WTC Health-Related Press Releases from New York City
2009
2008
2007
December 19, 2007
HEALTH DEPT URGES WORLD TRADE CENTER HEALTH REGISTRY ENROLLEES TO COMPLETE FOLLOW-UP SURVEY BY DECEMBER 31The Health Department today encouraged adult enrollees in the World Trade Center Health Registry who have not yet completed their follow-up surveys to do so by the December 31 deadline. While the overall response rate to the follow-up survey is approaching 70% with more than 45,000 surveys completed, response rates among residents, particularly Spanish- and Chinese-speaking residents, have been below 50%.
November 28, 2007
Health Department Releases New Findings on Children Exposed to the WTC DisasterFindings released by the Health Department today provide the first broad snapshot of physical and mental health effects among children exposed to the World Trade Center disaster. The survey found that children under five had an increased likelihood of being diagnosed with asthma in the two to three years following the event, though not as sharp an increase as rescue workers. The survey did not find evidence of elevated levels of post-traumatic stress in children.
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Read the press release"Introductory Number 369-A updates outdated language to accurately reflect the composition of the Board and permits up to three additional medical boards to be convened, at the discretion of the Board, to review disability retirement applications.
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Read the press release"Good Morning. This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
"More than 400,000 people not just New Yorkers, but Americans from all 50 states may have been exposed to the dust and smoke produced by the attack on the World Trade Center. The physical and mental health problems that many of them now face, or may face in the future, resulted from an act of war against all America. Diagnosing and treating their health problems is a national duty and last week saw major steps toward fulfilling that duty..."
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Listen to the radio addressMayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) President Alan Aviles today (September 20, 2007) announced that the
World Trade Center (WTC) Environmental Health Center at Bellevue Hospital, the City-funded program offering free, high quality health services to people experiencing health problems as a result of 9/11, is expanding to two additional locations. The new sites, at Gouverneur Health Services in Lower Manhattan and Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, will allow the WTC Environmental Health Center to treat up to 20,000 patients over the next five years.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta today (September 20, 2007) released
World Trade Center Health Impacts on 9/11 Rescue Workers PDF Document (Reader Required; Click to Download) , a comprehensive six-year assessment of the physical and psychological effects on active and retired FDNY members who responded to the World Trade Center site on and after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The 64-page report is based upon the widely recognized work of the FDNY Bureau of Health Services, which has evaluated, monitored and treated more than 14,200 firefighters and EMS members since the days following the attacks. Led by Chief Medical Officers Dr. Kerry Kelly and Dr. David Prezant, the
Fire Department’s World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program has become a national model in treating first responders and identifying the overall impact of 9/11.
In conjunction with the sixth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the Health Department has launched a new web site to provide up-to-date scientific information about the disaster’s lingering health effects and to highlight the services available to those affected. The site, www.nyc.gov/9-11HealthInfo, consolidates information for different groups of people, such as rescue and recovery workers, residents, children, and city employees.
Mayor Bloomberg discusses 9/11 health issues.
Thousands of World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers were still suffering serious mental health effects three years after the disaster. New findings released from the World Trade Center Health Registry show that one in eight rescue and recovery workers (12.4%) likely had post-traumatic stress disorder when they were interviewed in 2003 and 2004.
Findings released today by the Health Department shed new light on the health effects of exposure to dust and debris among workers who responded to the World Trade Center disaster on September 11, 2001. The data, drawn from the World Trade Center Health Registry, show that 3.6% of the 25,000 rescue and recovery workers enrolled in the Registry report developing asthma after working at the site. That rate is 12 times what would be normally expected for the adult population during such a time period.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today accepted a comprehensive set of recommendations that will seek to ensure a sustained, high-quality public health response for individuals experiencing 9/11-related health conditions. The recommendations include requesting $150 million per year in federal funds for essential health and mental health programs; establishing new systems to keep policy-makers, physicians, and those who need assistance aware of emerging issues; and removing from the courtroom the painful issue of compensation by establishing a new Victim Compensation Fund.
2006
The New York City Health Department today announced that, in the past three weeks, more than 13,000 enrollees in the World Trade Center Health Registry (WTCHR) have completed a follow-up survey about their physical and mental health after 9/11. The Health Department urges all remaining enrollees to complete the survey as this is the first opportunity for enrollees to inform the Registry about their physical and mental health since 2004.
