Feature News Article


PBA Says 9/11 Health Bill Might Exclude Some Cops:

Too High a Burden of Proof?


5.1.09  The Chief--by Ari Paul--The head of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (right) has come out against the current language of a bill that would secure permanent funding for 9/11-responder health treatment and monitoring, saying that it sets standards that would make it difficult for his members to get medical care.


PBA President Patrick J. Lynch in a statement April 21 said that the language of the James Zadroga Act would set a burden of proof for World Trade Center responders with cancer so difficult to meet that it could keep them from getting health-care treatment, while the bill had specific language for treatment of less-dire ailments such as carpal tunnel syndrome...  Full Article    PBA Press Release




9/11 Health Now:  Our Mission

Dedicated to health, hope and healing within the 9/11 Community.

Read More...





Filmmaker Brian Johnson profiles 9/11 responder John Citara’s odyssey from Ground Zero civilian volunteer to a life revolving around chronic illness and the ongoing sruggle to survive. 

View Trailer

Visit Film Website

More Film Info:  Part 1 Part 2


Voices of 9/11:

FDNY Responder John MacNamara on living with World Trade Center cancer.

(Photo and Video clip: Allan Tannenbaum)


Hear Mt. Sinai’s Dr. Philip Landrigan on the World Trade Center Workers’ Toxic Exposures

“...The mix of chemicals is very complex...  in concentrations that were very high...  in a mixture that’s previously never been encoutered...”

Hear Testimony 

Hear More WTC Site Worker Testimonies


Hear Mt. Sinai’s Dr. Robin Herbert on the Health Effects of World Trade Center Dust

‘..We know that the exposures included a potent mix of carcinogens...’

Listen to Interview



Voices of 9/11:  Community Members Speak Out on How 9/11 has Affected Their Lives & Health


Steve Centore, New Bern NC, right, in hospital, after undergoing an emergency liver transplant:  “Time is running out for many ill and injured first responders...”


Laura DiPasqua, Erie PA, left, with sons Anthony & Joe: “Since 9/11, I fight for my life every single day...”


More Voices of 9/11...


In The Spotlight: The James Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act of 2009

Read 9/11 Health Now’s 2008 Letter to Congress on this all-important piece of legislation...

Read Laura DiPasqua’s Letter to Congress about how her life has changed since 9/11 and why she desperately needs the Zadroga act to pass. (pictured above, with sons Anthony and Joe at the 2.26.08 Rally for 9/11 Health in Washington DC.)



Feature News Articles


Obama Says He’ll ‘Never Forget’ Those Sick From 9/11


2.13.09  Downtown Express--President Barack Obama last week renewed his pledge to help 9/11 first responders who are sick, a campaign promise his staff first made to Downtown Express in October.
Obama’s words came Friday during a meeting with about 40 family members of those killed on 9/11 and in the U.S.S. Cole attack. Obama spoke, took questions and greeted each of the attendees individually.  When Obama reached Jim Riches, a deputy chief in the F.D.N.Y. whose firefighter son was killed on 9/11, Riches handed Obama his son’s mass card. “I said, ‘Don’t forget them,’” Riches recalled afterward.  “I said, ‘Remember the firemen who died

and the sick firemen.’ He said, ‘I’ll never forget them.’”  Read More



A Cloud of Smoke:

The Complicated Death of a 9/11 Hero


9.15.08  The New Yorker--In January, 2006, shortly after James Zadroga died at his parents’ house, in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, Dr. Gerard Breton received a call from the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office. A retired hospital pathologist, Breton now conducts autopsies for the county on contract. Compared with its more violent neighbors—Newark, to the north, and Atlantic City, to the south—the central New Jersey shore tends to generate uncomplicated deaths: heart disease, liver failure, sunstroke. Zadroga’s death, at the age of thirty-four, was different...

Read More...


More 9/11 News


9/11’s Toxic Legacy

Regina Cervantes, Volunteer EMS Worker:  “By September 14th, my airway was so burned I could barely speak.  Now I have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, gastro esophageal reflux disease, chronic asthma, bronchitis, sinusitis, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks…”


David Miller, National Guard (pictured,below):   “I've got Mesothelioma, skin cancer, head and neck cancer, COPD--Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, nausea from the chemo, insomnia, cardiac issues-my heart has to pump so hard to get
oxygen to my obstructed lungs, it's become damaged in the process…”


Listen to David on the plight of the First Responders in a meeting with Dennis Kucinich.


