A Fallen Hero - Video Inside

[Gold9472]

Help with HR 847- the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009

http://www.fireengineering.com/index...h_hr_847-.html

Your help is needed!!! Please sign the petition at: http://www.petitiononline.com/HR847NOW/petition.html and pass it on....

HR 847- the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h847/show

Goal:
To get HR 847 on the floor of the House of Representatives and passed by Thanksgiving.

Strategy:
Gaining as much public support as possible, as quickly as possible, from Americans will allow immediate pressure to be put on the House of Representatives to put HR 847 on their weekly schedule for a vote.

Method:
Outreach through word of mouth, viral marketing and social media. Viral Marketing –particularly suited to email and the internet due to its immediate nature. It encourages people to pass on the message to colleagues, friends and family. Social Media Marketing- describes the act of using social networks, online communities (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace), blogs, wikis or any other collaborative internet form of media for marketing and public outreach.

Message:
Having lost over eight hundred September 11th first responders since that horrific day, we must act now as many, many more of our Nation’s Heroes are sick and dying due to the time they spent at the World Trade Center site. We would like to stress how important the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009 is to us, our community and America. It is time to get this bill to the House floor and passed so that those who put America first on September 11, 2001 are taken properly taken care of, now. We want HR 847 passed by Thanksgiving so that we, as a country, can properly thank the thousands who have given so much of themselves, so selflessly. We have lost over eight hundred September 11th first responders since that horrific day, we MUST act now as many, many more of these men and women are sick and dying due to the time they spent at Ground Zero.

Petition:
An online petition has been created as a means to allow the American public to quickly support and rally their contacts to support the goal:
http://www.petitiononline.com/HR847NOW/petition.html

House of Representatives- Contact Information:

If your Representative is on the list of co-sponsors (see list below), please contact them and ask them to help obtain our goal. If they are not currently supporting HR 847, please call them and stress how important the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009 is to you, your community and America. It is time to get this bill to the House floor and passed so that those who put America first on September 11, 2001 are taken properly taken care of, NOW.

The list of Reps and their contact information can be found at:

http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (202-225-0100)

Majority Leader of the House, Steny Hoyer (Maryland's 5th District- 202-225-4131)

HR 847 (http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h847/show) is sponsored by Representative Carolyn Maloney [D, NY-14] and co-sponsored by Reps. Ackerman [D, NY-5], Andrews [D, NJ-1], Arcuri [D, NY-24], Baldwin [D, WI-2], Berkley [D, NV-1], Bishop [D, NY-1], Bishop [D, GA-2], Brady [D, PA-1], Burgess [R, TX-26], Capps [D, CA-23], Carney [D, PA-10], Castor [D, FL-11], Christensen [D, VI-0], Clarke [D, NY-11], Cohen [D, TN-9], Connolly [D, VA-11], Conyers [D, MI-14], Courtney [D, CT-2], Crowley [D, NY-7], Dahlkemper [D, PA-3], DeLauro [D, CT-3], Dent [R, PA-15], Doyle [D, PA-14], Ellsworth [D, IN-8], Engel [D, NY-17], Etheridge [D, NC-2], Fattah [D, PA-2], Garrett [R, NJ-5], Gonzalez [D, TX-20], Green [D, TX-29], Grijalva [D, AZ-7], Hall [D, NY-19], Higgins [D, NY-27], Himes [D, CT-4], Hinchey [D, NY-22], Hodes [D, NH-2], Holt [D, NJ-12], Israel [D, NY-2], Jones [R, NC-3], King [R, NY-3], Klein [D, FL-22], Kucinich [D, OH-10], Lance [R, NJ-7], Larson [D, CT-1], Lee [R, NY-26], Lee [D, CA-9], Lewis [D, GA-5], Lipinski [D, IL-3], Lowey [D, NY-18], Maffei [D, NY-25], Massa [D, NY-29], McCarthy [D, NY-4], McCaul [R, TX-10], McGovern [D, MA-3], McHugh [R, NY-23], McMahon [D, NY-13], Meeks [D, NY-6], Murphy [R, PA-18], Murphy [D, NY-20], Murphy [D, CT-5], Nadler [D, NY-8], Pascrell [D, NJ-8], Pierluisi [D, PR-0], Rangel [D, NY-15], Rush [D, IL-1], Sarbanes [D, MD-3], Schakowsky [D, IL-9], Schauer [D, MI-7], Schwartz [D, PA-13], Serrano [D, NY-16], Sestak [D, PA-7], Sires [D, NJ-13], Slaughter [D, NY-28], Smith [R, NJ-4], Stupak [D, MI-1], Sutton [D, OH-13], Thompson [D, MS-2], Tonko [D, NY-21], Towns [D, NY-10], Velázquez [D, NY-12], Weiner [D, NY-9], Wexler [D, FL-19], Woolsey [D, CA-6].

