Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday called on the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the federal Department of Homeland Security to undo efforts to gut essential services provided through the World Trade Center Health Program by reassigning personnel to federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The ongoing reduction in the WTC Health Program’s workforce and operational capacity directly affects the health, safety, and long-term welfare of the first responders and others who answered the call during and after the September 11 attacks, including members of the New York State Police, the New York Police Department, the New York Fire Department and the Port Authority Police Department, she said.
“The World Trade Center Health Program is a lifeline for the survivors and first responders who answered the call almost 25 years ago and afterward without hesitation — and they deserve the same support from their government today,” Hochul said in a statement. “Reducing staff for an essential health program that has already faced drastic cuts in order to support an out-of-control enforcement agency with a history of failing to protect Americans is reprehensible. Our first responders and their families deserve better.”
The WTC Health Program was created to ensure that first responders receive timely medical monitoring, rapid certification of 9/11-related illnesses, specialized treatment, and family support and survivor benefits. In the last year, the WTC Health Program has seen a more than 25% reduction of staff, leaving fewer than 85 employees to oversee the roughly 140,000 survivors enrolled in the program.
Diverting personnel away from this critical program inevitably slows medical certifications, delays treatment approvals, and increases administrative backlogs for individuals who often require urgent care, the governor said.
Many 9/11-related cancers progress rapidly, and any delay in certification or treatment approval can mean the difference between early intervention and advanced disease. To date, more first responders have died from 9/11-related illnesses than the 2,974 killed on September 11, 2001.
“The work of the WTC Health Program is more critical than ever," said New York City Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry. "We are still losing dozens of active and retired police officers every year to 9/11-related illnesses, and thousands more are receiving vital treatment and monitoring. We can’t afford to lose any more of the personnel who are caring for our 9/11 heroes.”
