Environmental Health Services Offered at New Locations

Environmental Health Services Offered at New Locations



2007 September -   The World Trade Center 
Environmental Health Center at Bellevue Hospital, a city-funded program 
that offers free, high quality health services to people experiencing 
health problems as a result of 9/11, is expanding to two additional 
locations. 
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Health and Hospitals Corporation 
President Alan Aviles today said that the new sites, at Gouverneur 
Healthcare Services in Lower Manhattan and Elmhurst Hospital Center in 
Queens, will allow the WTC Environmental Health Center to treat up to 
20,000 patients over the next five years. 
Under the direction of the program at Bellevue, the two new sites will 
treat those experiencing health problems as a result of exposure to dust 
and smoke from the World Trade Center attack 
Expanding the Bellevue Hospital program was one of the key recommendations 
made in Addressing the Health Impacts of 9/11, the report and 
recommendations Mayor Bloomberg accepted in February. 
Another key recommendation made in the report was to aggressively seek 
federal funding to sustain the World Trade Center program at Bellevue and 
two other 9/11 Health Centers of Excellence, and expand 9/11 related 
mental health services and medical research. 
The Mayor continued his call for federal funding at today's announcement 
and together with Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta launched a new 
six-year assessment of World Trade Center health impacts on 9/11 rescue 
workers. 
"The City is stepping up to the plate to make sure that everyone gets the 
health care they need - despite this clearly being a national 
responsibility," said Mayor Bloomberg. 
"There is much about World Trade Center health effects that we still don't 
know, but one thing we do know is that 9/11 was an act of war against our 
entire country and the federal government must take responsibility for 
everyone whose health was harmed and pass the James Zadroga Act. 
The bill is named after an New York Police Department detective who had 
spent hundreds of hours at Ground Zero, and later died at the age of 34 
from respiratory failure. If adopted into law, it would provide the 
federal funding needed to care for those who are sick, or who may become 
sick. 
The bill would also continue research that will help to better understand 
the health impacts of the attacks, and it would re-open the Victim's 
Compensation Fund to better help those who continue to struggle with the 
aftermath of 9/11. 
On Tuesday, Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler testified before the House of 
Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, Health Subcommittee in 
support of the Zadroga Act. 
"The James Zadroga Act reopens the Victim Compensation Fund, a key 
recommendation of the 9/11 Health Panel," said Mayor Bloomberg. "That Fund 
was a fair and efficient process that provided a measure of relief to 
victims' families, now it is imperative that the Fund be reauthorized to 
take care of those who were not eligible to benefit from it before it 
closed in December 2003. The fact that their injuries and illnesses have 
been slower to emerge should not disqualify them from getting the help 
they need." 
The bill would provide funding for the WTC Environmental Health Center at 
Bellevue Hospital, including the two expansion sites announced today. The 
bill would also provide sustained support for the two other Centers of 
Excellence that are treating those impacted by 9/11, the FDNY World Trade 
Center program and the WTC Monitoring and Treatment program coordinated by 
Mt. Sinai. 
"I met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week on the eve of the sixth 
anniversary of the attacks, and she stated her support for addressing 
these urgent and unmet health needs," Mayor Bloomberg said. 
"Our nation has a moral obligation to extend health monitoring to everyone 
exposed to Ground Zero toxins and treatment to anyone who's sick, whether 
they're a first responder, a Lower Manhattan resident, an area worker, or 
a student at a nearby school," said Representative Carolyn Maloney. "I am 
incredibly grateful for Mayor Bloomberg's leadership in creating and 
expanding the World Trade Center Program, which has been a crucial source 
of help for thousands of New Yorkers who were sickened or injured by the 
terrorist attacks on our country." 

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