John Feal, Demolition Supervisor:  “An 8-ton steel beam crushed my foot at Ground Zero.  I got gangrene and almost died.  I've had multiple surgeries and two amputations. Pulmonary disease?  Puh-lease--everyone who worked on the pile has that-it's inescapable…”


John Sferazo, Steelworker, who now takes 26 medications a day due to Ground Zero illness: “...Now I'm lucky if I can run a city block without dropping dead…”   View John in the Sierra Club film Forgotten Heroes


The 9/11 Health Crisis

On September 11, 2001, tens of thousands of Americans converged on New York City's World Trade Center site in one of the most impassioned rescue and recovery efforts in the history of the country.  Unbeknownst to these American patriots, the conditions at Ground Zero--in spite of Federal and State warnings to the contrary--were exceedingly toxic: hundreds of contaminants, including asbestos, lead, mercury and benzene--to name a few-were present in unprecedentedly high levels, both within the billowing dust cloud that settled over Lower Manhattan and the surrounding areas, and in the emissions from the pit that smoldered for months afterward during the cleanup.           Read More...


Rally for 9/11 Health U.S. Capitol 2.26.08

Over one hundred 9/11 Responders and their families rallied at the U.S. Capitol on February 26, 2008 to protest the 77% budget cuts in 9/11 Healthcare funding for fiscal ‘09, plus the canceling of plans for the World Trade Center Business Process Center,
which would have provided monitoring and treatment for the 10,000-plus Responders who reside outside the greater New York area. Responders and officials alike clamored for the passage of the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. (H.R. 3543; updated versions H.R. 6594, 7174 & 847). Also known as the James Zadroga Act, the bill would provide monitoring and treatment to all those sickened by Ground Zero toxins. Co-organized by 9/11 Health Now and the FealGood Foundation, the rally featured elected officials Dennis Kucinich (D-OH, pictured right), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Tim Bishop (D-NY), who spoke out on the urgent need for 9/11 Healthcare. View Photo Gallery...     Read Media Articles...   View Media Clips



9/11 Activist: John Feal

During the 9/11 rescue and recovery mission, First Responder John Feal escaped near-death when an 8-ton steel beam toppled onto his foot.  Two amputations and multiple surgeries later, Feal was back on his feet, but demoralized by what he saw: the 9/11 Community was reeling--from respiratory disease, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, cancers and other ailments due to Ground Zero's toxic aftermath.  Bitter that aid for America's heroes was not forthcoming, Feal transformed his anger into advocacy, speaking out to the public and elected officials for the urgent need for 9/11 health care.  In 2005,
John established the FealGood Foundation, a non-profit charity dedicated to aiding the 9/11 Community.


“I became an advocate once I realized I have a choice,” Feal declares.  “I can sit around and feel sorry for myself, or I can fight back and help others."  Mention politics, and John bristles: "With power, comes responsibility: as elected officials, you're elected to serve and protect.  Well, 90% of our country's leaders are not serving and protecting, and 9/11 heroes are dying because of it.”  Feal continues: "As a country, we took one on the chin on September 11. We got knocked down, but we bounced back up to move forward. But in the process of moving forward, we forgot what we left behind. And that's about 40,000 people that are sick and dying…”


Read John’s 9.5.07 CAP Interview
.


View John in the Sierra Club film Forgotten Heroes.


View John Feal and Glen Klein’s Star Jones Interview.


View John’s 2.26.08 Fox News Interview at the Rally for 9/11 Health at the US Capitol (above).





 

In The News


6.17.09  Program for Ground Zero Victims avoids Shutdown 


6.16.09  9/11 Heroes may get Health Care Cuts While Hospital Fights Government


6.16.09  NY Reps. Express Concern About Funding Problems At 9/11 Health Clinics


6.15.09  9/11 Anniversary Patch Honors Firefighters, EMT's, Police Officers and Soldiers


6.8.09  New Bills Would Aid 9/11 Heroes



5.7.09  $70 Million for 9/11 Health Care

in President’s Budget



More In The News



Upcoming Events


6.24 & 6.25.09

Disaster Chaplain Training

New York, NY


Developed by NYDIS

(New York Disaster Interfaith Services), two day seminar educating the clergy on how to adminster during times of crisis.



Read Kristen Lombardi’s article Death by Dust








9/11 Health Books


One of Them: A First Responder’s Story

by Steven M. Centore


Former Department of Energy worker Steve Centore’s memoir of his Ground Zero service and resulting deadly illnesses are a searing indictment of government denial and neglect.

Book Profile

Read Reviews

Buy Book


Fallout: The Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Collapse

by Juan Gonzalez


Prize-Winning NY Daily News journalist Juan Gonzalez’s hard-hitting book was one of the first serious attempts at whistle-blowing on the 9/11 Health Crisis.  A must-read to understand the real environmental impacts of the crisis.

Read Reviews

Buy Book


Read Michael Mason’s

Article The 9/11 Cover Up




 

  


9/11 Photographer on a Mission


Allan Tannenbaum’s camera has been documenting 9/11 from the moment the first plane hit.  His photo essay 9/11: Still Killing is a shattering portrait of lives in which 9/11’s legacy lives on.

