Does anyone else have a problem with Hillary using the sick and dying for her 2008 run? Or, are we supposed to keep our mouths shut because she's bringing attention to their cause, and possible help?
Tired...
Does anyone else have a problem with Hillary using the sick and dying for her 2008 run? Or, are we supposed to keep our mouths shut because she's bringing attention to their cause, and possible help?
Meh, let her do her thing to help, and THEN expose the fact that this problem has existed for YEARS, so why didn't she do anything sooner. Then she'll be screwed.
You have to admit, it's been getting alot of press lately.
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Or point out that she's only dealing with half of the problem. The other half is accountability for those that lied, and caused these people to get sick.
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Yes it has.Originally Posted by AuGmENTor
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When you think about people like Jenna Orkin who have been screaming about this for YEARS, it turns my stomach to think that Hillary, only now that she's running, focuses on them.
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Desperate message for Bush from sick 9/11 responders
United front heads to D.C. to press for more funding to treat suffering heroes
http://www.silive.com/news/advance/i...530.xml&coll=1
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
By HEIDI J. SHRAGER
ADVANCE CITY HALL BUREAU
A retired NYPD detective, an ironworker and a dead cop's father have a message for President George Bush, who will give his State of the Union address tonight.
We saved lives. Now help save ours.
Rescue workers who developed lung diseases after breathing poisonous dust at Ground Zero are heading down to the president's State of the Union address today, in a bid to pressure federal officials to fund the growing medical needs of thousands of New Yorkers who heroically sprang into action after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The trip comes as medical experts and New York's congressional delegation are warning that $40 million in federal funds for the city's two main treatment programs is fast running out. "Our money will run out over the next several months," said Jacqueline Moline, the director of the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment program at Mount Sinai, in which 19,000 first responders are registered.
New Yorkers traveling to Washington, D.C., today as guests of the New York congressional delegation include the family of the late NYPD Detective James Zadroga, who was the first confirmed post-9/11 death. Also heading to the capital is Ceasar Borja Jr., the son of Ceasar Borja, a retired NYPD officer now in critical condition at Mount Sinai Hospital with pulmonary fibrosis, the same disease that killed Zadroga just over a year ago.
BIPARTISAN BACKING
"We want people to have to look into the eyes of these men and women and then say, 'No, it's not our responsibility to make sure you have the health care you need to deal with these illnesses that came about because your country was attacked,'" said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York).
The junior senator and presidential candidate spoke during a news conference at Ground Zero yesterday, surrounded by other congressional members, medical experts and first responders. She gestured to her invited guest, 21-year-old Ceasar Borja Jr., saying federal funding is needed to treat patients like his father. The Queens retired officer toiled for 16-hour shifts at Ground Zero for five months, and must now vanquish a lung infection before he can be placed on the waiting list for a necessary lung transplant.
"In speaking with medical experts, it is absolutely clear that many of these victims will only survive if they are given lung transplants," said Mrs. Clinton.
Officials renewed their call for Bush to include in his budget $1.9 billion over the next five years. "This is not a huge amount of money in federal budgetary terms," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York).
Standing in a sea of Democrats, Rep. Vito Fossella (R-Staten Island) said he repeated the request to the White House budget director on Friday. "On the eve of the State of the Union, the one thing I was taught as a kid is that in this Union we take care of our own first," he said. "This is not a Republican or a Democratic issue so much as it's the right thing to do."
HIGH COST OF CARE
The requested amount is largely based on an internal document from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, obtained by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan/Queens). The document estimates an annual cost of $256 million for the care of the 32,000 people now registered in the city's two main programs. The first program is for 14,000 firefighters and the second is for the Mount Sinai program.
Dr. Moline said her clinic, along with the five sister hospitals in the program, are gearing up to send letters out to upwards of 4,000 patients who only just began getting treatment last September. "It sickens me, as a physician, that I am in this position."
Dr. Moline said she expects the number of people needing treatment to keep growing, as diseases like pulmonary fibrosis emerge in more people.
Although unexplained, experts say the disease is the lung's reaction to injury, whereby thick scar tissue builds up in the lungs, blocking air sacs and gradually suffocating victims. One possible precursor is sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease with which Eltingville resident Edward Wallace was diagnosed in 2002. The retired police detective was denied a disability pension even though he spent months at Ground Zero directly after Sept. 11. He now sees at least five separate doctors.
"The price tag is phenomenal," he told the Advance in December. Of his private healthcare provider, he said, "It's just a matter of time before they cut me off."
John Sferazo, an ironworker from Long Island, and another guest of the New York delegation, believes his work at Ground Zero reduced his breathing capacity and triggered other illnesses.
He hoped his presence tonight will make a difference.
Said Sferazo, president and co-founder of Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes: "This tragedy took 3,000 lives and continues to take our lives today."
Heidi J. Shrager covers City hall for the Advance. She may be reached at shrager@siadvance.com.
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NY pressures Feds on 9/11 health funds
http://www.amny.com/news/local/groun...m-topheadlines
BY EMI ENDO
NEWSDAY STAFF WRITER
January 23, 2007
An ironworker, a paramedic and an attorney who believe their illnesses stem from exposure at Ground Zero plan to attend President George W. Bush's State of the Union address Tuesday night as guests of New York's congressional delegation.
