan.
Earlier this year, a reduction in 20% staff on the World Trade Health Center program led to the end of 16 doctors and nurses, reducing the clinical team to 72, Feal said.
After a bipartite outcry, these positions were restored in February.
But in April, a second cycle of cuts eliminated 16 other staff members. It is not known if these cuts involved one of the reinstated people of the first cup, but they left the program to rotate and once again compromised its ability to provide timely care.
In addition to the second round of cuts in April, Dr. John Howard, the longtime program manager, was also deleted. He was then quickly reinstated after political pressure.
More than 150,000 people are currently enrolled in the World Trade Center health program, compared to around 76,000 in 2015.
The program had prepared to develop its staff to meet growing demand. Instead, he is now having trouble working, according to Michael Barasch, lawyer for Barasch & McGarry, a company that represents thousands of first speakers and survivors of September 11.
Barasch told ABC News that patients expect six to eight months for meetings.
“This is a program with zero fraud that does only one thing: it saves lives,” said Barasch. “Mark my words: people will die without that.”
The toxic dust of the attacks contained a dangerous mixture of chemicals and debris: asbestos, ground glass, benzene, chrome, lead. Exposed people – the first stakeholders, recovery workers, office staff, students, residents – are potentially faced with higher rates of at least 69 cancers, as well as respiratory diseases and post -traumatic stress.
“If he had it in his lungs, everyone too,” said Barasch, referring to the detective of the NYPD James Zadroga, whose death at 34 years in 2006 was linked to the inhalation of dangerous air. “So we all turn bombs in time.”
The World Trade Center Health Program was created through the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and the remuneration of remuneration, which was definitively reautilized in 2015.
But financing projections did not take into account medical inflation or increasing registrations. A bipartite bill known as HR 1410 was going to repair the deficit, but it remains blocked in Congress.
Feal said he thought the system was not only exceeded – it collapses.
“We have built a program that saves lives and gives people’s dignity,” he said. “Let him collapse now dishonor everyone who ran to the danger that day.”
New York police are going through Sot after the collapse of the First World Trade Center Tower on September 11, 2001 in New York.
Doug Kanter / AFP via Getty Images, file
Barasch noted that many legislators – especially those outside New York – may not achieve the scope of damage or how many of their own voters are affected.
“People in the 50 states are registered on the program,” he said. “Thousands of them live closer to the original attack sites. They need care where they are.” He urged everyone to call his senators and his representatives and remind them of the promise made to the community of September 11.
During Capitol Hill meetings with the legislators this week, Feal said that he and other defenders seem to have found a sympathetic audience. Even so, he remains skeptical: “They listen – but will they act? This is the question.”
An HHS spokesperson told ABC News in an email: “National Provider Network of the World Trade Center (WTC) health program and the Nationwide Provider Network continue to provide services to program members at the moment.