The Bill:
James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009
2/4/2009-- Introduced.James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health the World Trade Center Health Program (WTC program) to provide:
(1) medical monitoring and treatment benefits to eligible emergency responders and recovery and cleanup workers who responded to the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001; and
(2) initial health evaluation, monitoring, and treatment benefits to residents and other building occupants and area workers who were directly impacted and adversely affected by such attacks. Requires the WTC program administrator to:
(1) implement a quality assurance program;
(2) establish the WTC Health Program Scientific/Technical Advisory Committee;
(3) establish the WTC Responders Steering Committee and the WTC Community Program Steering Committee;
(4) provide for education and outreach on services under the WTC program;
(5) provide for the uniform collection of data related to WTC-related health conditions;
(6) conduct research on physical and mental health conditions that may be related to the September 11 terrorist attacks; and
(7) extend and expand arrangements with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to provide for the World Trade Center Health Registry. Authorizes the administrator to make grants to the Department to address mental health needs relating to the terrorist attacks. Amends the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act to:
(1) make individuals eligible for compensation under the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 for harm as a result of debris removal; and
(2) extend the deadline for making a claim for compensation.

[Gold9472]

9/11 rescue workers twice as likely to have asthma: new study

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...#ixzz0Vtf12qBa

BY Katie Nelson
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Updated: Tuesday, November 3rd 2009, 2:25 PM

Heroic World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers are twice as likely to be plagued by asthma, a study finds.

Up to 8% of Ground Zero responders, restoration workers and clean-up crew members have reported post-9/11 asthma, whereas only 4% of the population-at-large has the lung ailment.

What's more, about 3% of first responders said they had asthma before 9/11, but up to 16% were diagnosed from 2005 to 2007.

The research is based on the federally-funded World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, which monitors 20,843 workers. The average time spent working at the attack site was 80 days.

The American College of Chest Physicians released the study Tuesday and blames heightened asthma rates on the "caustic dust and toxic pollutants" kicked up by the destruction.

"Although previous WTC studies have shown significant respiratory problems, this is the first study to directly quantify the magnitude of asthma among WTC responders compared with the general US population," said Hyun Kim, a Mount Sinai School of Medicine instructor and lead author of the analysis.

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9-11 first responders face asthma battle

http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=11444862

11/5/2009

(NBC) - The responders who worked so hard to save lives after the September 11 terrorist attacks may be facing a new battle.

Researchers found they were two times more likely to report asthma symptoms after the 9-11 attack, when compared to the general population.

Eight percent of first responders involved in rescue and recovery operations reported asthma attacks, compared to four percent of the population.

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9/11's delayed legacy: cancer for many of the rescue workers
A spate of cancer-related illnesses among New York's rescue services who worked at Ground Zero sparks fear of an epidemic

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009...-york-rescuers

Ed Pilkington in New York guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 November 2009 14.36 GMT

A spate of recent deaths of New York police and fire officers who took part in the emergency operation at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks has heightened fears that it could be the start of a delayed epidemic of cancer-related illness.

Five firefighters and police officers, all of whom were involved in the rescue and clear-up at the site of the collapsed Twin Towers, have died of cancer in the past three months, the oldest being 44. Three died last month within a four-day period.

Those three were Robert Grossman, a Harlem-based police officer who spent several weeks at the emergency site and died of a brain tumour aged 41; fellow police officer Cory Diaz, 37; and firefighter Richard Mannetta, 44.

In addition, John McNamara, a 44-year-old firefighter, died in September; and Renee Dunbar, a police officer in her late 30s, died in August.

The cluster of cancer deaths comes as Congress is under pressure to pass legislation that would provide federal help to emergency workers who have contracted illnesses since 9/11. Campaigners hope that a bill will be put to the House of Representatives by the end of the year that would set up a $10bn (£6bn) national fund for hundreds of people who now have cancer, respiratory illnesses and other diseases that may be linked to their work at the World Trade Centre site.

Up to 70,000 people took part in the massive operation at Ground Zero, including police, firefighters and construction workers who came to New York voluntarily from all over the US. Many worked for months amid a toxic soup of dust and chemicals.

Amid the pollutants within the giant pile of 1.8m tons of debris and the surrounding air were 90,000 litres of jet fuel from the two stricken planes, about 1,000 tons of asbestos that was used in the construction of the Twin Towers, pulverised lead from computers, mercury and highly carcinogenic by-products from the burning of plastics and chlorinated chemicals.

No official tally is available for the number of those who have died as a result of the 9/11 clear-up. The New York state health department has recorded 817 deaths of emergency workers but it cannot confirm categorically how many of those were directly linked to the site.

Federal funds for ill emergency workers ran out in 2003 and, since then, the onus has fallen on cash-strapped New York city, which is facing up to 10,000 claims for compensation through the courts. Families of those who have died say that the burden should be shouldered by the nation as a whole.

Robert Grossman's father, Stephen, drew a parallel with the $3bn the federal government spent this year on buying up old cars under the "cash-for-clunkers" scheme. "They spent that, but they don't have a dime for people who volunteered after 9/11 and ended up giving their lives for their country."

The 911 Police Aid Foundation, a group run by and for sick police officers, says it is helping more than 100 officers who worked at Ground Zero and who now have cancer. The group is receiving new cases at a rate of about one a week, many of which are extremely rare at such young ages.

Michael Valentin, who volunteers for the group, spent about four months working around the pile of debris from the towers. He now has lymphatic tumours in his chest, as well as asbestos poisoning.

"We all have terminal illnesses, we are all going to die. We just want to help others by showing them that they are not alone," he said.

The bill currently before Congress, which is named after James Zadroga, a police officer who died in 2006, would provide for the health monitoring and treatment of an additional 15,000 emergency workers. Paradoxically, it would not cover cancer, which was not perceived as a priority at the time the legislation was drafted though numbers have escalated since then.

Claire Calladine, a campaigner who runs the organisation 9/11 Health Now, said the fear was that the recent rise in cancer cases was just the start.

"We have only seen the tip of the iceberg. How bad will it get – that is the big question."

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Cancer deaths spark fear among 9/11 rescue workers

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/...-workers-ss-01

11/12/2009

Recent deaths of New York police and fire officials who were a part of the emergency operations at the site of the 9/11 attacks has raised fears that it could be the start of a delayed cancer-related epidemic, according to a Guardian report.

In the past three months, there have five deaths of officials who had helped in the rescue efforts at the site of the Twin Towers. The officials all died due to cancer and were under the age of 44, the report stated.

The 70,000 people who took part in the operation worked amid debris fill of dust and chemicals. The report stated that surrounding the air were 90,000 litres of jet fuel from the two destroyed planes and along with the 1,000 tons of asbestos which was used for the tower’s construction.

Congress is under pressure to pass legislation that would provide federal help to the workers from the operation who have contracted illnesses since 9/11. Federal funds for those workers ran out in 2003 and New York City is facing up to 10,000 claims for compensation through courts.

An aid foundation set up for sick police officers is receiving about one new case a week, ‘many of which are extremely rare at such young ages,” the report concluded.

[Gold9472]

Guardian Daily: The hidden legacy of 9/11
Cancer hits Ground Zero rescuers; the Glasgow North East byelection; and backlash against the Sun over Gordon Brown's letter to Jacqui Janes, in our daily audio show with Jon Dennis

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog...-daily-podcast

Jon Dennis guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 November 2009 07.36 GMT

There are warnings of an epidemic of cancer among rescuers who worked at Ground Zero after the 9/11 terror attacks on New York. Stephen Grossman tells me about his son Robert, a Harlem policeman who worked at Ground Zero after 9/11. He died last month from cancer aged 41.

John Harris meets the candidates as voters go to the polls in the Glasgow North East byelection.

German football correspondent Raphael Honigstein discusses the death of Germany's goalkeeper Robert Enke, who took his own life after suffering from depression.

Media commentator Roy Greenslade explains why he thinks The Sun may have misjudged the public mood in its attacks on Gordon Brown over his handwritten letter to a bereaved mother of a serviceman killed in Afghanistan.

Supermodel Cindy Crawford talks to Hannah Pool about skinny models.

[Gold9472]

9/11 workers, first responders to rally for help in D.C.