They are among those urging Bush to include 9/11-related health care funding when he proposes his 2008 budget.
John Sferazo, of Huntington Station, an ironworker who worked at Ground Zero and attributes his reduced breathing capacity and other illnesses to 9/11, said he hoped his presence tonight will serve as a reminder of the needs of emergency responders and others.
"This tragedy took 3,000 lives and continues to take our lives today," Sferazo, president and cofounder of Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes, said at a news conference Tuesday at the World Trade Center site.
The Bush administration has released more than $50 million of $75 million in federal funding to treat first responders through the New York Fire Department and hospitals, including The Mount Sinai Medical Center and Stony Brook University Medical Center. Demand is so high that the money will run out in the next several months, said Dr. Jacqueline Moline, director of Mount Sinai's program, which serves 19,000 patients. A Mount Sinai report found that nearly seven out of every 10 Ground Zero workers suffered lung problems.
A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official said in December that the Bush administration planned to report to Congress on a long-term treatment plan in February, after Bush submits his budget.
Also attending Bush's speech will be Ceasar Borja Jr., 21, of Bayside, whose father, former New York City Police Officer Cesar Borja, suffers from pulmonary fibrosis, a scarring of the lung, which began in 2002. "It's really painful for me to be here, so close to where my father contracted this disease, but I am being strong ... for my father," said the younger Borja.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who has submitted legislation pegging the cost for long-term treatment at $1.9 billion, will give a gallery pass to Borja. "We want the president and members of Congress to see the faces of those who have suffered because of our negligence in refusing to take care of the people who responded to 9/11," she said.
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9/11 Cop Dies Just as His Son, Clinton's Guest, Faces Bush
Former NYPD officer Cesar Borja died Jan. 23. He had been fighting a sever lung disease, which his family believes he contracted by working at Ground Zero. His son attended the President's State of the Union.
http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/N...Y&pageId=3.2.1
(Gold9472: I'm crying as I post this.)
By DEVLIN BARRETT
1/23/2007
A former New York policeman died late Tuesday in a Manhattan hospital, just as his 21-year-old son prepared to appear at the State of the Union speech to symbolize the desperate health problems of his father and other sick Sept. 11 workers.
The former officer, Cesar Borja, 52, had been in intensive care, breathing through a tube, at Mount Sinai Medical Center, awaiting a lung transplant. Hospital spokeswoman Lauren Woods confirmed the death late Tuesday.
"He did pass on," Woods said.
His son, college student Ceasar Borja Jr., was invited by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., to attend President Bush's speech as a reminder to the president of workers who were stricken with a host of illnesses after exposure to toxic World Trade Center debris.
The younger Borja learned of his father's death in a phone call while eating dinner around 6:30 p.m. He still planned to attend the speech.
The son's comments earlier in the day showed he was aware of just how critical his father's health situation had become -- and why it was still important for him to speak out in Washington.
"It's a very emotional time, and it's very difficult," said the son. "My father is a symbol of those in need, in desperation."
The Hunter College student said he came to Washington to make the point that there are many more whose lives are threatened by their exposure at ground zero.
"9/11 is not over. It didn't end in 2001. It is still affecting my father and numerous other first responders," he said. "My father is an extreme example of what can happen and what may and will happen in the future."
Clinton and other New York lawmakers have been urging the government for years to pay for treating Sept. 11-related illnesses.
While Democrats now control both chambers of Congress and have the power to pass and amend budget bills, the New York Democrats, who included Clinton and Sen. Charles Schumer, said the responsibility lay principally with the Republican White House.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes the site of the 2001 terror attacks, had the strongest language for Bush and the New York mayor.
"The villains are no longer the terrorists. The villains live in the White House and in Gracie Mansion," said Nadler, referring to the official home of the mayor of New York.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was in the city for a mayors' gathering on illegal guns, dismissed Nadler's attack.
"He'll have to speak for his own actions," said Bloomberg.
Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican who has signed on to the mayor's gun effort, said Nadler's comments crossed the line.
"That's the kind of rhetoric that doesn't help anybody," King said. "I agree that more should be done for 9/11 victims, but to be using language like that serves no purpose."
Even as several of the city's Democrats bashed Republicans, they said they could not guarantee that, now that their party is in power, the Congress would pass legislation paying for Sept. 11 health treatment.
"We certainly can't promise it," said Nadler, adding the issue would be decided by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "If I were the speaker, yeah, it would be in the budget."
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-Manhattan, was more optimistic but still could not guarantee the Democratic Congress would pass such a bill this year.
"I believe we will be successful," said Maloney. "We will fight till the last dog dies."
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Mayor defends city on 9/11 health
http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-bl...ocal-headlines
By Chuck Bennett
January 24, 2007
Mayor Bloomberg said Tuesday that the city is "acting responsibly" by challenging the health-related legal claims of 9/11 responders.
His strong defense made at a news conference came one day after he was blasted by Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler for the practice.
"They can say anything they want," Bloomberg said. "The Corporation Counsel is acting responsibly, protecting the interests of New York City. We're trying to make sure that we help those who really need the help."
At a news conference at Ground Zero on Monday, Clinton said, "We appeal to the city to end its resistance to taking care of people who took care of us."
As many as 8,000 Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers could eventually file claims, according to a court ruling last year.
"We're not going to walk away from anybody," Bloomberg said.
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