9/11 Responder Treatment Program Expands To Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Until today, there wasn't a clinic for 9/11 responders in Brooklyn, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported.
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A new clinic for those who helped in the immediate response and cleanup at the World Trade Center site opened Monday at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. The services are an expansion of Stony Brook University's World Trade Center Health Program.
The clinic will treat a variety of physical and mental illnesses related to 9/11.
"On Long Island, we follow 6,000 responders. In Brooklyn, there are only half those numbers that are ever followed," said Dr. Benjamin Luft, who heads the program at Stony Brook.
Funding for the new clinic came from the Zadroga Act.
9/11 first responder and advocate John Feal called the new center monumental.
"You know, there's more sad stories in the 9/11 community than there are good, and today, is not only a good story, a great story," Feal told Diamond.
"We tell them that they need to go to the World Trade Center medical monitoring program and they're answer to me is 'It's all the way out on Long Island. I can't get out there.' They can't say that anymore," said Glenn Klein, vice president for the FealGood Foundation for 9/11 responders.
"I'm sure there's many people who don't even realize that there are services available, and that maybe they have symptoms that aren't even related to their exposure there, but indeed they are," said Downstate program director Dr. Jack DeHovitz.
Many of the responders' recollections from their days working at ground zero are being recorded on video and sent to the Library of Congress.
What services do you think 9/11 responders need? Share your ideas in the comments section below.