Today, the Health Department released updated clinical guidelines for New York City health care providers on how to treat adults exposed to the World Trade Center disaster. The guidelines also recommend screening approaches to improve detection of illness possibly associated with WTC exposures.
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, and John Howard, MD, Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health/Coordinator for federal World Trade Center health response programs, today urged all 71,000 people enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry to participate in the first of several planned follow-up surveys since the Registry was launched in 2003.
According to survey findings released today and based on World Trade Center Health Registry data, survivors of buildings that collapsed or were damaged as a result of the World Trade Center attack reported having substantial physical and mental health problems when interviewed in 2003 and 2004.
2004
Most enrollees in the World Trade Center Health Registry reported having one or more respiratory problems that either began or got worse in the weeks and months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, according to the latest quarterly report issued today by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene today reminded New Yorkers that feelings of sadness, fearfulness, anxiety and nervousness, anger and other emotions tied to the events of September 11 that temporarily disrupt a person's ability to function are not uncommon.
More than 50,000 people from New York City and all 50 states have enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry, according to the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which today urged those who are eligible to sign up before the August 31st deadline.
As the August 31 deadline nears for signing up to be in the World Trade Center Health Registry, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced today the launch of a comprehensive media campaign to help bolster enrollment.
Over 40,000 people have signed up to be in the World Trade Center Health Registry to date, with only 10 weeks to go until the end of the enrollment period. In the process, the Registry has become the largest public health registry of its kind in U.S. history, surpassing the Three Mile Island Population Registry started in 1979.
With four months left until the end of the registration period, more than 33,000 persons have enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry, a comprehensive effort to track the long-term physical and mental health effects on those most directly exposed to the fumes, dust and debris resulting from the events of September 11, 2001.
This weekend marked the enrollment of the 25,000th person in the World Trade Center Health Registry, with six months left for other eligible participants to sign up.
Today the World Trade Center Health Registry's Community Advisory Board, a panel that brings together representatives of various groups that were most directly exposed to the environmental effects of 9/11, held its first meeting at the headquarters of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
2003
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issued a report today containing a demographic breakdown of people who enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry through September 30, 2003.
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced today that more than 6,500 people from 45 states and eight countries have signed up to be enrolled in the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Registry since its launch last Friday, September 5.
As we approach the second anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene today reminded New Yorkers that free and confidential Project Liberty counseling is available for anyone who needs it by calling 1-800-LIFENET (543-3638) or 311 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
New York City Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH (along with Henry Falk, M.D., Associate Administrator for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and Director of CDC's National Center for Environmental Health and Timothy S. Carey, CEO and President of the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority) today announced the launching of the World Trade Center Health Registry, a comprehensive health survey that will follow the health of those most directly exposed to the World Trade Center collapse and subsequent clean-up efforts.
2002
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) today released their final report about residential air and dust sampling in lower Manhattan following the collapse of the World Trade Center
As the one-year anniversary of September 11, 2001, approaches, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene today announced a new Project Liberty public education subway and bus campaign, "Honor the Past. Embrace Your Future."
Earlier today, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry announced that the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene would receive a $20 million grant to design and maintain a World Trade Center (WTC) registry for persons exposed to the WTC disaster site.
Earlier today, New York City Health Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, joined city, state and federal officials at a U.S. Senate Subcommittee Hearing on Clean Air, Wetlands, and Climate Change to provide
testimony on the impacts of the September 11 attack on air quality.
As part of an ongoing effort to assess the environmental impact of the World Trade Center disaster and to respond to public health concerns, the New York City Department of Health, in collaboration with the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, conducted indoor and outdoor tests of thirty residential buildings in lower Manhattan.
The New York City Department of Mental Health, in collaboration with the New York City Department of Health, announced the launch of “New York Needs Us Strong,” a public education campaign that promotes the ongoing statewide
Project Liberty program, a disaster-recovery initiative created by the New York State Office of Mental Health. The program offers free crisis counseling, education, and referral services to anyone affected by the World Trade Center disaster.
The New York City Department of Health announced today the results of a survey conducted in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York City Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Alcoholism Services to assess the physical and mental health needs of lower Manhattan residents following the World Trade Center disaster.
WTC Health-Related Publications:
