NESCONSET, N.Y. — There is a new milestone to mark this Sept. 11. The number of people who died after volunteering, working or living near ground zero has surpassed the number of people killed in the attacks.
And it has happened amid an ongoing struggle for more first responder funding.
World Trade Center Health Program needs more funding
The World Trade Center Health Program was to be funded through 2090, but outspoken advocate John Feal, who has lobbied Washington more than 350 times, often with comedian and television personality Jon Stewart, says that money is running out, and health services will have to be cut.
“Nobody apologized after 9/11 to us. Nobody said, ‘Sorry for lying to you,'” Feal said. “Their apology was to create the World Trade Center Health Program. We had to fight for 20 years to get legislation passed. Imagine, we had to chase our own apology.”
Created by Congress in 2010 and reauthorized in 2015, the fund has supplied $1.6 billion to those in need, but advocates say $3 billion more is needed.
Bridget Gormley, whose FDNY father died of 9/11-related cancer, lobbies Congress.
“There is always a question of where the money is going to come from, and that is always the issue in D.C. and politics. Who is paying for it. Where is it coming from,” said Bridget Gormley, whose FDNY father died of 9/11-related cancer.
“No one took into consideration medical inflation in 2015,” Feal said. “There were 70,000 people in the program in 2015. Now, there are 132,000-plus in the program. This is our apology.”
“Most of the illnesses now that are popping up are the cancers, and they told us back when they were doing the studies that when we got to the 20-25th year, and that’s what we are seeing now,” added Rich Palmer, retired Department of Correction warden.
Congress has until 2028 to approve the funding. If it doesn’t, medical treatments could be cut for those sick, and those whose diagnosis is coming.
Emergency Services workers were on the front lines on 9/11
Mike Negron, a retired New York City Department of Correction Emergency Services Unit worker, spends a lot of time at Responder Memorial Park in the Suffolk County hamlet of Nesconset.
“So many names … this wall is getting so filled with names, it’s heartbreaking,” Negron said. “The park is getting too small for the amount of names that are going up so fast. I kind of lost track.”
Negron said he comes to the park to be with colleagues lost, and added he’s seeing more and more of them each year.
“I kind of lost track. It’s crazy how fast guys are going and getting sick,” Negron said.
ESU members were among those who were summoned to or volunteered at ground zero after terrorists reduced the mighty twin towers to a smoldering pile of rubble.
Negron’s guys worked six days a week for months. Officials said the air was safe. Negron was in charge of scheduling.
“That lingers in my heart. It hurts to know I had to send somebody down to ground zero, and may become sick, may die,” Negron said.
It’s where we now know they were breathing in toxic carcinogenic dust.
Negron said. “At the time, it didn’t matter. We were there to do one thing, and that was to try to find survivors,” said.
Negron said lawmakers need to visit the park and see the names on the wall.
“Maybe they’ll do the right thing,” Negron said.
The health program treats more than cancers. For Negron, it’s crippling PTSD.
“Every day, I have flashbacks,” Negron said.
“We didn’t really know what we were marching into”
Twenty three years later, more people exposed to the dust cloud have died of cancer and other diseases than in the attack, itself. More than 2,000 names fill Responder Memorial Park and more slabs are needed.
Overall, more than 6,400 people have died of 9/11-related illnesses, according to Feal.
“I have no doubt that I’m going to beat this,” retired ESU worker Phil Rizzo said. “I’m not going to be in that park, no.”
Rizzo is battling head and neck cancer, a diagnosis he knew was coming.
“All we had were baseball caps. We had no masks. We had no gear. We had nothing. We didn’t really know what we were marching into. I told the other captain, we may be marching these guys to their death,” Rizzo said.
Rizzo said first responders deserve the additional funding, and they deserve to have the situation resolved quickly.
“Why is it the right thing to do?” CBS News New York’s Carolyn Gusoff asked.
“Because we did the right thing,” Rizzo said.