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009...#ixzz0X1pyDq9k

BY Michael Mcauliff
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Monday, November 16th 2009, 4:00 AM

WASHINGTON - First responders and Ground Zero workers are pleased Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is headed to New York to face justice - but they hope to win a different kind of justice of their own.

"Eight years later they finally bring the terrorists to New York and eight years later we're still waiting for help" treating 9/11-related illnesses, said John Feal.

"It doesn't equate," added Feal, who heads the FealGood Foundation, devoted to raising awareness about the health crisis. He will join busloads of survivors and victims for a rally Wednesday in Washington.

They're demanding Congress act on legislation named after James Zadroga, an NYPD officer who died from his exposure to Ground Zero.

The proposal would spend about $8 billion to reopen the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation fund to care for the illnesses suffered by the responding heroes.

"I'm going to be focused on getting that bill passed," said Glen Klein, a former NYPD Emergency Service Unit officer who spent 700 hours at Ground Zero. "It's time."

Advocates say they've received assurances that Congress would act this fall. But sources told the Daily News that the battle to overhaul the nation's health care system comes first - a fight that could extend into next year.

Feal said rallygoers intend to take their message straight to lawmakers.

"We're taking three teams into each congressional [office] building," he said. "I'm storming the Capitol."

Feal has sent letters to President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pushing for meetings. But he's yet to get a response.

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9/11 responder Jim Ryan, dying of pancreatic cancer, misses Capitol rally

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009...ic_cancer.html

BY Michael Mcauliff
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Thursday, November 19th 2009, 4:00 AM

It's time, Jim Ryan wanted to tell Congress Wednesday, as hundreds of his fellow Sept. 11 responders journeyed to Capitol Hill.

It's time for Congress finally to make sure the sick and dying heroes who answered the call are given the help leaders promised them in the days after the worst-ever terrorist attack on America, the 48-year-old ex-firefighter hoped to say.

He couldn't make the rally at the Capitol.

He's dying himself.

"I was a 46-year-old firefighter, working at my job in April 2006," said the husband and father of two teenage boys and a 9-year-old daughter.

His doctor thought he had gallstones, but it was pancreatic cancer, a deadly illness more common in older men.

The fire department eventually agreed the cancer was from 9/11, and he retired.

He beat it once.

Then came the relapse last November - and more treatments.

His doctor can't do any more.

"They just determined last week it wasn't working. As of right now, I'm not on anything. At this point, I'm just seeking second opinions," Ryan said.

He doesn't want to ask how much time he has left.

"I don't believe in deadlines," he said.

But he wanted to do what he could to push Congress to pass an $8 billion measure named after another of Sept. 11's growing number of fallen, NYPD Officer James Zadroga

It would reopen the Sept. 11 victims' compensation fund and provide for the families of the ill and dying.

So Tuesday night he packed some gear in the car of his friend and fellow firefighter, Keith Palumbo, and went to the Engine Co. 320/Ladder 167 firehouse in Flushing for a party that Palumbo arranged so Ryan's department brothers could see him again before it was too late.

"It was overwhelming," Ryan said.

But he got violently ill, and it was obvious to his friends that Ryan, who's lost 50 pounds to his illness, couldn't make the trip to Washington.

"Keith, he took my bag out of his car and he said, 'You're not going.' He said, 'You can't, you're not physically able to,'" Ryan recalled.

It's almost the way he felt about the months he spent digging through the voids in the wreckage of the twin towers, searching for the fallen.

He tried to explain it to his wife, Magda, when she asked why he wanted to swim in that toxic devastation for so long.

"I told her I don't. It's the last place in the world I want to be, but right now, and it's kind of hard to put it in words, but right now it's the only place in the world I want be," Ryan remembered.

There was no internal conflict about going to Washington Wednesday, except that he couldn't.

"I felt horrible because it's not only about me," he said. "It's about all the guys who are going to come after me, and there's going to be plenty of them. ... I don't think you've even seen the tip of the iceberg yet."

The Zadroga Act is sitting in Congress, held hostage by the health care reform debate.

The House version is all but ready to go. The Senate's has yet to be discussed in a committee hearing.

Palumbo and others carried the message for Ryan, visiting lawmakers in their black turnout coats.

He hopes legislators heard it.

"We've got eight guys in the firehouse who have cancer," Palumbo said after walking the halls of Congress, knocking on doors.

"Hopefully, we prodded them with our tale."

[Gold9472]

Angry 9/11 responders: President Obama offers sympathy, but no support

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/poli...all_short.html

BY Michael Mcauliff
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - Angry Sept. 11 responders say President Obama has offered sympathy but no support for their appeal to champion their cause in Congress.