Read More...



Quotes from the Pile


“What I want to ask Congress is:  Why are they leaving us like this?...”


Mike McCormack, Emergency Medic who has been battling 9/11 illness for seven years.


View Mike in the Sierra Club film Forgotten Heroes

(Photo: Allan Tannenbaum)






“On 9/11, we went in with the knowledge that we might not come out. You know what, we’d do it again-cops, firemen, EMS-that’s what we signed on for, it’s what we do…”  William Gleason, former FDNY Lieutenant, Emergency Medical Services, pictured above.




“Most of these toxic 9/11 chemicals don’t even have

a safe threshold level.

There is no safe level of exposure...” Suzanne Mattei,

former Sierra Club NYC Executive.


Sierra Club 9/11 page...


“9/11 took everything from me... My job... my money...

my health... It took my

whole life...” 9/11 Health Now Co-Founder David Miller, below, and above right.













Fallen Heroes: Greg Quibell


First Responder Greg Quibell passed away on August 27, 2008 in Long Island, NY.  Greg had
been battling pulmonary fibrosis, leukemia, and a host of other WTC-related illnesses since 2002.   Greg’s final days were documented in the 9/11 film Save The Brave, in which he advocates for the urgent passage of the 9/11 Health & Compensation Act.  Greg is survived by wife Theresa, four children and two grandchildren.  Read More



WTC Workers Compensation

Filing Deadline Extended To

September 11, 2010


More Info: NYCOSH & NYC/Gov sites


Recent Events


5.2.09  Brother In Need Fundraiser

Benefit event for Engine 234 Firefighter John McNamara, battling 9/11 cancer for almost 3 years now.  Mulcahy’s Pub & Concert Hall, Wantagh, NY.

View Flyer

NYC Firefighter Foundation



4.5.09  Long Island Pride Jiu Jitsu Championship  Bi-Annual tournament showcasing popular martial arts form donates portion of the proceeds in benefit of 9/11 Health Now.



The Toxic Clouds of 9/11

by Alison Johnson


Environmental author and documentarian Alison Johnson profiles 9/11 and its toxic aftermath in this 60 minute film detailing the chemical exposures and their effects on the 9/11 recovery workers and the surrounding population.

Event Details

Film Profile

Alison Johnson Bio


3.28 & 3.29.09  Breathwork & Meditation Workshop for the 9/11 Community


Offered by Columbia U. Associate Professor Dr. Richard Brown (left),

2-day session offers breathing and meditation techniques that have proven astonishingly effective in relieving PTSD, sleep disorders & stress.

View Invitation

Read Testimonials

View Dr. Brown’s Video


2.13.09  FealGood Foundation

Moonlight Bowl


9/11 Responders and families unite on Long Island for an evening of fun and recreation organized by John Feal, Anne-Marie Baumann and Theresa Galoppe

of the FealGood Foundation.


View Flyer

FealGood Founation



1.9.09

Brother-to-

Brother

Presents

‘An Evening of Laughter’



Comedy show with proceeds benefiting FDNY responders suffering from WTC-

related illness features comedians Jim Mendrenos, Les Degan, Danny Lofaro &

Rob White.  Sponsored by Adam’s Angels’ Brother-to-Brother initiative.


View Flyer

Brother-to-Brother

Adam’s Angels




12.20.08  Feal Good Foundation Toy Drive

& Holiday Party


View Flyer



11.1.08  Bradford Street 4 Benefit


Benefit to aid four FDNY responders all battling cancer
Bernard Cornell, Dominick Montalto, Kevin Lennon and Lt. Mike Lopez features live music, food, auctions, and chance to win a new car.

View Flyer




10.18.08  Steps To Heal

Walk-N-Fest for 9/11Heroes


San Diego CA event hosted by Unite in Peace benefits NYDIS (New York Disaster Interfaith Services) and the Feal Good Foundation features group walk, kids activities, meet Responders, keynote speakers, dancing, refreshments & more.

View Flyer


10.02.08  Natural Cancer Approach Lecture, 7 p.m., Long Island NY


The National Cancer Research Foundation (NCRF) is offering a lecture on how a specific nutritional regimen has helped thousands overcome cancer, even ‘lost-cause’ terminal cases.     Read More



9.18.08  Help A Hero: 1000 Served


The New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project is aiming to add the 1000th person to its highly-acclaimed detox program with a 9.18.08 fund raiser.  More info: Help a Hero




  9.13.08  Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

  Tournament

  Sporting event showcases

  popular martial arts form

  with proceeds benefiting

  9/11 Health Now.

  Events Flyer click Here




8.28.08  9/11 Film: Save The Brave

New documentary exposes the ravages of 9/11 on the lives of first responders Jim Riches, Greg Quibell, John McNamara and Charles Giles.  Read More



6.14.08



Click here for more info