A group of 9/11 widows and rescue workers recently wrote Obama, asking his help to pass a bill that would fund care for ailing responders over the next 30 years.

Obama wrote back Tuesday, the Daily News has learned, saying he understands their plight and values their heroism.

"The individuals suffering health ailments from Sept. 11 and its aftermath deserve proper medical attention," the President wrote. "You served selflessly, and your concerns are of great importance to our country. I remain committed to supporting the heroes of Sept. 11."

But he left out whether he'd get behind the bill.

"It's a nice letter, and I will put it in my scrapbook," said former construction worker John Feal, who lost half a foot at Ground Zero. "But it's no more than a souvenir unless he supports that bill."

"We would have hoped for more," said Kenny Specht, an ex-FDNY lieutenant who survived cancer linked to 9/11, though he was glad Obama made a nod to the illnesses responders face.

The 9/11 health act stalled in the House behind health reform, which has since passed there. It hasn't moved in the Senate since Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand introduced it earlier this year.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds the key to progress in the House, but having Obama onboard "would be a tremendous help," said bill sponsor Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan).

Feal and Specht say if there's no progress by spring, they will shine a harsh light on Congress and the President, starting with a march from Ground Zero to Washington. "We will do a G.Z.-to-D.C. walk, a cancer survivor and a guy with half a foot," said Feal. "We will embarrass them."

A White House spokeswoman insisted Obama shares the goals of the bill, but didn't offer outright support for the legislation.

[Gold9472]

World Trade Center Health Effects: Finding the Links

http://www.gothamgazette.com/blogs/w...ing-the-links/

Dana Farrington filed this report from City Hall.
December 7th, 2009

Impatience was contagious in City Hall today as three City Council committees heard from concerned parties about the World Trade Center Medical Working Group’s second annual report, released in September. Of particular concern was a bill, currently stalled in the U.S. Senate health committee, which would provide long-term medical care for those affected by the World Trade Center collapse — mentally and physically — and worries over which side effects would not be covered in the meantime.

Before the hearing, a man in a full Fire Department captain uniform sat quietly in the front row. The retired captain, John Gallagher, had arrived at the trade center site in the afternoon after the attacks and spent the next 30 hours on duty, followed by another three months of working full time at Ground Zero. He now has pulmonary fibrosis and breathes through an oxygen tank, which sat next to him inside a black rolling suitcase. Though he receives full funding for his medical care because the government has recognized the dust and other hazards at the trade center caused his illness, he said he had come to the hearing to fight for those who are not covered. Among his concerns were people with cancers, such as thyroid and kidney cancers, whose illnesses were not recognized under current coverage programs.

Councilmember Domenic Recchia raised his voice and temper over the report’s assertion that cancer is not directly related to the disaster. “I hope your next report says there is a link,” Recchia said.

In response, Tamuri Mammo, of the Office of the Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services Linda Gibbs, stated that the only known study linking cancer to the World Trade Center attacks was “notable” and could spark further research but was not alone sufficient to prove that people exposed to the site’s hazards could get cancer as a result.

Also up for discussion was the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009, introduced by Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand in July. The council currently has a resolution drafted in support of this resolution, but it has not yet passed it. Councilmember Gail Brewer said she did not understand the cause for delay in care to those in need. “I don’t get it,” she said.

“We’re going to continue to fight for this legislation,” said Mammo, but he also mentioned that a bigger push would be needed after health reform.

John Feal, founder of the nonprofit Feal Good Foundation and a first responder who lost half of his left foot when it was crushed by a steel beam during clean up of the World Trade Center site. His group organized advocates to go to D.C. and “educate” legislatures about the issue and the resolution. Feal also worried that the resolution would not move until larger health reform takes place.

The newest report from the working group is a review of current literature and studies related to 9/11 health and the continued effects felt by people who worked at the sited or s nearby. The report states that the World Trade Center Health Registry, which has been following a sample of potentially affected individuals since 2001, found that 10 percent of participants in the study were diagnosed with asthma after 9/11. The report also cites evidence of “sustained and late-emerging post traumatic stress,” (nearly one in five had symptoms in that study). Furthermore, “Several newly published studies suggest that WTC-related mental and physical health conditions often can occur together, and in fact, 10 to 25 percent of people currently being treated by the WTC Centers of Excellence are being treated for both mental and physical health conditions.”